Zoic Signs EP of Commericals/Games

Culver City/Vancouver-based visual effects house Zoic Studios has added Matt Thunell as Executive Producer of their commercial and games division. With over 12 years of experience at preeminent VFX and creative studios, he has worked on projects across commercials, features, music videos, special venues and interactive media. He has collaborated with nearly every top agency including Saatchi & Saatchi, BBDO, mcgarrybowen, RPA, The Martin Agency, 72andSunny, Wieden + Kennedy and Crispin, Porter & Bogusky, among numerous others.

On the heels of the successful Intel/Toshiba social film “The Power Inside,” which has received over 54 million global views to date, Zoic has brought on Thunell to bolster the commercial and games division and grow the team for upcoming projects including an international Nissan campaign and a motion graphics installation at Sea World.

Says Thunell, “Going back to the early Joss Whedon days of Buffy and Firefly I’ve always been a fan of Zoic. More recently, I’ve admired the studio’s R&D efforts in the convergence of traditional visual effects and video game engines. I love to geek out and opine on the future of post and tech—and what I appreciate most about co-founders Loni Peristere and Chris Jones is how they always steer that conversation in service of storytelling.”

Says Zoic’s Executive Creative Director/Co-Founder Chris Jones, “We’re very excited to have Matt on board with us at Zoic. He just plain gets it with respect to providing our clients with innovative solutions and a great overall experience, which is why he’s such a great fit for our evolving commercial and games division.”

UC Berkeley film grad Thunell got hooked on all things VFX as an intern at Lucasfilm, next securing a coveted position at ILM where he got his feet wet on such notable projects as Terminator 3 and Hulk. In 2003, he landed a gig as  VFX Coordinator at SF-based The Orphanage, where he spent three years with the rapidly growing company working on high-profile features including Superman Returns, Hellboy and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. In 2006, he headed to Los Angeles, where he worked as Senior Producer at Radium/Reel FX, stewarding a wide range of projects from notable commercial campaigns and music videos to major feature projects. He next shifted to producing design and CG-heavy projects for Motion Theory/Mirada before building the newly launched Whitehouse partner VFX facility, Carbon VFX as Executive Producer. While there, he sourced creative talent, developed infrastructure and managed commercial campaigns, working with top directors such as Stacy Wall, Erich Joiner, Aaron Duffy and Jared Hess.