Seen and noted

A chat with Chris O’Reilly - joint MD/co-founder of Nexus Productions.

bestads: You started in London & have since opened in Paris. Is this the road the world domination? What’s the history of nexus & where do you see it going?
Chris O’Reilly: Charlotte Bavasso and I started Nexus eight years ago. Originally we were a division of a Japanese company, but then we bought them out and separated off.

Opening in Paris was a natural evolution for us. Charlotte is French and we’ve always had French directors on our reel. The talent in France is excellent and there are interesting projects coming from there too. Not sure about the road to world domination! We’re enjoying the winding back routes.

bestads: Any plans to move into non-animated areas?
Chris O’Reilly: Our company plan was to focus on the new generation of filmmakers and artists who had embraced digital film making techniques, with a strong focus on animation. However we always had broader filmmaking interests. Live-action and animation hybrid work has been a massive part of our repertoire, and quite a lot of live-action only work too. Right now we’re involved in three totally live-action projects. Ultimately our interest is in talent not techniques.


bestads: We’ve featured 8 Nexus spots on bestads. That’s got to be a record for an animation company for our site. Any interesting work in the pipeline (that you’d be allowed tell us about)?
Chris O’Reilly: We’ve got quite a few projects going through that I’m excited about. Hopefully some will surprise and delight enough to make it on again!

bestads: So ‘Grrr’ is being submitted to the Guinness book of records! What’s the thinking there?
Chris O’Reilly: We’ve been told this... It has won a lot of awards - pretty much everything it entered. It’s been at a disadvantage being animated as it can’t win quite so many craft awards (editing, art direction, cinematography etc) so I don’t know whether it will get that honour.

bestads: Smith & Foulkes, Smith & Foulkes, Smith & Foulkes ... Do the other directors get a bit peeved at all of the attention these guys have been getting?
Chris O’Reilly: They have been pretty hard to avoid of late, but the other directors here all hold their own against them pretty well! I think we have a diverse roster, and I think the directors all have similarly diverse ambitions.

bestads: Maybe now’s a good time to mention the feature film title sequences you’ve done. I remember sitting in the cinema being mightily impressed by these!
Chris O’Reilly: These have been great fun projects to work on. Feature titles get a global exposure that commercials rarely get. Kuntzel + Deygas’s work for Catch Me If You Can was even parodied on The Simpsons. Now that is an accolade Grrr! never had!

bestads: Where do you see animation ( & advertising for that matter!) heading from here?
Chris O’Reilly: We’re in a time of exciting change. I think its important for companies like ours to be flexible and recognise which strengths are universal and enduring. Where ever there is excellent design with strong storytelling, we want to be there. That’s what I’m backing for the future.

bestads: Any tips for creatives ... if they’re thinking about writing for an animated treatment?

Chris O’Reilly: I think it’s always good when a creative team get the animation company in early to develop the project. With animation you have to create a whole coherent universe and working with the directors who understand their techniques and styles inside out, can make the script work better. Almost all our good work comes from these co-operative trusting relationships.

(see all of the work at www.nexusproductions.com)