Rob Sheridan promoted to VFX supervisor & Paul Wight to COO at Freefolk

Freefolk announce that Rob Sheridan has been promoted to VFX supervisor in their film and episodic division and Paul Wight is now the company’s first COO.   

Signalling continued company growth, this dual promotion comes as Freefolk celebrate their first year in their high-spec East London Studio, strengthening their award-winning offering in commercials, episodic and film VFX. 

Rob, both a technical and creative VFX artist, has been honing his craft at Freefolk over the past decade and has been vital in the creation of their highest profile film and episodic projects to date, including; Napoleon (Apple Studios) Oscar and BAFTA nominated for VFX, Cursed (Netflix) for which they were nominated for a BAFTA Craft Award, The Third Day (Sky / HBO), Pennyworth (Warner Horizon), Fate: The Winx Saga, season 2 for Netflix and most recently Kaos for Netflix and Anansi Boys (Amazon Studios). 

A highly accomplished VFX talent with a personality to match, Rob will work alongside Freefolk’s Steve Murgatroyd who heads up the department with VFX Executive Producer Meg Guidon.   

Rob comments on his new role. “Working with Steve and the team on Freefolk’s film and episodic output means I work on brilliant and varied projects with some of the most respected people in the business. As VFX Supervisor I hope to take what I have learned to enable me to lead projects working in collaboration with our clients whilst nurturing our community of artists to become the best they can be, continuing to develop Freefolk’s award-winning VFX output.” 

Steve comments, “Rob is not only an outstanding VFX talent but has an impressive work ethic and unmatched dedication. He’s always been invaluable to us but now even more so as he takes on the VFX Supervisor role allowing us to continue to grow and expand the department.” 

Paul, who works alongside Fi Kilroe MD and Creative Director / Founder, Jason Watts, has been part of Freefolk since its early days and has been instrumental in the success and growth of the business so far. 

In his new position, Paul plays a critical role in overseeing the technical backbone of the business, strategic planning and maintaining Freefolk’s existing high standards across the board. Paul said, “This is an exciting time at Freefolk, as we continue with our ambitions in film and episodic VFX, whilst maintaining our position as one of London’s most well-respected independent commercial VFX studios. Freefolk has established itself as a creative VFX studio that consistently delivers for directors and studios who want to create spectacular VFX. I’m looking forward to working more closely with Fi and Jason to help grow Freefolk whilst ensuring the culture that makes Freefolk such a special place is always front and centre.” 

Paul added, “Moving into our new Spitalfields home we worked with the developer to create a unique space, a creative environment that respects the historic nature of our Georgian Grade II listed building. We took this blank sheet of paper and invested heavily in the latest technology allowing us to work at 4k and beyond throughout the entire building.” 

Fi comments, “Paul is part of the Freefolk DNA and has been instrumental in all we have achieved so far.  Both Jason and I are excited about working with Paul in his new role and growing the company further to produce more award-winning work in this next part of the Freefolk story.”  

Freefolk Film and Episodic have just delivered VFX as lead vendor on Kaos for Netflix (released August 29th), and are currently working on a substantial award of work on Anansi Boys for Amazon Studios.