Milk appoints Michelle Martin as chief business development officer

Award-winning VFX studio Milk has appointed Michelle Martin, Framestore’s head of business development, episodic to a newly created role as its chief business development officer, as Milk expands its creative and production teams.

Martin will develop and drive Milk’s growing episodic and film production slate and oversee marketing. She will work closely with CEO Will Cohen, alongside the board and senior management and creative teams to deliver Milk’s growth plans.

Martin brings over twenty years of global VFX production and development expertise, most recently at Framestore – where she was instrumental in growing the TV/Episodic slate to an award winning level across London, New York and Montreal, overseeing projects including The Crown, Watchmen, His House, Lovecraft Country, The Boys and Black Mirror, as well as the global event series MARS.

Martin’s appointment comes as Milk hires top new talent to boost its creative and production teams: Veteran VFX Supervisor Andy Morley (Avengers: Infinity War; Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them; Batman Begins) joins, bringing high calibre experience from a career spanning Cinesite, Aardman Animations, Lucasfilm, MPC and most recently Outpost VFX; VFX Supervisor Oliver Cubbage (George Clooney’s The Midnight Sky; Netflix’ The Witcher) has come on board to oversee the VFX for Three Pines (Amazon/Left Bank Pictures) joining from One of Us.

In addition, experienced VFX producer Noga Allon-Stein (Amazon’s The Power; Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen and Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch) has joined Milk’s production team from Union VFX and Giacomo Sotgiu has come on board as VFX producer from Freefolk.

Milk is currently in production on a range of major episodic and film projects – some of which include Working Title’s films The Swimmers and What’s Love Got To Do With It; in addition to Amazon Studios/ Left Bank Picture’s episodic series Three Pines.

Milk’s CEO Will Cohen said: “There’s now more demand for VFX than I’ve ever seen, in turn creating incredible opportunities for VFX studios to evolve. It’s time for Milk to expand the senior team and mentor the next generation of creative talent. We’re thrilled to welcome Michelle as well as Andy, Oliver, Noga and Giacomo to our team to help drive the next stage of our growth and enable Milk to continue to create outstanding work for our episodic and feature film clients.”

Michelle Martin commented: “I have long admired the quality of the work at Milk and the culture they have created, there’s a great vibe amongst the staff and a real sense of team spirit. When the opportunity came to join the senior team and help develop the business to the next level, it felt like a fantastic match based on my experience, drive and ambition. She continued: ”Exciting times are ahead for us all as we see our industry continue to grow and diversify.”

Milk’s recent work includes 850 shots – including complex FX work – for Sky Original’s sci-fi series Intergalactic, Amazon/New Regency’s newly released Everybody’s Talking About Jamie; Netflix’ The Last Letter From Your Lover and Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s Earwig, in addition to Netflix’ feature The Old Guard; Ben Wheatley-directed feature Rebecca and episodic series Cursed – all of which were delivered remotely during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns. Milk’s work on Cursed was nominated for a BAFTA Television Craft Award earlier this year.