First published on LinkedIn on February 25th, 2025 – Reprinted/reposted/reblogged here with the permission of the Author
I don’t usually post rants on social media, but today is different. Today, someone killed Technicolor—along with The Mill, MPC, Mikros, and Mr. X. In bowling, they’d call that a strike.
A move that put around 4,500 people out of a job in less than 24 hours.
And before you start blaming AI or the industry evolution or market dynamics… don’t. Because it’s not that.
I’ve seen a few people trying to explain what happened, but no one from the inside has truly told the story. So here it is.
First, understand that every business unit at Technicolor was packed with incredibly talented, motivated, and inspiring artists. The work they produced was world-class. The problem wasn’t talent or execution—it was mismanagement at the highest levels.
The first president (I’ll let you look him up) buried the company under massive debt by acquiring all the top VFX studios, leaving us struggling for air from the start. The second president, after a disastrous and forced merger of the post houses, took us public, artificially inflating the company’s value—only for it to come crashing down when the real numbers were revealed. And the third and final president, who came from a car rental company, had no vision of what she was building, selling, or managing. I could also add no curiosity either.
Shaun Severi
Creating mind-bending visuals under suffocating debt? Nearly impossible. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Yet we did it, day in, day out.
As they say, the buck stops here. While we, as employees, may each bear a fraction of responsibility, the incompetence at the top was nothing short of disastrous—perhaps even criminal.
But here’s the silver lining: while the company may be dead, the talent that defined it is very much alive. And for any creative studio out there, this is a golden opportunity.
Happy shopping and stay gold !
Shaun Severi
Head of Creative Production at the Mill / Executive Creative Director of Ideation and Film Director
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaun-severi-179b56/