The Mill (company)

Technicolor Creative Studios UK Limited

Trade name	The Mill
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Visual effects
Founded	1990; 34 years ago (1990)
Founders	Robin Shenfield and Pat Joseph
Headquarters	11–14 Windmill Street London W1T 2JG United Kingdom
Number of locations	6 total in the UK, US, Germany, and India
Parent	Technicolor Group
Website	www.themill.com

Technicolor Creative Studios UK Limited, doing business as The Mill, is a British VFX production company and creative studio headquartered in London, England, with three offices in the United States (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago), three others in Europe (Paris, Amsterdam & Berlin) and three in Asia (Shanghai, Seoul and Bangalore). It is owned by Technicolor Group. The Mill produces real-time visual effects, animation, moving images, design, experiential, and digital projects for the advertising, games, and music industries.

In January 2022, Josh Mandel became President of The Mill after having initially joined The Mill's studio in Los Angeles as Managing Director/President in 2019 and becoming Chief Executive Officer in January 2021.

History

Founding

In 1990, Robin Shenfield and Pat Joseph opened The Mill in Soho, London. Starting as a visual effects house for the advertising industry, it was the first VFX company in Europe to use exclusively digital methods.^[1][2]

Global operations

2002 saw The Mill open a studio in New York, becoming the first UK visual effects house to do so. The extension of operations to the US was successful, with the company growing to employ over 100 staff by 2009.

The Mill was also launched in Los Angeles in 2007 – the first UK visual effects house to open on the West Coast – and the new venture was highly successful.

In 2013 The Mill opened a new office in Chicago, sharing its premises with editorial house The Whitehouse in the Courthouse Place building.^[3]

In 2022 The Mill opened its studio in Seoul, and because of the unity with MPC Advertising, also expanded to open studios in Paris, Amsterdam and Shanghai.

Ownership

In 2011 The Mill was acquired by The Carlyle Group, who then sold it to Barclays Private Equity (later rebranded as Equistone Partners Europe).^[4] On 15 September 2015, Technicolor SA acquired The Mill for €259 million from Equistone.^[5]

In May 2020, the "Mill Film" section of the company was folded into the visual effects firm MR. X (another division of Technicolor - now known as MPC) in response to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while The Mill continued as a separate entity.^[6]

In January 2022, The Mill united with MPC Advertising to create one global studio network under The Mill brand. As a global studio The Mill made this change to scale up for a creative future, investing in new talent, production capabilities, and immersive technologies.

Current operations

Offerings

The Mill is involved in a range of visual effects and design projects in the commercial, gaming and music industries. The company's supervisors, producers and artists supported all stages of production, from pre-visualisation and conceptual artwork, shoot supervision, 3D, 2D and color grading through to delivery of the finished project.

Expanded offerings

Beam.tv was launched in 2002 as an online digital delivery and content management platform.^[7] Beam was originally established as an in-house FTP process to allow clients to review and approve visual-effects work being completed by The Mill in London. AdText.tv launched in 2008 for commercial subtitling.^[8]

Mill+ launched in 2013 as a creative studio focusing on motion graphics, design and animation.^[9]

BEAM.TV

BEAM.TV

Company type	Subsidiary
Headquarters	London, England , United Kingdom
Number of employees	125 (2011)
Parent	The Mill
Website	www.beam.tv

BEAM.TV is an online digital delivery and content management platform. Beam, still part of the Mill group, was established as an in-house FTP process following the making of the film Gladiator. This simple process enabled director Sir Ridley Scott to immediately review and approve visual effects work being completed by The Mill in London – while he was still shooting in Malta. This required a real-time digital platform with a toolset that would instinctively serve the demands of the filmmaking process.

In 2011 Beam has over 125 people working in London, New York City and Los Angeles.

Beam distributes almost half of all UK television commercials^{[citation needed]} and is the exclusive partner to Unilever for the international distribution of all its television commercials worldwide.

Beam has developed bespoke systems to manage the entry and judging processes for international advertising awards, including Cannes Lions, BTAA (British Arrows) and The ANDY's.^{[citation needed]}

As part of Technicolor Creative Studios, Beam now has locations in Shanghai, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, New York and Seoul.

Filmography

Feature films

• Hilary and Jackie (1998)
• Gladiator (2000)
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
• Black Hawk Down (2001)
• Cats & Dogs (2001)
• The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
• Dredd (2012)
• Ghost In The Shell (2017)
• Bumblebee (2018)
• Detective Pikachu (2019)
• Da 5 Bloods (2020)
• Love and Monsters (2020)
• In The Heights (2021)
• C'mon C'mon (2021)

Television

• Band of Brothers (2001)
• ITV “1” idents (2006)
• BBC Two curve idents (2018–)
• BBC – 2020 Summer Olympics
• Doctor Who (2005-2011)
• Torchwood (2006-2009)
• The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007-2011)
• Atlanta (2016-2022)
• Tales From The Loop (2020-)
• Severance (2022-)

Music videos

• The Chemical Brothers - Wide Open (2015)
• Jay-Z – The Story of O.J. (2017)
• Cashmere Cat – Emotions and For Your Eyes Only (2019)
• FKA Twigs – Sad Day (2019)
• Dua Lipa – Hallucinate (2020)
• Doja Cat and the Weeknd – You Right (2021)
• Kanye West – Hurricane (2021)
• Calvin Harris, Dua Lipa and Young Thug – Potion (2022)
• Megan Thee Stallion – Plan B (2022)
• Calvin Harris, Justin Timberlake, Halsey, and Pharrell Williams – Stay with Me (2022)

Commercials

• Bud Light (2011)
• Xfinity – X1 (2015)
• John Lewis – The Boy & The Piano (2018)
• Ridley Scott's Hennessy – Seven Worlds (2019)
• PlayStation – The Last of Us pt. II (2020)
• Burberry – Festive (2020)
• Smart Energy – Einstein (2021)
• Verizon – The Reset (2021)
• Paramount+ – Journey to the Peak (2021)

Awards

Film and Television

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Notes
2001	Academy Awards	Best Visual Effects	Gladiator	Won	[10]
2004	MTV Video Music Awards	Best Visual Effects	"Walkie Talkie Man" by Steriogram	Nominated
2006	Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards	Visual Effects – Digital Effects	Doctor Who (series 2)	Nominated	[11]
2007	British Academy Television Craft Awards	Visual Effects	Doctor Who	Nominated	[12]
2008	British Academy Television Craft Awards	Visual Effects	Doctor Who ("Voyage of the Damned")	Nominated	[13]
2009	British Academy Television Craft Awards	Visual Effects	Doctor Who ("The Fires of Pompeii")	Won	[14][15]
2009	Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards	Visual Effects – Digital Effects	Doctor Who ("The Next Doctor")	Won	[16]
2010	British Academy Television Craft Awards	Visual Effects	Doctor Who ("The Fires of Pompeii")	Nominated	[17]
2010	British Academy Television Craft Awards	Visual Effects	Merlin	Nominated	[17]
2010	Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards	Visual Effects – Digital Effects	Merlin ("The Last Dragonlord")	Nominated	[18]
2011	British Academy Television Craft Awards	Visual Effects	Merlin	Won	[19][20]
2011	British Academy Television Craft Awards	Visual Effects	Doctor Who	Nominated	[19]
2011	MTV Video Music Awards	Best Visual Effects	"Don't Turn the Lights On" by Chromeo	Nominated
2011	Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards	Visual Effects – Digital Effects	Doctor Who ("A Christmas Carol")	Nominated	[21]
2012	British Academy Television Craft Awards	Visual Effects	Sinbad ("Pilot")	Nominated	[22]
2013	British Academy Television Craft Awards	Visual Effects & Graphic Design	Doctor Who	Nominated	[23]
2020	Emmy Awards	Visual Effects	Tales From The Loop	Nominated

References

1. "History - the Mill". Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
2. The Mill: Europe's First Fully Digital VFX House, Animation World Network, 5 June 2003
3. Goldrich, Robert. "The Mill Opens Chicago Studio Under Aegis of Executive Producer Jared Yeater". ShootOnline. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
4. "Barclays Private Equity acquires The Mill, the market leading visual effects company, from The Carlyle Group for £119m". Equistone Partners Europe. 19 April 2011.
5. "TECHNICOLOR ACQUIRES VISUAL EFFECTS LEADER IN ADVERTISING THE MILL FOR €259 MILLION". Technicolor SA. 15 September 2015.
6. Milligan, Mercedes (29 May 2020). "Technicolor Folds Mill Film into Mr. X in Response to COVID-19 Crisis".
7. "Beam.tv". www.beam.tv.
8. "Adtext - Add value, Adtext". www.adtext.tv.
9. "The Mill | Creating the extraordinary | VFX | Colour | Design | AR | VR | Animation | Experiential | Directors". The Mill.
10. "Q&A: Oscar-winning digital trickery". BBC. 6 July 2001.
11. "RTS CRAFT AND DESIGN WINNERS 2006". Royal Television Society.
12. "BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2007". British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
13. "BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2008". British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
14. "Bafta craft awards 2009: full list of winners". The Guardian. 18 May 2009.
15. "BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2009". British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
16. "RTS CRAFT AND DESIGN WINNERS 2009". Royal Television Society.
17. "BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2010". British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
18. "RTS CRAFT AND DESIGN WINNERS 2010". Royal Television Society.
19. "BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2011". British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
20. "Bafta Craft awards: BBC Wales wins five prizes". BBC. 9 May 2011.
21. "RTS ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF CRAFT & DESIGN AWARDS 2011". Royal Television Society.
22. "RTS ANNOUNCES WINNERS FOR CRAFT & DESIGN AWARDS 2012". Royal Television Society.
23. "BAFTA Awards: Television Craft in 2013". British Academy of Film and Television Arts.