Laurens Ehrmann, Founder – The Yard VFX
Laurens joined the industry in the 90’s, starting as a CG Artist on projects including Batman Begins and Matrix Revolution, later becoming VFX Supervisor at BUF Compagnie, before starting his own studio, The Yard VFX.
With two established studios in France (Montpellier and Paris), The Yard recently opened their London studio. Studio projects include WandaVision, John Wick: Chapter 4, All The Light We Cannot See and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Season 2).
What was the catalyst in starting your own company?
After spending ten years at the renowned French VFX house BUF Compagnie, progressing from CG artist to VFX Supervisor, I seized the opportunity for a new beginning by joining a friend, founder of a tiny VFX boutique called Plug Effects. This venture spanned five years, but in 2014, life led me to start over—this time on my own as a freelancer. I was working in a workshop hosted within the CLSFX Atelier 69 premises in Montreuil, just outside Paris. After completing an initial project there, I decided, whether on impulse or out of necessity, to establish The Yard. This allowed me to hire our first artists and take on those early projects that would shape our studio’s future.
Who or what helped you the most in getting started?
At the very beginning, a French TV show director called me to collaborate with him. First at all for a sequence but he explains that I could handle the whole show if I had a registered company.
The decision was really fast and I opened up The Yard and started with 5 computers literally in a garage. Projects after projects we have built our reputation.
But I would like to warmly thank the persons who were really essential in The Yard’s journey. Two great guys who specially trusted us and helped us to jump on major productions : Olivier Dumont, VFX Supervisor on ‘Ford v Ferrari’, and Viet Luu, VFX producer on ‘The Gray Man’. At the time, these two projects were a pivot point for our studio’s growth. Since then, Olivier Dumont and Viet Luu have been regular clients, and we are really grateful for this relationship.
Do you think your experience as VFX Supervisor influenced how you run your own company eg is it a more artist-focused culture and environment?
Definitely! I was not prepared to run a company and I don’t have any commercial or business background. I did a film during my university times, and grew up as an artist to end up as a VFX supervisor.
As a founder/CEO, I have learned everything on the battlefield. So the company is really artist-focused and driven by the passion of crafting pixels.
From the early beginning, the company’s environment and strategy is really designed for international projects.
What has starting your own company meant for your own self development?
Starting my own company has been a profound journey of self-development. It has reinforced my passion for artistic excellence and the drive to constantly push creative boundaries. I’ve learned to balance ambition with humility, recognizing that growth comes from both success and failure.
Leading a team has strengthened my ability to foster collaboration and build a culture of openness, honesty, and trust through clear communication. Most importantly, this journey has encouraged me to be bold, innovative, and open-minded. I’m always seeking new perspectives and possibilities.
The Yard’s VFX Showreel:
What have been the biggest challenges in leading a growing studio?
Challenges come from everywhere:
- A HR perspective: on recruiting the right people to join you aboard an adventure – finding the right combination of talent and mindset.
- An operational standpoint: finding the right location to host everyone in the right working conditions with the working ambiance we wanted to set.
- With general learning: legal, accounting, payroll, systems, on top of managing the artistic aspects of your work and supervision.
Overall, leading a studio is a human experience which can’t be possible without all the people working with you. The key is to find the right people who fit with the values, the culture and the mindset you want to promote. You can’t do it alone and you need to find the best relays to distill the company’s values. And this is crucial to share your company’s vision to create buy-in from all employees.
The Yard VFX celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. Congrats! What has been the biggest highlight so far? Both for you personally and for the studio?
This milestone demonstrates that our vision of bringing exceptional international projects to France is coming to life through our chosen strategy. We’re enabling top talent to build their careers in France—not only in Paris, but also in regions like Occitanie (in the south of France) and soon others. With our recent expansion to London, we hope to offer more opportunities for artists to return to Europe with even more options.
Over the past ten years, we’ve learned countless lessons. Who could have predicted that the pandemic would play such a pivotal role in accelerating our growth? This event has shown the world that our industry can be impacted by many factors and it’s crucial to be agile to turn these major drawbacks into opportunities.
One of this year’s highlights was undoubtedly the gatherings we organized in Paris and Montpellier, where we had the pleasure of reconnecting with our current teams, former artists now at other studios, and our clients and partners. Hearing their shared experiences and the positive energy around working at and collaborating with The Yard was truly inspiring.
A heartfelt thank you to all our artists for their passion and talent, which have been the foundation of The Yard, and to our clients for their ongoing trust. I’ve always been proud of what we’ve achieved, but preparing for this special anniversary made me even prouder as I reflected on our journey since 2014.
It has also motivated us to keep moving forward and exploring new possibilities. Looking ahead, we’re excited for the road before us, filled with opportunities to seize and goals to achieve.
What do you feel are the key reasons a client will choose, and/or return, to a specific VFX studio? Eg location, tax incentives, relationships etc
First and foremost, it’s all about quality, cost, and reliable, on-time delivery. Next comes the quality of relationships, partnerships, and collaborative spirit, which are essential in building lasting trust. While location and tax incentives are certainly important, I don’t believe they are the primary factors. Still they play a key role in differentiating an industry at a higher level. We see what is happening in Canada.
You recently opened a London studio, was that as a direct result of the new UK tax incentives, or a combination of things?
I believe decisions are rarely made for a single reason; they’re driven by a combination of factors. The UK, and London in particular, has a thriving local VFX industry, making it an attractive destination for our clients. Here, they have access to an exceptional talent pool covering every aspect of the post-production process—from filming locations to color, sound, and, of course, VFX. The industry is well-represented internationally and benefits from highly attractive tax incentives. Even from France, we’ve previously collaborated on projects involving UK-based studios and have connected with the artist community there.
However, market drivers alone don’t determine the decision to launch a new studio. A studio’s foundation ultimately rests on people, especially when expanding internationally. Finding the right leadership is essential, and Ben Owen was the ideal choice to lead our new venture in the UK.
What’s next for you/your company?
We continue working on projects that amaze us and push us to demonstrate our creative solutions and to challenge our perspectives. Some new thrilling projects that we can’t talk yet about have started but can’t wait to share.
We continue to attract talent from around the world offering them to come back to France and now to work in London on exciting projects – more news to come on that front too. We want to continue offering our teams high-quality projects to work on while making them benefit from a certain level of quality of life – whether in Paris, Montpellier or now London.
We want to advance our local developments and connect even more with our local community.
We’ll keep being guided by passion!