Films boss finding Fantastic Fortunes
Oscar-winning film effects tycoon tells how British talent is blazing a lucrative trail in Hollywood – and why he clinched China deal
WHEN the British special effects group Framestore was sold to the Chinese in November, the £150million deal was met with dismay by some critics. The company – which produced visual effects for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them – is a jewel in the crown of the UK’s technology and creative industry.
From its advertising and pop video beginnings, the group has become a global leader in its field, working with directors such as Steven Spielberg, designing effects for the Harry Potter films and winning a string of awards including an Oscar in 2014 for the special effects on the George Clooney space drama Gravity.
Some think founder and chief executive Sir William Sargent could be back on the red carpet in Hollywood this year after its work on Fantastic Beasts, the latest Harry Potter spin-off.
Sargent is unapologetic about the Chinese deal. It was not just about money, he argues, because the Chinese didn’t offer the biggest cash bid – it’s all about the future of film and entertainment.
‘China and Asia will be an important part of the creative and financial health of the future of this company. The middle-class in China is now already 225million people and they want entertainment,’ he says. ‘Chinese box office takings have already surpassed that of America in the last quarter. But in visual effects, they don’t have the skill set.’
And that’s where Framestore comes in.
The Chinese takeover will not affect the company’s work, Sargent insists, but it will open up a new horizon.
‘The Chinese are very clear: although they are very supportive of what we do elsewhere in the world, what they really want to do is build a significant business in China.
‘And I like the people I’ve gone into business with – their ambitions and mine are aligned.’
This is just as well as Framestore will now be 75 per cent owned by the Chinese investment group, Cultural Investment Holdings. Sargent has retained his 10 per cent stake and his job in the business. The 60-year-old is not even close to retiring. ‘The next decade will be the most amazing in the world that we are in and I want to be at the centre of that.’
Quietly, Sargent has actually already been at the centre of things for quite some time.
Born in Dublin, raised in Brazil, Sargent co-founded Framestore in London in 1986 with five colleagues. The firm bought up the latest digital equipment and began working mainly on visual effects for TV commercials and pop videos. The first job was the Culture Club video God Thank You Woman, released in 1986.
‘We electronically cut out famous actresses of the past, like Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren, and put them digitally on set with Boy George. They spent a load of money on it. The video was great, but sadly the music didn’t sell.’
Thanks to its work with the British advertising industry, Framestore was well-placed to work on the visual effects for Harry Potter films. ‘By the time Harry Potter came along we were the best [at computer imagery] in the world,’ says Sargent.
‘It was just scaling up to a higher resolution and we had already worked on the two most popular American TV series ever.’
Framestore’s list of credits is now extraordinary, having worked on films from Legend of Tarzan to the recent spate of Marvel superhero movies.
The films in question are among the biggest box office hits of recent years. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1 (for which Framestore created the house elf Dobby) took almost £780million at the box office. Fantastic Beasts has already earned an estimated £600million since its release in November, while Gravity’s takings were about £580million.
Framestore is still based in London’s Soho, but now also has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Montreal.
It has doubled revenue from £50 million in the year to March 2015 to £106million when the deal with the Chinese was signed and Sargent wants to double the size of the business again by April 2018.
Framestore is also branching out of entertainment. The American investment bank Morgan Stanley hired the company to create a new neon display for the largest screen in Times Square in New York.
Framestore was also hired by the London Stock Exchange to create an interstellar space theme display to mark the start of trading every morning. (Think Big Bang).
‘So we’ve got two clients in the financial sector and that wasn’t the case three years ago. We also work with the car industry. We help Formula 1 make sense of the huge amount of data that comes off the car going round the track to make the right decision in seconds.
‘It’s all about data visualisation, reducing the data into visual language. So the use of computer generated images for informing business decisions is growing across industries.
‘So I can sell to thousands of companies, rather than just broadcasters, advertising agencies and Hollywood,’ enthuses Sargent.
And this is an area where Britain excels globally.
‘Four out of the top five firms are within 500 yards of each other in Soho. It is the greatest cluster of creative industries in the world and it didn’t happen overnight.
‘In the 1920s and 1930s, the film industry came, then in the 1950s the milk bars arrived, then in the 1960s it was fashion with Mary Quant in nearby Carnaby Street, then in the 1970s music with the likes of David Bowie and thereafter it was the advertising industry. And all are built on the foundations of what was there previously.’
And could that global status be at risk from Brexit? Sargent thinks not.
‘We have such an opportunity with the pound where it is. Now it’s time to invest and export, not cut back. Businesses should focus on what they can do. They can’t negotiate Britain’s exit from the EU, so it’s best to just ignore it.’
During the summer of 2016 when Framestore was up for sale, the topic of Britain’s departure from the EU ‘never came up once’ during all the negotiations, Sargent says. ‘They (the Chinese) are looking to invest in us as a world-class company, it is not specific to the UK.’
Sargent’s career has not all been about Framestore. He was a major shareholder and chief executive of Spitting Image, which he jokes he ‘manages to keep quiet’. And he even worked in Whitehall from 2005-2010, brought in by Gordon Brown as a Permanent Secretary, with a brief to help cut regulation.
The knighthood came in 2008, though unlike some recent recipients of honours he kept it entirely secret – even from his family.
‘The first that anyone knew about it was when they read it in the papers. My mum phoned me when I was in Russia. I was standing outside Lenin’s Mausoleum in Red Square. And she says: “Is there anything to tell me?”’
Sargent got married last year and now has a sixmonth-old son – so he will have plenty of excuses to keep following the Harry Potter phenomenon.
His own favourite Fantastic Beast from the latest film is the Niffler, a mole-like creature with a light-fingered predilection for anything glittery. ‘I love the Niffler dearly,’ says Sargent. ‘I’m hoping that JK (Rowling) will roll out a whole spin-off of Niffler’s adventures. He’s cheeky, irreverent and a rascal.’
Now I can sell to thousands of companies – not just ad agencies and Hollywood
Businesses can’t negotiate Britain’s exit from the EU, so the best thing is just to ignore it