Ascent Media announced that Santa Monica based Riot and Method are officially combining operations beginning January 1st. Method will be moving its operations into the current Riot location — and the facility will do business under the Method name. A trip by the facility this week shows that the Riot sign has already been removed from the front facade. Alex Frisch, co-founder and managing director of Method, will continue overseeing the Los Angeles and New York operations of Method.
This was actually somewhat foreshadowed back in October, when Method and Company 3 announced a collaborative partnership between the two companies. While not necessarily a direct response to the current economic conditions, the current move does make sense in that the merging of the two very similar companies could yield cost savings for Ascent.
The next logical question would be that in this economic downturn — do the benefits also include cost savings such as artist or staff layoffs? It’s a question we posed to Ascent. “The primary goal of bringing Riot and Method under one name is to streamline services and provide a consistently high level of service to our clients,” says Stefan Sonnenfeld, Senior Vice President, Ascent Media Group and President & Managing Director, Company 3. “We will also continually look for ways to improve efficiencies, however, we are not yet in a position to discuss any staffing changes that may arise as part of the consolidation.”
For the full press release, click through….
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – December 11, 2008 – Ascent Media Group announced that beginning January 1, 2009, two of its boutique visual effects studios, Riot and Method, will unite operations under the Method name, to offer clients unmatched services for the delivery of high-end visual effects for commercials, music videos and feature films.
“By uniting our boutique visual effects studios we are better positioned to provide our clients with the best talent and creative services in the market,” said Jose Royo, CEO of Ascent Media Group. “This move will allow us to better offer our clients the most innovative, industry leading solutions in a rapidly changing advertising and media space.”
Method recently opened its office in New York and will unveil a new, state-of-the-art New York facility in the spring. Industry veteran Aron Hjartarson, previously Head of 3D at The Mill NY, will assume the role of creative director, and Matt Hackett will act as animation supervisor in New York. In addition, Gabby Gourrier, who spent nine years at Digital Domain and helped to open The Mill LA, has come onboard as Senior Executive Producer/VP. Gabby will be working closely with Helen Hughes, who joins as executive producer and director of production. Helen has produced numerous award-winning commercials including Nike’s “The Next Level” with Guy Ritchie.
Method’s operations in Los Angeles will be located at what was formerly Riot’s Santa Monica facility. Andy Boyd will serve as the new Head of 3D at Method Studios in Los Angeles. Andy brings a wealth of industry experience as the former Head of 3D at Framestore and a recipient of the 2006 Cannes Lion Awards for the Guinness NoitulovE commercial.
Alex Frisch, co-founder and managing director of Method, will continue overseeing Los Angeles and New York operations. Since Method’s opening in 1998, Alex has provided creative leadership and produced high-end visual effects. The integrated operations in both Los Angeles and New York will bolster Method’s unique, collaborative partnership with Company 3, which provides clients around the world with a full spectrum of state-of-the-art post production services.
“The integration of Method and Riot gives us the unique ability to package our respective services and offer the highest level of artistry, the most technologically advanced equipment and the most efficient workflows managed by the best team in the business,” said Stefan Sonnenfeld, colorist and Company 3’s co-founder. “With Andy, Aaron and Matt’s significant creative accomplishments, we are building the best roster of talent in the industry.”
Maybe now that Method/Riot has laid off 30+ people they can get back to the business of making money. Or making half decent commercials – whichever comes first.
i thought these 2 companies hated each other.
Yep, lots of layoffs, some of which made absolutely no sense. The Managing Director was canned as well.
730 Arizona has had an interesting history: It was the home of Pacific Ocean Post. POP as it was called in its last years got sold to 4MC in 1998. 4MC became eventually Ascent. A couple of people left 525 Post in August 1998 and started doing visual effects on the 4th floor of the 730 building. After months and months and an endless stream of meetings this visual effects department finally got a name: “method studios”. In July 1999 it moved into the former POP Animation (before that Buzz Effects) building on 1546 7th Street. 730 was entirely remodeled and became R!ot Pictures.
Andreas, I thought precision was your strength 😉 “A couple” was really four and you were
one of those four. It’s just quite said to see such a great company … well not being what
it used to be.
i think it was Neysa, Chris, Andreas and Jerry. is that right?