Coffee&TV Announces New VFX Arm

Soho VFX Company, Coffee&TV, has announced its investment in a new arm providing VFX to the television drama and factual programming market. Award-winning Creative Director, Simon Clarke, joins from Prime Focus and will run the new venture with former Prime Focus Managing Director, Simon Briggs.

It will operate out of both Coffee&TV’s Kingly Street office and a new 20-seat studio in Bristol, which is due to open in May and will combine Maya, NukeX and Adobe workstations.

Clarke joins having previously delivered many high-end projects such as BBC One’s Super Sized Earth, BBC Wonders of the Solar System and The History Channel’s World War II from Space, which won him an Emmy for ‘Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction’ and the RTS award for ‘Graphic Design – Programme Content Sequence’.

On joining Coffee&TV, Clarke said, “I’m really excited to be joining such a group of talented individuals. If ever there was a premier side fantasy football league in VFX this is it, I couldn’t have hand picked a better team of artists to work with that have an untold passion for their profession and huge experience in creating outstanding work for both long and short form television.’

He added, “The co-location model with London and Bristol in the UK and our extended partners in Canada provides an easily scalable model and cost advantage for our clients across a range of projects from Broadcast and Commercials to Live Events and Installation Projects.’

Briggs joins as a Director of Coffee&TV and will have a remit to not only deliver the performance of the new venture but also to operate across the business as a whole.

He commented, “What these guys hit upon when they set up was very smart. A shrewd investment in the right kit, a refreshing approach to client needs and expectations and a reiteration of the key asset in any business – the quality of the people.’

“I’m excited to be coming into such a vibrant and dynamic company, to work with what are talented and experienced guys whom I’ve known for many years, and to be able to bring my experience and ideas not just to the new venture but to the core business as well. ‘

Created by founding co-partners Derek Moore, Phil Hurrell, John Trussler and Chris Chard, Coffee & TV was originally set up to offer high-end visual effects to the commercials, branding and on-air markets.

On the new appointments, Managing Director and co-founder, Derek Moore said, ‘Our philosophy from day one was to collaborate with only the very best people. In both Simon Clarke and Simon Briggs we are continuing this approach. They are both outstanding at what they do and their respective skills will perfectly complement what we already do.’

Coffee & TV has recently completed spots for H&M, La Perla and Colmans.