Have you ever wondered how Luke Skywalker managed to reach hyperspace? Or how T-Rex could appear in your rear view mirror, chasing you down?  So were we, and in January of 2015, Sword & Spoon decided to invest in Big Sky Labs to learn more about the visual effects magic behind the scenes.

Partnering with Matt Russell and Matt Hartle, two successful special effects wizards, we founded Big Sky Laboratories to create a world-class visual effects business. Building on their prior success on such films as Night at the Museum and Live Free or Die Hard, and Matt Russell’s work directing on projects such as Seven Days in Utopia, Matt and Matt began to reel in opportunities to work on such productions as The Last Witch Hunter and Charnel House. 

As Big Sky took off, the opportunity before it grew even faster. The need for more bandwidth and a larger team became clear. Enter George Loucas, whose company, Baked FX, was also experiencing rapid growth in the special effects world. Baked was a key contributor to the recent indie movie, Birth of a Nation, a big hit at the most recent Sundance Film Festival.

The complexity and scale of today’s productions (some of which rely almost completely on visual effects — think Avatar or The Matrix) suggested that a bigger platform to take on larger projects would be the way forward.

So, the partnership expanded, and Matt and Matt joined George at Baked FX this fall. To help fuel their growth, Sword & Spoon’s private equity arm, OQ Partners, invested in Baked and contributed Big Sky assets. We all look forward to the great things to come from George, Matt, Matt, and the Baked FX team!