The Mill (company)


The Mill is a French visual effects production company of British origin and creative studio headquartered in Paris, France.
Formerly owned by a number of companies, after The Mill's parent company Technicolor Group had appointed administrators in February 2025. Only the French operations remain, having been acquired by the TransPerfect group. The 440 employees of The Mill in the United Kingdom are laid off, and the US operations are taken over by the employees.
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History

Founding

In 1990, Robin Shenfield and Pat Joseph opened The Mill in Soho, London. Starting as a visual effects house for the advertising industry, it was the first VFX company in Europe to use exclusively digital methods.

Global operations

2002 saw The Mill open a studio in New York, becoming the first UK visual effects house to do so. The extension of operations to the US was successful, with the company growing to employ over 100 staff by 2009.
The Mill was also launched in Los Angeles in 2007 – the first UK visual effects house to open on the West Coast – and the new venture was highly successful.
In 2013 The Mill opened a new office in Chicago, sharing its premises with editorial house The Whitehouse in the Courthouse Place building.
In 2022 The Mill opened its studio in Seoul, and because of the unity with MPC Advertising, also expanded to open studios in Paris, Amsterdam, Shanghai and Singapore.
On October 29, 2025, The Mill VFX relaunched, after being acquired by the language and AI company TransPerfect in April 2025. The company announced it was reopening offices in London and would also have locations in Seoul and Bangalore, with plans for the US, and with its Montréal, Mumbai and Shanghai studios set to restart operations and Beijing, Singapore, Toronto, and Vancouver studios set to start operations.

Ownership

In 2007, The Mill was acquired by The Carlyle Group, who then sold it to Barclays Private Equity in 2011. On 15 September 2015, Technicolor SA acquired The Mill for €259 million from Equistone.
In May 2020, the "Mill Film" section of the company was folded into the visual effects firm MR. X in response to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while The Mill continued as a separate entity.
Prior to Technicolor's collapse, The Mill was based in London, England and operated two offices in the United States, three others in Europe and four in Asia. The Mill produces real-time visual effects, animation, moving images, design, experiential, and digital projects for the advertising, games, and music industries.
In January 2022, Josh Mandel became President of The Mill after having initially joined The Mill's studio in Los Angeles as Managing Director/President in 2019 and becoming Chief Executive Officer in January 2021. At the same time, The Mill united with MPC Advertising to create one global studio network under The Mill brand. As a global studio The Mill made this change to scale up for a creative future, investing in new talent, production capabilities, and immersive technologies.
In February 2025, it was reported that The Mill's parent company had appointed administrators.
In March 2025, TransPerfect acquired the French assets of The Mill. In early April, The Mill opened its Singaporean studio.
On October 29, 2025, The Mill VFX relaunched, after being acquired by the language and AI company TransPerfect in April 2025. The company announced it was reopening offices in London and would also have locations in Seoul and Bangalore, with plans for the US, and with its Montréal, Mumbai and Shanghai studios set to restart operations and Beijing, Singapore, Toronto, and Vancouver studios set to start operations.

Current operations

Offerings

The Mill is involved in a range of visual effects and design projects in the commercial, gaming and music industries. The company's supervisors, producers and artists supported all stages of production, from pre-visualisation and conceptual artwork, shoot supervision, 3D, 2D and color grading through to delivery of the finished project.

Expanded offerings

Beam.tv was launched in 2002 as an online digital delivery and content management platform. Beam was originally established as an in-house FTP process to allow clients to review and approve visual-effects work being completed by The Mill in London. AdText.tv launched in 2008 for commercial subtitling.
Mill+ launched in 2013 as a creative studio focusing on motion graphics, design and animation.

BEAM.TV

BEAM.TV is an online digital delivery and content management platform. Beam, still part of the Mill group, was established as an in-house FTP process following the making of the film Gladiator. This simple process enabled director Sir Ridley Scott to immediately review and approve visual effects work being completed by The Mill in London – while he was still shooting in Malta. This required a real-time digital platform with a toolset that would instinctively serve the demands of the filmmaking process.
In 2011 Beam has over 125 people working in London, New York City and Los Angeles.
Beam distributes almost half of all UK television commercials and is the exclusive partner to Unilever for the international distribution of all its television commercials worldwide.
Beam has developed bespoke systems to manage the entry and judging processes for international advertising awards, including Cannes Lions, BTAA and The ANDY's.
As part of Technicolor Creative Studios, Beam now has locations in Shanghai, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, New York and Seoul.

Filmography

Feature films

Hilary and Jackie Gladiator Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Black Hawk Down Cats & Dogs The Count of Monte Cristo Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Dredd The Bronze Ghost In The Shell Bumblebee Detective Pikachu Da 5 Bloods Love and Monsters In The Heights

Television

Band of Brothers

Music videos

Commercials

Awards

; Film and Television
YearAwardCategoryWorkResultNotes
2001Academy AwardsBest Visual EffectsGladiatorWon
2004MTV Video Music AwardsBest Visual Effects"Walkie Talkie Man" by SteriogramNomitated
2006Royal Television Society Craft & Design AwardsVisual Effects – Digital EffectsDoctor Who Nomitated
2007British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor WhoNomitated
2008British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who Nomitated
2009British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who Won
2009Royal Television Society Craft & Design AwardsVisual Effects – Digital EffectsDoctor Who Won
2010British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor Who Nomitated
2010British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsMerlinNomitated
2010Royal Television Society Craft & Design AwardsVisual Effects – Digital EffectsMerlin Nomitated
2011British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsMerlinWon
2011British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsDoctor WhoNomitated
2011MTV Video Music AwardsBest Visual Effects"Don't Turn the Lights On" by ChromeoNomitated
2011Royal Television Society Craft & Design AwardsVisual Effects – Digital EffectsDoctor Who Nomitated
2012British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual EffectsSinbad Nomitated
2013British Academy Television Craft AwardsVisual Effects & Graphic DesignDoctor WhoNomitated
2020Emmy AwardsVisual EffectsTales From The LoopNominated