Artist-owned-and-operated visual effects company
Brickyard VFX has hired compositing and visual effects talent Jimi Simmons.
A multiple Emmy Award ® nominee, Simmons brings to the Brickyard VFX team
extensive visual effects experience, including work for Francis Ford
Coppola, George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, Spaz Williams, Mark Dippà© and other
notable film, music video and commercial directors. A resource for both
Brickyard VFX Atlantic and Brickyard VFX Pacific projects, he will be based
in Boston, MA.
Simmons formerly worked at an array of leading San Francisco creative
studios, including Western Images, where he served as VP and Director of
Visual Effects. During this time, he built enviable relationships with Bay
Area production entities and accrued credits in both features (“Men in
Black,” “Spawn,” “Rising Sun,” Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace”) and
commercials (spots promoting Coca-Cola, Captain Crunch, Budweiser, Miller
Genuine Draft, Pillsbury and other brands). While with Western Images, he
also garnered two Emmy Award nominations for the television series “The
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.”
He entered the business in 1982, when a job search landed him at San
Francisco’s One Pass Film & Video. From there, Simmons helped to build King
Street Studios, a state-of-the-art sound and film stage. After several years
in production with a focus on special effects, he moved into post
production, bringing his passion and experience to visual effects. For the
last few years prior to joining Brickyard VFX, he has enjoyed a successful
freelance career.
“The great thing about freelancing is that you get to see how a company
operates from the inside without being an employee,” says Simmons, who is
both an artist and self-professed “gear head.” “It didn’t take long to
figure out that Brickyard VFX was the place I’d been looking for. It
doesn’t get much better in terms of the environment, team, clients, work and
just the company’s overall direction and vibe.”
“We did everything we could to rattle Jimi while he was freelancing for us,
and he just rolled with the punches,” Brickyard VFX co-founder Dave Waller.
“He’s got this great unshakable personality; he’s seen it all and he doesn’t
stop until the work is perfect.”
Simmons was recently part of Brickyard VFX’s effort on “Sports Heaven,” an
effects-heavy Super Bowl XL campaign completed for Mobile ESPN.
www.brickyardvfx.com