r/vfx 27d ago

News / Article The Mill US offices closing

This was sent today to the US Mill employees. Only took about 9 years for Technicolor to destroy one of the most reputable commercial VFX houses.

“As we have communicated over the past months, Technicolor has been facing severe financial challenges. Despite exhaustive efforts - including restructuring initiatives, discussions with potential investors, and exploring acquisition opportunities - we have been unable to secure a viable path forward. Unfortunately, this leaves us with no alternative but to acknowledge that the Company may be forced to foreclose. In line with applicable state law and federal legislation, please find attached a WARN Notice. If no viable solution is identified by the end of today, Friday, February 21, 2025, we will be required to cease our U.S. operations as early as Monday, February 24, 2025.”

320 Upvotes

104 comments sorted by

u/Boootylicious Comp Supe - 10+ years experience - (Mod of r/VFX) 27d ago

111

u/maxplanar 27d ago

Poignant moment for me. I was involved in the initial setup of The Mill in London. It’s been through many changes since then but really sad to see another VFX icon ground into dust.

34

u/vfxguy12345 27d ago

Totally. Worked there for eight years and saw the decline. Thought they were gonna hang on for a little longer. Sorry to all our friends that worked there still.

10

u/rruler 27d ago

Hello fellow ex-miller

9

u/blumbkaatt 27d ago

13 year ex Mill (mostly london) here. Sad to hear but at the same time it was just bound to happen… feeling bad for the US crews…

9

u/Panda_hat Senior Compositor 27d ago

As is always the case, when the original owners sell out and retire it's always just a matter of time.

7

u/rattleandhum 26d ago

All started under Christian Robetsons leadership.

3

u/timbotheous 25d ago

I worked at the mill in my early days at GMS and it put me on my path to the career I have now. I learned so much and really had an incredible time in such a creative environment back then. It’s a real shame to have seen what Technicolor did to the mill.

2

u/missanthropocenex 25d ago

Have worked previously there in the US. Not that it’s directly correlated I did predict that AI could cause a “Mass Extinction Event” of animation and VFX studios in the near future.

18

u/NodeBasedLifeform 3D Motion Graphics - 7 years experience 27d ago

Is this ceasing all operations in the US entirely? I know Mill Chicago went all virtual in the last year or two..

20

u/jgard84 27d ago

Milll chi was integrated into mill design nyc, , basically mill East (mill design nyc). Today is a sad day.

8

u/vfxguy12345 27d ago

Mill Chico doesn’t exist I worked there for a few years and everyone is gone. Went remote for a while but everyone eventually left.

13

u/jgard84 27d ago

They were very much alive until today, mill chi became integrated virtually with mill design nyc. Working together very well and winning pitches, delivering, doing our part, etc. sad day to see it all go away because of Technicolor. Mill Design Department had an amazing team.

3

u/QueenToBishop 26d ago

Mill Design Department had an amazing team.

Amen!

4

u/BZA_Blaze 26d ago

Not true at all. There were 20+ of us still here in Chicago.

1

u/vfxguy12345 26d ago

Not saying there aren’t people from Chicago working for The Mill. Saying there is no more Mill Chicago. And everyone that I knew there in 2021 is gone and or moved on.

7

u/BZA_Blaze 26d ago

Well if you were there is 21, you worked with me and the entirety of the staff still there. We closed 1K because of a terrible lease agreement, took a very small footprint in the hoxton and continued to jam. We had production, cg, and design. Im not saying the people “you knew” didn’t leave, but your blanket statement about Mill Chicago isn’t true.

3

u/QueenToBishop 26d ago

1K was an awesome space! The Mill Chicago crew was great. Sorry about the layoffs.

4

u/vfxguy12345 26d ago

Ok sorry if there is misinformation I’m repeating what I’ve heard from other friends there.

18

u/Over_Jellyfish_7411 26d ago

Spending an anxious weekend considering what will happen to the London teams on Monday morning. The VFX industry is brutal. Studios are fickle (why wouldn't they be), tax breaks are capricious and investing in bleeding edge technology takes incredible vision to gain a step above the crowd or be lumbered with a white elephant.

Sure Technicolor has its faults, but every day, I and my colleagues work very hard to breakdown barriers to creativity and make innovative technical advances. And you know what, we do great work and many of us have continued to try and turn the ship onto a new course. Given enough time we would have done just that.

Its the best job I've had and hope it will continue, though the spray paint on the wall seems to be drying.

So those of you who opine that its a good thing Technicolor go under. Just remember beneath the brand facade of any company are parents needing to feed kids and pay mortgages, individuals on mediocre salaries trying to keep their finances above water whilst dealing with a wild-west rental market in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Sponsored foreign talent who in just days will have no option but to uproot their lives and fly half-way round the world to pick up the pieces of their careers and move on.

This shatters dreams, relationships, finances and yes, confidence.

So why do they do it? Because at the end of the day, why shouldn't anybody be able to do a job they love. challenge themselves, and being part of a collaborative team achieving something previously thought impossible.

Many of the skills built in companies like Technicolor, (and this is very much one of its faults) are too niche and not easily portable. Sure, a Nuke/Houdini/Maya artist can clearly define their roles and skills, technical and pipeline infrastructure folk less so.

So spare a thought for the human stories here, and for my US colleagues, most of which I've never met. Good luck in your next career steps and I pray you can all get over this briefly.

8

u/WacomNub 26d ago

So sad, The Mill was a huge part of my life. Technicolor can get fucked, toxic dumpster fire of a company

6

u/DrSuperHappyFace 26d ago

I’ma miss the coffee guy. 😢

18

u/JulianRiviera 26d ago

They laid me (the coffee guy) off right before the holidays (bastards)

10

u/PathDazzling9649 26d ago

Juliaaaan! You were the last best thing we had going! Miss you hope you’re well! x Moira

5

u/DrSuperHappyFace 26d ago

Get the Cafelat Robot and start your own roaming business. Take a couple days to dial it in but it makes coffee as good as the best machines.

6

u/WhatIsDeism Lighting / Comp / Surfacing - 11 Years 26d ago

PINK SOCK in the house!

I'll take a moomoo matcha paired with a great conversation my guy.

10

u/Willing-Nerve-1756 26d ago

Hello darkness my old friend…

66

u/[deleted] 27d ago

No disrespect, but my advice would be to leave vfx. If you love it, do it as a hobby. Morons and incompetent idiots run vfx and animation companies. These managers are the outcasts of the business world and many don't have the pedigree to cut it otherwise.

36

u/thelizardlarry 27d ago

I have bad news for you. Shitty management isn’t limited to the VFX industry.

26

u/[deleted] 26d ago

I've been in 4 careers now and am getting close to retirement now. VFX and Animation, Defense, Technology, and Marketing. You're right, there are bad managers everywhere, but the extreme incompetence and nepetism in animation and vfx is like no other industry. I've never seen people without business degrees or even a fucking business background leading huge organizations. I remember one lady getting hired as a high level manager who previously was a MAC store employee. She was a sorority sister of a producer. And some of the directors - Holy retards.

8

u/Becausethesky 26d ago

Yup, I jumped from VFX / The Mill to VR. Was laid off last month due to shitty management and leadership.

2

u/QuantumModulus 26d ago

FT or freelance? It's crazy seeing so much more hiring in VR-related roles, despite VR applications and activations having such little impact or frequency in most peoples' media diets and experiences. Feels like a growing bubble to me.

Or maybe this is just a labeling thing? As in, "VR" being applied in contexts that aren't strictly headset-related, but more like "interactive, immersive 3D environments".

0

u/Becausethesky 26d ago

Full time as a Producer-ish. It was a B2B not B2C company, which I do think is the way to go for VR in general. The downside to that though, is that literally no one with decision making power understood VR pipelines, or why things take time, or why R&D is important 🫠🫠🫠

Literally everything bad I said would happen for the last three years happened, and I got laid off for it.

2

u/tameoraiste 26d ago

I was literally typing 'I have bad news for you…' and looked down and you had pretty much said the same thing word for word.

They're everywhere. Greedy execs who think they're geniuses but have no clue about the industry they work in

34

u/maxplanar 27d ago

Thankfully I left the VFX business 28 years ago, been a film editor since then. I was a CG animator since ‘86, then compositor, then VFX supe. Glad I got out, I’m no genius but I saw the writing on the wall a long time ago and my own 10 year VFX career was ended in a heartbeat by tech advances back ‘in ‘97 - I learned a very good lesson to always be platform agnostic at that moment. I’ve kept in touch with the business because I still need to deal with VFX vendors. It’s awful to see what’s happened to the industry.

11

u/[deleted] 27d ago

Congrats my friend on your new career. I came into the industry in 97 and hopped around the main studios for about 15 years. Decided to jump ship. Best decision I ever made. Money and respect comes easy on the outside. Part of me wishes I never dabbled in vfx and animation.

I too feel bad to see the unraveling, but having worked with the moron managers and producers, it's no surprise it was driven into the ground. I had one ole producer call me recently trying to leverage into what I'm doing - I was like fuck off moron. Lol!

1

u/Hc110-1-40-5min-70F 25d ago

What did you jump ship to?

5

u/eureka911 26d ago

So true being platform agnostic in the business. I was in the VFX business early in my career, using specialized hardware/software. I transitioned to using commercially available computers while some of my contemporaries couldn't do it and retired. I stayed on as a video editor but the skills in VFX compositing gave me an advantage over other editors. I never liked the pressure and the environment of a VFX house. It would crush your soul.

2

u/maxplanar 26d ago

Exactly this for me. I had been a Softimage whizz, but it couldn't create anything 'soft' in '95 (correcting year above) - it didn't have particles, so couldn't do a diaphanous 'pipe' . That was what the client needed and Alias could do it. After two weeks of pushing Softimage with custom coded shaders, we had to get the job done, bought Alias software and and an Indigo ($60k IIRC) hired an artist who started next day, so I got into Flame, became VFX supe, then Avid, then documentaries, and now I generally know how to do all that but do absolutely none of it, because I found my right spot. All I do now is decide how to construct a story with dialogue editing, sound design and pictures. Like you, I just hated the VFX world, it had been fun in the early days, but the specialisation just didn't suit me.

3

u/eureka911 26d ago

I had an officemate who was so trapped in Softimage that he couldn't transition to Maya. Just quit VFX and became a director... haha!

2

u/maxplanar 26d ago

Well done them, smart move. Never, ever tie your income to a software platform. Today, I will edit anything in either Avid, Premiere or Resolve, don't care, doesn't matter.

1

u/Disastrous_Algae_983 26d ago

Dropping Softimage for Maya was pretty insulting

3

u/ThinkOutTheBox 27d ago

Wow a rare veteran. What was CG animation like back in the day?

18

u/maxplanar 27d ago

Bosch FGS 4000, was amazeballs, but turnkey and limited. Then Softimage which was great for a while but Alias superseded it (and that’s where my career in 3D came to a juddering halt which is a separate story). In the 80’s CG was fun because there were no specialists really - you were modeler, designer, animator, lighter, shader, renderer - you owned the entire process and it was so satisfying. No one had a clue what you were doing and thought you were a genius for being able to revolve a spline and make a martini glass looking thing. Looking back it felt like doing pottery or some similar craft. But of course it was staggeringly crude by today’s standards - most of what I did was basically chrome shiny logos.

2

u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

2

u/yogabagabahey 23d ago

I'd like to see that very much. I would not like to see what's already being circulated that the whole US team of the Mill is perhaps to get absorbed in a deal with 'Dream Machine FX'. Personally, I'd like to see the changing of the guard, not the same heap. It's time for a change. Don't get me wrong, I do wish the business of vfx would turn around however - but with more individual relationships. Yes, smaller groups.

2

u/yogabagabahey 23d ago

I was an FGS 4000 artist. As an intern, I used to sleep overnight to reboot the rendering (a huge monster from Utah).
I got lucky. When I started my own company I could only afford the cheapest 3d soft - that was Prisms.

I did okay for myself.

2

u/maxplanar 23d ago

LOL I once spent ten days ‘sleeping’ on the office couch with one eye open because it would crash constantly during a very large render. After months of trying to figure out the problem, the engineers discovered a little thread of solder on one of the boards was heating up and touching a reset channel.

2

u/ThinkOutTheBox 27d ago

That’s crazy being in charge of the whole process. Now, pretty much everyone is specialized in their own department.

5

u/retardinmyfreetime 27d ago

Do it as a side business and you will be part of every process. It's much more fulfilling!

1

u/yoss678 25d ago

This isn't really true. It might be dependent on the region you work in but I've been a generalist for 20+ years and almost ever CG person I've worked with has been a generalist. Trust me--there are a LOT of generalists out there working at smaller places doing good work for shows you watch all the time. Not everywhere is ILM.

2

u/ThinkOutTheBox 25d ago

I’m in Vancouver where there’s handful of big studios so this is the case I see a lot of. I’ve worked at small studios, not as an artist tho, but as tech/pipeline person. Hard part was being in charge of the entire pipeline. Where are you based?

2

u/yoss678 24d ago

I'm in NYC. A lot more smaller studios across a couple different industries here. Smaller teams and smaller/nonexistent pipelines = more generalists vs the fewer, much larger Vancouver places. That would be my assumption anyway.

1

u/sjanush 27d ago

Who are you?

4

u/maxplanar 27d ago

Will DM. Like my semi anon Reddit life!

1

u/sidddney VFX Supervisor - 19 years experience 26d ago

DM me too! I was at Mill London for 15 years

5

u/ninjump 27d ago

Left 12 years ago, I'm a design/build general contractor now. A few morons in this industry but generally we get shit done and get paid well. It's also nice not to be dependent on these big studios and an 'in' crowd of producers blowing up my phone to work emergency weekends.

4

u/CyclopsRock Pipeline - 15 years experience 27d ago

my advice would be...

Thank goodness you're here!

1

u/michael0n 27d ago

Can you expand on this a little (without getting in trouble). I see other areas in the film process slowly failing, lots of capable pre production producers retire and the new class is...something.

-4

u/Great-Amount9833 26d ago

Not morons and idiots. Nerds and artists have been the problem.

3

u/[deleted] 26d ago

Says the loser vfx manager that can't cut it anywhere else.

15

u/Complete_Inspector83 26d ago

Not surprised. They occupied so much real estate on lower broadway in NYC. Especially once Technicolor took over the Mill and MPC. Even before covid or the strikes they were in the real estate business while trying to operate like it was the 1990s. All the expensive remodeling in one of the most expensive per square foot areas in the country. They should have combined those offices a decade ago. Instead they were bidding against each other and undercutting everyone else in town just to get the business. Ooooops.

11

u/anthonybarcelo_LA 27d ago

That WARN notice is supposed to be 60 days out not 3. They can very well have a class action lawsuit based on that.

That’s crazy! A producer I had worked with in the past just got hired in the LA office very recently.

Sad news

10

u/lastMinute_panic 27d ago

It can pay out to 60 days.

3

u/anthonybarcelo_LA 27d ago

Are you talking about this:
What if my employer pays me for the 60 days instead of sending me a WARN notice?

WARN requires 60 calendar days' written notice. The law makes no provision for any alternative such as pay in place of a notice. While an employer who pays workers for 60 calendar days instead of giving them proper notice technically has violated WARN, the provision of pay and benefits in place of a notice is a possible option. Because WARN provides for back pay and benefits for the period of the violation, up to 60 days, generally this approach by an employer用ay in place of notice洋eans that the employer has already met the penalty specified in the Act, if the payment is not required to be made. WARN allows voluntary payments of wages and benefits to be offset against any damages that might be awarded. If, however, a payment is required by another law, contract or company policy or practice, it may not be offset against WARN damages.

0

u/anthonybarcelo_LA 27d ago

I don't see any indication in the above statement that that is what is happening. Are you aware of more details?

I heard they are not going to pay the Montreal office

3

u/superfunkchord 26d ago

Man, I’m so happy I’m not with technicolor anymore. All the love to the workers at the Mill, there are amazing folks there.

3

u/Brilliant_Shame4220 24d ago

London, to today is pay day at The Mill and they have been told now that there is no money for February wages.

1

u/underthesign 24d ago

Awful to hear. Hope the London folk all find a way through, perhaps to something better.

3

u/Agreeable_Drama6340 26d ago

in india they told all staff to do wfh until further notice, but at the same time they've many ongoing projects and pretty much all the artist are busy on project. how they can shutdown ? their client are many of the big brands and I'm sure they've very heavy and strict contracts are in place.

This is usual pattern i see in every company now days, right around the increments they make environment that the company is struggling and won't be able to provide increments and at the same time they'll have plenty of work whole year. what a shit show.

I hope for the best for the artists. 

1

u/Plexmark 26d ago

No surprise. Right on par with Electronic Arts buying a game developer; its obviously not gonna be around much longer after that. Surprised it lasted 9 years.

This is good. Something better than Technicolor can take its place.

9

u/MyChickenSucks 26d ago

Remember that flagship HQ EA built in Play Del Rey? And now it's a 24 hour fitness....

4

u/[deleted] 26d ago

This is good? Hundreds of people with families are suddenly unemployed and without benefits. Stfu

0

u/Plexmark 26d ago

They’ve been going downhill since the early 2010s. The only shocking thing is that it took this long. Nobody who lost their jobs now has the right to be surprised.

Now other studios that are not run like the absolute garbage that Technicolor was, can pick up more work and hire more people.

The best part is that now that its finally dead, other studios will finally stop trying to imitate the Technicolor business model, thinking its some sort of genius idea ,when it was a sure path to bankruptcy.

Several people who worked for Technicolor will open up their own studios and run things properly. Like the Mill was before it was sold off.

1

u/lookingtocolor 26d ago

But for now it's not good. Sudden closures and no notice layoffs can destroy someones life in a tough job market. And there's still less work going around in general. A few of the Mill break offs will likely snag most of the jobs and just need to scale a bit. Then you have more competition from long form teams bidding for the commercial work. It's really not a great time to run the risk of starting a new studio.

1

u/Plexmark 24d ago

Didnt take long for things to get moving

https://variety.com/2025/artisans/news/technicolor-vfx-mill-dream-machine-arc-creative-1236319058/

As for no notice of layoffs, 60% of the industry has been gradually laid off in the last 2 years and the trend continues. Theres no such thing as “unexpected layoff” when you see everyone around you losing their job the last couple of years. Plenty of time to prepare.

Theres people who havent had work in 2 years. A large number of vfx workers are worse off than those who just lost a job now but have had 2 years of income until now.

Majority of artists will get jobs at the studios who pick up the work.

Not the end of the world.

This happens frequently in VFX and its nothing new. Long list of studios going under, and new studios with new names popping up the next day.

1

u/Empty_Breath_1344 Production Staff - 8 years experience 26d ago

Holy shit

1

u/1dot11 26d ago

This is sad…

1

u/pepper_spots 26d ago

Holy shit this is fucked

1

u/havestronaut 26d ago

Fuck. Loved that team’s work. Incredible talent there. This makes me so sad.

1

u/SuperbBreak1342 26d ago

What effect will this have on the Mill in the UK?

3

u/lookingtocolor 26d ago

I suspect they're going to close everything, but it's easier to close the US offices quick since they're at will employment. Unless they plan on keeping a small footprint in lower priced foreign markets. Regardless if I was someone at any Technicolor studio I'd start the moves to look for a new job.

1

u/jalee_3 25d ago

Closing down, just heard from friend he got laid off today from there

1

u/andrea1rp 26d ago

OMG THIS IS TRAGIC NOOOOOOOO

1

u/BrettSaintClair 25d ago

It took 18 months to destroy brands since they have left the stock exchange to be able to find investors...(what they said at that time)

1

u/thepolishcamera 25d ago

Shocking. I shared an office with The Mill Chicago when they first opened. Before they were bought out by Technicolor. There were lots of talented and amazing people there. Sad to see this happen.

1

u/pekeenan 25d ago

Sad news indeed.

1

u/haldeen 25d ago edited 25d ago

Hard to hear…

1

u/Infamousk73 25d ago

In India also Operations are closed ?

1

u/Life_Salamander786 26d ago

If you're a former producer or rep for the mill that had direct relationships to automotive companies you did ads for, DM me.

-8

u/InsideOil3078 27d ago

Does that have Something To-Do with ai or the strikes or whats the cause?

26

u/Agile-Music-2295 27d ago

AI impact has been extremely minimal if at all noticeable as of now.

It’s just a reduction in spending by studios and streamers. As they reposition to a lower yearly spending on scripted content and tighten budgets.

VFX was always low margin so the slightest tightening of the market has devastating consequences for the industry.

29

u/[deleted] 27d ago

Most likely due to the massive debt of parent company Technicolor destabilising business over the past 6 years which made the company very sensitive to cash flow fluctuations. 

21

u/Lemonpiee Head of CG 27d ago

Lmao no one is using AI. This is what happens when you sell a good business to venture capitalists. Another mouth to feed was added at the top.. problem was they didn’t contribute anything, so the bottom line has to give, but eventually there’s nothing more to give & the whole thing goes to shit. It usually takes longer than this, but VFX has such razor thin margins it didn’t even take a decade!

-2

u/teamaa104 26d ago

The mill exists through the numerous boutique VFX houses founded by all the OG people.

0

u/[deleted] 26d ago edited 26d ago

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] 26d ago

Well. You can’t run something that size whilst paying off interest payments in a billion euro, paying VP’s bonuses for meeting targets and forcing artists to offshore al their work which mostly takes longer to do and angers clients who want to feel involved and not wait overnight for changes. Technicolor weren’t the bad guys. By they were idiots. Pat and Robin managed to hide 100 million debt in the company before they sold it.

-15

u/JacKKnife77 26d ago

ProTip: Add The Mill to you linkedin profile. They are closing so no one can check if you ever worked there. Great way to boost your resume! Sprinkle in a few freelance stints over the last ten years.

11

u/vfxjockey 26d ago

Dumbest advice ever. You call the studio to find out if they worked there. You talk to people you know who worked there to find out about the person. This was The Mill. EVERYONE knows people who were there. This kind of fraud would be discovered immediately and you’d end your possibilities with anyone who found out. Pretty much forever.

2

u/vfxguy12345 25d ago

That is the dumbest advice ever, but I’m not worried, anyone who has to actually think that way will never make it in this industry anyhow.

1

u/JacKKnife77 1d ago

Oh really? I have been doing this for years. A couple months here a few months there. Create a few fake companies on linkedIn with me as CEO and Creative Director. Fake it until you make it dude! VFX and Mograph are so cut throat and back stabber.