INTERVIEW!

•⁠  ⁠Why did you decide to set up Finally!?

Gary: We had been talking about it for ages. As the creative industry gets dumbed down by the scale of the big holding companies and the volumes they need to sustain them we felt more and more unsettled. Now we are getting empirical evidence that programmatic spend isn’t as effective as brand building we feel craft is back in fashion. Unlike Matt’s hair.

Matt: I would say the industry model was evolving, we saw that a gap was emerging for a boutique, nimble, low overhead, fully cloud based offering and we exploited that gap as we are astute business people and we move quickly when opportunity presents itself. But actually I lost my job as part of an agency buy out and didn’t really have anything else to do so thought this sounded ok.

•⁠  ⁠⁠Why the name “Finally!"?

Gary: As in “what took you so long?”. Seemed right.

Matt: Yeah, in all seriousness, the three of us have talked of doing something together for years and we finally got around to it and the timing is absolutely right. And we like being able to say “Finally! We’re here.”

•⁠  ⁠⁠Why this particular model, and why Thailand specifically for VFX?

Gary: The pandemic normalised remote working which opens up so many possibilities to harness talent from anywhere in the world. That obviously comes with cost savings which allows us to compete at every level. Matt has been running large VFX teams out of Bangkok for 18 years so the network was already established and we knew the talent. Plus I like the food and Matt couldn’t be arsed moving.

Matt: The traditional post model is now very outdated. We don’t need to carry the large overheads of expensive legacy equipment, maintenance contracts, server rooms, big suites with comfy sofas that no one sits on anymore. We’ve, well, I’ve, built a global network of talent, we have them all connected via our cloud network, we are nimble, we put the right team in place for each job and you - the client - is only paying for what you need and not paying for stuff you don’t need and won’t use.

Gary: You sound like a real team player there.

Matt: Ok, I built a network of talent for us….as a team.

•⁠  ⁠⁠You were both colourists in your heydays, who was better?

Gary: A Swedish director once asked me if I was the best colourist in London. I told him I wasn’t even the best colourist in my family.

Matt: I’ve worked with Sylvester Stallone and Jean Claude Van Damme. Gary didn’t really do much except fancy pack shots.

Gary: Didn’t Stallone threaten to punch your lights out he was that happy (with a one-light!). I would have done it and had the story for ever.

Matt: No, I had been grading dailies for weeks and he was happy with the look, then one morning I got a call that he wanted to change the look completely, and that meant starting again. 13 cameras, 20,000-35,000 feet per day. I offered to fight him. Not like you to mix up a story.

•⁠  ⁠⁠Who’s funniest?

Gary: Neither. The mystery third person is way funnier than us.

Matt: That is true.

•⁠  ⁠⁠Why the secrecy over the third partner?

Gary: It was initially a respect thing. “They” are contracted elsewhere and “they” wanted to remain fully focussed. Very honourable.

Matt: Yeah, plus respect for their current employer as they finish up their contract. We can’t wait to publicly reveal him/her as it is going to create quite a stir. Not long to go now.

•⁠  ⁠⁠Highlight of your career?

Gary: Hopefully this, but I was very proud when the packshot I graded made it into a Tango ad when I was an assistant.

Matt: See? I told you! 

My highlight was definitely convincing a director to go with black & white, thereby winning a bet I had with Gary as to who could achieve that first. That was a good day, I finished really early.

•⁠  ⁠⁠Lowpoint of your career / biggest challenge?

Gary: Don’t know but I just hope it’s already happened. Biggest challenge is remaining relevant. We are tapping into this artisan movement in the industry which is as relevant as it gets right now.

Matt: Spending two hours in an almost deserted cinema to watch all the way to the end of Rambo 4 waiting to see my grading credit as I spent six hard months working 12-18 hour days on it. I saw all the VFX people go by - surely it is coming now? Then five minutes later we got to warehouse maid, second warehouse maid - surely I am coming soon? Maybe post people come around again after all the cleaning staff? On-set sandwich maker. Assistant on-set sandwich maker. I think you can guess the rest of the story. (In case you can’t, I was missed out, boooooo!)

•⁠  ⁠⁠Where do you see the industry going?

Gary: the rise of the networks has left a really fertile space for independent creative boutiques so we’re really excited by that.

Matt: What he said sounded clever so I’ll go with that. But rest assured wherever the future goes Finally! will go too! There, that sounded clever too. Or maybe just cheesy. Yeah, total cheese. 

•⁠  ⁠⁠Is AI going to fuck us?

Gary: No but someone who understands AI will.

Matt: You always say that.