shots Awards 2015: Post Company of the Year

With the winners for November's shots Awards already announced we take time to talk to the gold winners, Andreas Nilsson, Phil Crowe (ECD, The Mill LA), Gustav Johansson (Director -UN World Food Programme 805 Million Names), Zak Razvi (Best New Director, Jordanne) and Stéphane Xiberras (CCO and president, BETC Paris, Canal+: The Stone) about their awards and the secrets behind their creative success.

Post Production Company Of The Year: The Mill Los Angeles

It’s an impressive body of work from over the last 12 months; can you feel, over a period of time, when the company is really firing on all cylinders?

Phil Crowe [ECD]: There’s definitely a heightened level of excitement you feel when we get great projects to collaborate on. Being in the privileged position to work with some of the best directors, clients and brands on the planet pushes us to strive for creative excellence and high production values. Every month we have an internal showcase of our work where each member of the project presents the work in front of the whole team for a much-deserved cheer.

To what do you attribute the office’s continued success?

Everyone at The Mill LA has drive and very high standards. Combine this with a loyal roster of clients, and everybody striving to do the best work of their lives, and it’s inspiring. There is never a sense of resting on our laurels. The eclectic range of people and skills here also breeds a unique atmosphere and culture.

With access to the best technology more and more democratised, how important (and how hard) is finding and nurturing young post production talent becoming?

A bunch of us started at The Mill as runners. I left college on a Thursday and was a runner at The Mill by the Monday – and we are still employing and promoting runners in the same way today. Everyone here has the same values and those definitely include looking out for upcoming talent and helping people to learn, grow and expand their skills. The growth of new technology is only a positive thing, as it gives us the opportunity to draw on fresh talent, inspiration and new work. An example of this is the remarkable VR we are collaborating on, with projects such as Google ATAP. They really push us, and our work, to the limit.

The cities of London and New York are often seen as the centres of commercial post and production; do you think that duopoly is being challenged?

I think so. Los Angeles gives us access to the incredible array of top-notch directors who are based here. I’ve gathered creative relationships on my journey from London to Los Angeles (via New York) which has resulted in the some of work coming out of LA now. We are also seeing incredible work coming from Portland and San Francisco – our location allows us to strengthen existing relationships and create collaborations while these locations grow in their own right.

Is there a friendly rivalry between The Mill’s various offices across the globe?

There is a tremendous sense of shared culture and teamwork across the group. This is partly as a result of the fact that so many of us have moved between locations and we also have a well-resourced team working on a global level to match our clients’ ambitions. But yeah, of course there’s a friendly rivalry! I started out in London but have spent eight years on a mission to create something special in LA. The fact that Darren O’Kelly, managing director of London, picked up the award on our behalf makes it just that bit sweeter… Thanks Daz!

What does winning Post Production Company of the Year at the shots Awards mean to you?

It means an awful lot. This level of recognition for all our efforts and work is fantastic and is a credit to everyone here. It just reaffirms the loyalty and passion of every person at The Mill LA and our relationships with our clients. We couldn’t be prouder and while it feels like it cements the fact that we are doing this right... in a weird way it also makes us want to try even harder.