EXCLUSIVE: British visual effects outfit Union is launching its first international studio in Montreal, Canada, as it looks to expand the services it offers its clients in feature film and high-end television.
The new studio, which comes as Union enters its 15th year, is based in a refurbished industrial building called Le Nordelec between Griffintown and Pointe-Saint-Charles. Union is in the process of recruiting technical, creative and production roles across all levels for its Canadian team.
Founded by Adam Gascoyne and Tim Caplan in 2008, Union has grown from strength to strength and has fast become a top player in the London VFX scene. The fully independent studio has worked across a raft of projects from top talents such as Sam Mendes, Martin McDonagh, Danny Boyle and Stephen Frears. In the last three years, Union has invested heavily in expanding its CG team, delivering VFX on projects including Apple TV+’s For All Mankind, Netflix series The Irregulars, John Madden’s Operation Mincemeat, Prime Video’s Wheel of Time, Disney+’s Moon Knight, HBO Max’s Pennyworth and Oscar-nominated title The Banshees of Inisherin.
The company has also just completed work on Amazon’s nine-part sci-fi series The Power, starring Toni Collette, which launches tomorrow (March 31).
“Adam and I have backgrounds at bigger VFX studios and our plan with Union was to build a VFX company that had all the best bits from our experiences with the benefits and personability of an independent studio,” said Caplan of the group’s expansion to Montreal. “Over the last 15 years we have definitely achieved this in London and, with the ongoing upturn in film and TV projects globally, the time is right to do the same in another region.
“We decided on Montreal pre-pandemic. It’s the perfect place ideally positioned for us to work with clients across multiple time zones with an incredible pool of local VFX talent and a generous tax relief system. All of this, plus finding a brilliant studio space made it a no-brainer. We are all hugely excited about this next chapter for Union.”
