EXCLUSIVE:Gary Mundell has been promoted as Chief Operating Officer at Tippett, the award-winning effects company founded by Phil Tippett. Sanjay Das was the previous CEO.
Mundell previously served as the executive producer and Head Of Production at the studio. He was responsible for overseeing operations and producing large-scale productions. The expert in pipelines and software for production also previously co-founded Berkeley’s Loft Software—a company building asset control tools for global real-time film, games and commercial production—and served as its CEO. He is the founder of Southpawtech/TACTIC digital asset management system and open-source workflow platform Southpawtech/TACTIC. He also supported the development and creation of Maya at Alias/Wavefront computer graphics application.
“Gary Mundell has filled a position sorely needed at my company,”Tippett. “In the short time he’s been here, he’s implemented practices that have improved the studio immensely. He has my complete trust.”
“This is one guy I can trust as this business needs a serious transformation,”Das. “Gary’s unique orchestration of technology and creativity is the blend we need as we explore undiscovered dimensions in entertainment.”
“Gary has become an integral part of Tippett Studio with his enthusiasm and vast knowledge of the business of VFX,”Jules Roman, Tippett Studios co-founder, also contributed. “We know he will embrace his new role as COO with his usual energy and help the Studio move forward into its next phase!”
Said Mundell in closing “When I got to Tippett, I knew I was gonna have to make some big changes. Phil tried to fire me three times before he caught on that I was actually making things better. I have big plans for Tippett Studio – modernizing systems and processes that are already making us stronger, faster, and better equipped to deliver the top-quality film, TV, commercial and themed entertainment work we’re known for. Tippett’s animation is the best in the business and I feel right at home at the studio.”
Tippett is an animator, filmmaker and artist behind iconic characters such as Jabba The Hut and Rancor Monster. Return of the Jedi, The Tauntauns and Wampa The Empire Strikes backThe Raptor and T-Rex are stop-motion puppets. Jurassic Park, and the ED-209 Robocop. His experimental animated picMad God last year made its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival and was showcased at others including the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Fantasia Film Festival and the Sitges Film Festival.
Recent projects from Tippett’s full-service animation and visual effects production company include the second season of Disney+’s Mandalorian, the second season of Netflix’s Locke & Key and Marvel Studio’s The Falcon and Winter Soldier. While moving recently into content production for themed entertainment and partnering with assorted international brands, it has also rolled out a series of NFTs based on Tippett’s portfolio of artwork on his SuperRare profile page.