It goes without saying, Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter is a hub of interesting people doing interesting things. Producers, actors, directors, writers, and crew alike walk around like it’s no one’s business. The team at Stage 23, one of Australia’s leading visual effects companies, are no exception. With projects such as Ti West’s MaXXXine, Dev Patel’s Monkey Man and Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy on their books, it’s easy to see why.
Founded by multi-hyphenate Christian Debney and VFX supervisor Jonathan Hairman, the company was set up to unite Australia’s finest visual effects artists.
On a humid afternoon in Sydney, we caught up with Debney to hear about the rise and rise of Stage 23.
You have created one of Australia’s leading VFX companies. Obviously, that’s not an easy thing to do. How did you get this all started?
“My first job I ever had was making props. I made lightsabers for the Star Wars prequels in London.
“I then worked in set–building on films such as Sexy Beast, created the masks on V for Vendetta. Attack of the Clones brought me to Australia. After directing my first short – in 35mm – Good Luck Jeffrey Brown starring Kick Gurry, produced by Jacqui Louez, Jamie Hilton and Spectrum Films’ Josh Pomeranz. I directed a few music videos with Hilton and then headed home.
“I then worked as a director in London where I made music promos and commercials for a wide variety of clients including Coldplay, Simple Minds and Sophie Ellis Bextor. [sadly, however, he did not direct the Murder on the Dancefloor video.]
“To realise my vision for all these projects, I ran two VFX and animation studios in London with over 25 staff; culminating in being a Director of Animation under Danny Boyle for the London Olympics in 2012; before being called back to Australia by Pomeranz and Hilton to develop features. I’ll be forever grateful for that call, I now consider Australia my home. It’s a great industry here.
“Jonathan [Hairman], the co-owner of Stage 23, was also over there gaining invaluable experience in the industry. He was the primary supervisor on Our Brand is Crisis [2015 David Gordon Green film starring Sandra Bullock]. He worked at Framestore [a leading visual effects company] in London for ten years as a VFX supervisor and was Jonathan Glazer’s right hand man when it came to Flame. Jonathan also returned to Australia for work including at Sydney’s Animal Logic.
“We met working on Swinging Safari [2018 Stephan Elliott film] on the Gold Coast. It was very fun and very funny. Maybe even more funny than the movie. And then we decided to create a company together. We started with four employees and it kind of grew from there.”
How did you and Jonathan want to make this company different from all the other VFX houses out there?
“We are first and foremost artist-led. As a result of this, we put all of our resources in terms of time and money into things that will actually end up being seen by audiences, such as creative development and finesse.
“And with all the clients that we take on, we try to really listen and hone-in on their needs and wants as storytellers and filmmakers. Based on what these needs are, we will then determine the best visual effects approach for a specific project. From this point on, we also put a lot of time into concept and planning. We understand that making films and TV is expensive and time-consuming. As a result of this, we understand that it’s all about the quality of the final product.
“We are also a fairly diverse VFX company, in the sense that we also generate and develop our own content too. We employ development producers and writers to create stories and ideas for us.
“As the creative director of the company, I lead the charge in this area in terms of the projects we want to take on. A lot of these stories and projects are very genre based, such as sci- fi and horror. I’ve made a few short films such as STARSHIP which has been doing well on the festival circuit and won a fair few awards already [Best Animation Sydney Scifi, Best Animation at Australian Independent Film Festival, Best Animation at Liverpool Film Festival UK). It’s been selected for the Beverly Hills Film Festival next month.
“We have also been looking into the games space as a way of better understanding Unreal engine, which we now use in our pipeline. We’ve got one currently being developed which is based on Nick Butter [a British athlete who set the world record for completing a marathon in every country around the world]. In this game, you basically speed run through every country and face crazy challenges as you go. It’s in the demo stage. Our focus is on photorealistic environments, a knowledge we can utilise in areas like Virtual Production.”
What was it like working with Dev Patel on his directorial debut, Monkey Man?
“It was really great. We first started on Monkey Man two and a half years ago. I met Dev and had a lot of Zooms with him initially about his ideas for the project and where he wanted it to go. And the brilliant thing about him is that he is so collaborative. He’s got a vision and it’s a very specific vision. But he’s also open to all ideas.
“He worked with us closely on all stages of it. As I’d worked with Danny [Boyle] before on the London Olympics, and Dev obviously worked with him on Slumdog [Millionaire], he used a lot of film language that he learned from his time working with Danny. I could recognise this in the way that he spoke. So, there was a great short hand between us.
“I also just really liked the story. I thought it had heart, soul and grit. It was something I really connected with, and we went from there. The film’s been through a long process, and we’ve been through a long process with it. I’d say it’s the work I am most proud of as a company so far … I am yet to see it in full yet though, having finished it days before its premiere at SXSW. We couldn’t be happier with the response it’s gotten so far.
Where do you see the company going in the next five, ten years?
“I want us to be one of Australia’s leading go-to visual effects companies. I want us to have worked on and produced some sci- fi films, some adventure, some horror. I also think I have identified a gap in the market of adult animation, something like Final Fantasy or Love, Death, and Robots. I’d love to make something like that.”
What’s it like to watch the films and television you’ve worked on being out there in the world?
“It’s really nice to know your company has achieved something through the whole process that’s greater than all of you. It’s a cliché but we have a wonderful family of passionate talent people here at Stage 23. As artists ourselves, looking after and nurturing that family is the main focus for Jonathan and I.”
And with a full slate of upcoming work, it would seem that that’s a feeling Stage 23 are going to become even more familiar with.
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