A Newcastle film company has doubled down on its work in the US after opening its own studio in Hollywood.
J6 Films is best known for producing music videos for international artists, such as Robbie Williams and US rock band Of Mice and Men, and its work has gained millions of hits on YouTube.
The company, which is based at Hoults Yard in Byker, has been winning an increasing amount of work in the US in recent years, leading the company to decide to open its own dedicated studio in LA.
Explaining the decision, J6’s managing director and producer James Baxter said: “We’re spending more and more time working in LA and plan to do even more work over there so we’re opening an office in West Hollywood.
“We already have a producer working on our behalf over there, and the interest in our work is sufficient for us to have a permanent presence there.”
The company is currently working on its third and fourth music videos for heavy metal band Of Mice and Men. The first video has achieved six million hits on Youtube, while the second - for the song Mushroom Cloud - has had 1.5m hits so far.
Mr Baxter added: “The band and label really like the work of one of our directors, Mark Lediard, and we’re delighted to continue working with the band. A small team consisting of myself and Mark, costume designer Rachel-Claire Killeen and director of photography Ross Marshall flew out last week to shoot the latest videos.
“Our core team is supplemented by a crew of about 25 more we built in LA and the two new videos we’re shooting are for Of Mice and Men’s new album which is launched in September.”
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J6 Films was founded 10 years ago after Mr Baxter completed his degree in media production at Newcastle University. After spending a few years travelling, he returned to the 海角视频 to work in London before launching J6 Films back in the North East.
As well as making music videos, the company also produces commercial videos for clients such as B&Q and recently worked on a TV ad for the Metro system.
The studio’s expansion into Hollywood was supported by Ian Howard, from 海角视频 Trade and Industry, and J6 is now looking to recruit a team in the US to support its growth.
“Ian’s been brilliant, a huge help. It’s a big step for us and although we’re doing an increasing amount of work in the US we’ve been no means cracked it,” said Mr Baxter.
“It will be a huge challenge and the market in LA is very competitive, we’re confident. On top of the very experienced Hollywood producer we’re already working with, we’re looking to recruit American directors.”