Post Profile: Ludo Fealy

Starting out as a runner at Rushes in the early 90s, Ludo Fealy’s first intentions were to become a director. But, as he tells Ryan Watson he soon became seduced by the ‘dark arts’ of post and, following glory at Rushes, Glassworks and MPC, the VFX supervisor hasco-founded a post house intent on breaking the mold

Climb the stairs to the fourth floor at Radiant House on Mortimer Street, home of nineteentwenty London, and you’ll be greeted by a welcoming open space, friendly smiles and a most excellent cup of coffee that would give the nearby Soho cafes a run for their money. Spend some time at the young VFX house and you’ll learn that the bulk of work on the company’s reel is just as tasty.

All of these elements could lead you to believe that it had been around for years but the fact is that VFX supervisor and co-founder Ludo Fealy only started the company with partners Scott Griffin and Chrys Aldred in November 2013 and has since completed notable work for clients including Canon, Cobra, Kia and the Haig Club whisky spot Together, which was directed by Guy Ritchie through adam&eveDDB and stars David Beckham, who also helped develop the brand. 

The post is about the people

Speaking to Fealy about his wider career, it’s obvious that being schooled at some of the industry’s biggest players – Rushes, Glassworks and MPC – has had a big effect on the lifelong Londoner, who once had dreams of being an RAF pilot and a rock star before finding his feet in post production. “I got an interview and a job as a runner at Rushes in 1992 when I was 25,” he remembers. “I had aspirations to direct but when I got to Rushes it opened up to me a new world that I didn’t know existed. I didn’t have a clue about those places and that films were taken somewhere to be polished. I think people are more aware of it now but back in that time it was a bit of a dark art.”

Fealy remembers Rushes as an “amazing place to work”. It had produced music videos for the likes of Michael Jackson, Madonna and Billy Joel and he got to complete such acclaimed jobs there as the 1999 Ford Cougar spot Easy Driver, starring Dennis Hopper. He stayed for eight and a half years then moved to Glassworks, where he was encouraged to experiment with his craft. “There was the sense you could do anything”.

Spending the best part of five years at Glassworks, MPC was next to come knocking on his door and with a growing contingent of people he had previously worked with, including then head of production, Graham Bird, head of 2D, Bill McNamara, and colourist, Mark Gethin, for Fealy the move had an inevitability about it. “I got the best piece of advice during my time at Rushes when David Campbell was managing director,” he reveals. “He said ‘post production’s the simplest business in the world. It’s just about the people. If you get the right people in you win and that’s it.’”

It’s something he’s kept with him and continues to reinforce his belief that having good staff will mean the work takes care of itself. “You can have the biggest, most posh place with all the kit you want but if you haven’t got the people there to attract clients it’s just not going to happen,” Fealy states.

In the case of nineteentwenty the right people are split between London and Bristol, the latter being where a bigger, separate office is based. “It’s about three times bigger than London and the price of running it is cheaper,” he explains. “The plan is to keep London relatively small but keep growing the Bristol office and the two are linked with a dedicated line.” The idea is to expand the Bristol operation and fill it with more creative seats to keep costs low and pass those savings on to clients. The company’s plan is to send people from London to Bristol because it’s important that it has the same standard and level of work that people have come to expect from the city. “I think if you’ve worked in post in London you understand what that level is and if you haven’t it’s going to be harder,” Fealy muses. “Going back to how we learnt has to be passed on to someone. Once we’ve got that in place it’ll be easier to recruit in the surrounding area, because there is a good pool of talent down there.”

Nuke ways of working

Walking around the London HQ’s suites reveals another way in which the company is keen to adopt new ways of working. It has invested in the ever-evolving Nuke Studio as opposed to Flame, which Fealy stopped using around three years ago. “[Flame] was a fantastic, robust system and changed visual effects when it came out almost overnight, but then I think they got carried away and unrealistic about the amount they were charging for software and maintenance costs,” he says. “It was just a numbers game; do we buy one Flame licence or ten Nuke licences and we opted for the latter.”

Just like its unconventional London-Bristol model, nineteentwenty could be considered somewhat of an innovator and it’s this fresh approach that is bound to continue its success.