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The Mill, the storied production studio that shut down abruptly earlier this year, is relaunching under new ownership across Europe and Asia. TransPerfect, a global provider of language translation and AI services, acquired The Mill’s French division in April and is now reopening additional studios in London, Seoul, and Bangalore. The company also plans to reestablish a U.S. presence, after The Mill’s former owner Technicolor Group collapsed globally in February. “We absolutely want to grow in the U.S. It’s one of our biggest focuses as a next step,” said TransPerfect chief business officer Barnaby Wass. The new Mill has 15 employees in London and is led by managing director Liam Collinwood, who had worked at the studio for nearly 11 years before its closure. The Paris studio—which has continued to operate after Technicolor’s shutdown due to the French insolvency process—has 150 employees, led by managing director Fabien Godenèche. The Seoul office, led by head of studio Jonghyun Hong, has five employees. Bangalore has 450 employees, primarily focused on gaming. “When I contacted former Mill executives, there was a big appetite to rejoin and rebuild the teams,” Wass said. “We’re not looking to rehire the exact same teams. We’re starting small, focused on creativity, and will scale over time.” With about 10,000 employees and 120 offices worldwide, TransPerfect’s infrastructure will help expand The Mill globally, Wass added. “We’re excited to invest in and grow The Mill,” TransPerfect CEO Phil Shawe told ADWEEK. TransPerfect’s creative ambitions TransPerfect had long been eyeing The Mill in its pursuit of a creative studio, according to Wass. “It was one of our biggest targets because it’s an incredibly creative powerhouse,” he said. The company began exploring a purchase about 18 months ago but was unable to reach a deal with Technicolor before its collapse. “They were not able or did not want to sell the business in pieces,” Wass said. Following Technicolor’s shutdown, TransPerfect succeeded in acquiring The Mill’s assets outside the U.S. Owning The Mill gives TransPerfect what Wass described as “a unique global capability:” a solution that spans from ideation to production to delivery. The studio will continue focusing on short-form, long-form, and gaming projects while leveraging TransPerfect’s global scale and support systems. “We’re having them focus on what they do best—creative—and we do the rest,” Wass said. “We didn’t purchase The Mill with the intent to merge it with other companies and lay off people,” Shawe added. “We acquired The Mill to keep people at the center and bring technology, support, and global scale to the business.” TransPerfect does, however, plan to integrate AI into The Mill’s workflows. “AI will have a presence in every part of our workflow,” Wass said. “But AI on its own cannot work. We’re very excited to have both an AI capability and human capability.” Reviving a creative powerhouse Founded in London in 1990, The Mill became one of the world’s premier visual effects and production studios, creating acclaimed work for brands such as Coca-Cola and Nike and contributing to films including Gladiator, which earned it an Academy Award, and the first two Harry Potter movies. Technicolor acquired The Mill in 2015, adding it to a portfolio that included MPC, Mikros Animation, and Technicolor Games. But the financially troubled company was hit hard by the pandemic and Hollywood strikes. It hired a U.S. investment bank in 2024 to explore sale options, but no buyer materialized. Its abrupt downfall in February eliminated an estimated 6,000 jobs globally and sent shockwaves through Hollywood and the advertising industry. The Mill’s former U.S. leadership team set up a new company, Arc Creative, in February immediately after Technicolor’s shutdown, hiring nearly 100 of The Mill’s 350 U.S. employees. Vancouver-based Thinkingbox also hired 30 ex-Mill U.S. staffers in April.
