LONDON — Soho-based visual effects studio Union (www.unionvfx.com) has appointed Lucy Cooper managing director and Simon Hughes creative director. They will report directly to studio founders Tim Caplan and Adam Gascoyne.
Photo (L-R): Simon Hughes, Lucy Cooper, Tim Caplan & Adam Gascoyne
Cooper brings more than 20 years of creative industry experience to her new role, having worked in broadcast, film, TV and commercial post production and physical special effects. In 2008, she joined VFX software vendor The Foundry, where she spent eight years as a key member of the team that grew the company from 30 to 330-plus. She has been working at Union for over two years and is being promoted from her role as commercial and operations director, where she has been instrumental in facilitating the company’s recent expansion into new premises in Rathbone Place, London.
Over more than two decades, Hughes has amassed a breadth of creative and technical knowledge gained in both the UK and Canada at studios that include Cinesite, Image Engine, Double Negative, Clear Film, CIS/Rainmaker and now Union. His credit list includes work on the Academy Award-nominated District 9, for which he was honored with a Visual Effects Society award for “Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture.”
Since joining Union in 2012, Hughes has strengthened his reputation as a highly innovative and creative supervisor, working on a wide variety of projects, including Annihilation, Suffragette, Bridget Jones’ Baby, the multi-award-winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and most recently, Mamma Mia 2.
Union has grown from a staff of 51 to nearly 100 in the last 12 months. The studio’s credits include work on Annihilation, Victoria and Abdul, My Cousin Rachel, Trust, The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Mamma Mia 2.
“It’s been a very exciting year at Union working on some great projects and moving into our new space,” says Tim Caplan, Union co-founder. “Both Lucy and Simon have been key to making this happen and these appointments are in recognition of the roles they’ve taken on in our growing team. Both Adam and I will continue to rely on them to help us run and scale the business whilst ensuring we remain the company that Union has always set out to be.”