Creative content company Alkemy X has made several key hires in its award-winning VFX division: VFX supervisor Steve Sanchez, VFX supervisor Gabriel Regentin, senior VFX producer Caitlyn Tomasik, VFX pipeline manager/R&D lead Luiz Garrido, compositor Alejandro Monzon, and VFX production coordinator Mitch Campbell. The new posts are based in the company’s New York office.
“Demand for our VFX capabilities for feature films and episodic television has significantly increased over the past 18 months,” said Bob Lowery, Alkemy X VP of business development, VFX. “And on the heels of recently opening a new state-of-the-art studio in New York City, we’re able to better accommodate our ever-growing staff and volume of work, as well as scale for bigger jobs as needed with freelancers.”
Alkemy X’s recent feature film projects include M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller Split, which was the no. 1 film at the U.S. Box Office for three consecutive weeks; and the recent Hulu documentary Batman & Bill; as well as a number of TV series, including Blindspot for NBC, Time After Time for ABC, Frequency for the CW, and Power for STARZ, as well as several high-profile pilots currently in the works.
The new hires also reportedly extend Alkemy X’s reach in the realm of brand and commercial work, as seen with recent VFX jobs for GEICO via The Martin Agency, and a 360° experiential film project for EY, with its newest creative director Geoff Bailey at the helm.
“By expanding our visual effects resources, Alkemy X’s end-to-end commercial production capabilities are getting a major upgrade, especially with Geoff’s multidisciplinary background and extensive VFX knowledge,” said Lowery. “And with him working closely alongside our longtime CG supervisor Dave Zeevalk, we can create more holistically and efficiently across the entertainment and advertising landscape.”
Sanchez comes to Alkemy X with a VFX career spanning 2D art and digital compositing. Working with the likes of ILM, MPC (London), Framestore, and Method Studios, he has recently overseen such projects as Time After Time and the GEICO campaign.
Regentin brings more than 16 years in design, motion graphics and VFX for broadcast, commercial and feature film projects. As an independent compositor, senior compositor and project lead, he has worked with some of the top New York studios, such as Framestore, Method Studios, FuseFX, Psyop, and Imaginary Forces. Recent film and TV credits include The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Winter’s Tale, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and Focus, HBO’s The Leftovers and True Detective, NBC’s Blacklist and Blindspot, and Starz’s Power.
Tomasik’s diverse television career began with an internship at Late Night with Conan O’Brien in New York. Prior to Alkemy X, she was a commercial producer at Reel FX, who notably produced two CG spots for Super Bowl XLV; and as a senior producer at Spontaneous, she oversaw VFX, design and CG for numerous ad campaigns for beauty brands.
With 15 years of VFX experience under his belt, Garrido will be tasked with overseeing Alkemy X’s visual effects infrastructure, including the development of in-house pipelines and technology systems to optimize production resources.
Campbell brings a decade of TV episodic and production experience to Alkemy X. His TV credits include Gossip Girl, Skins and Orange is the New Black, including both writing and producing credits in Los Angeles and New York. He first connected with Alkemy X while working on NBC’s Do No Harm in Philadelphia, and continued to build a relationship as a VFX client while working on HBO’s The Leftovers and Starz’s Power in New York.
For the past decade, Monzon has excelled at motion graphics and visual effects for studios like MLB.com, Framestore, Psyop, Method, Prologue, 1st Ave Machine, Eyeball NYC, Digital Kitchen, and Hogarth Worldwide. He has worked on award-winning commercials, feature films, episodics, viral marketing campaigns, and museum/exhibit installations, as well as an augmented reality magazine.
