Milk announces new Dublin VFX studio and enhances leadership

Award-winning VFX studio Milk is to officially open its Dublin studio at Grafter – Ely House and has enhanced its leadership team with a key appointment.

Milk has a longstanding involvement with the VFX industry in Dublin and the talent in Ireland. Milk’s Dublin studio is now set up and located in one of the Grafter historic Georgian buildings in Dublin 2, within the golden triangle of the VFX and post production industry.

Its inception comes at a pivotal time, starting the slate off with the NBC series Surviving Earth, co-produced by UK Indie Loud Minds and Universal Television Alternative Studio with world renowned creative director Tim Haines. Milk will be tasked with bringing to life prehistoric creatures and environments with high-end VFX.

Donal Nolan has been appointed as creative head of studio and will lead the team in Dublin. He brings a wealth of experience to the role, having spent his VFX career at some of the top global studios and recently won an Irish Film and Television Award (IFTA) for VFX in 2023 for The Woman King, a Milk project.

Other notable shows he’s worked on include: Thor (Marvel Entertainment), The Siege of Jadotville (Netflix), 28 Weeks Later (20th Century Fox), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Amazon), The Order (Netflix) and Child’s Play (Orion Pictures).

Nolan is well-versed in building teams for creative excellence and welcomes the opportunity to grow its emerging business while continuing to nurture the abundant VFX talent within the industry in Ireland.

This announcement follows the recent launches of studios in Bordeaux and Barcelona. Jag Mundi, Milk executive chairman, commented: “We are thrilled to be opening in Ireland. It is a country with a thriving VFX industry, great talent and potential. With the network of studios we will now have, we can become a truly European studio able to access and develop talent and enhance our premium offering to our clients.”

Ciaran Crowley, VFX supervisor, added: “Overseeing the launch, I’m excited Milk is again able to back our talent, in this case Donal and our other colleagues in Ireland, to help us expand our potential and harness the rich pool of creative VFX talent in the country. The team will deliver both feature and episodic projects working closely with the teams in London and our other studios in Europe. I have had the pleasure of working with Donal for many years and I know he is intensely passionate about helping us build a strong studio in Ireland.”