Method Studios Appoints Christian Kubsch as President

Los Angeles, CA – Deluxe Entertainment Services Group company Method Studios announced that Christian Kubsch has joined the company as President. Kubsch will oversee Method’s global operations including the company’s main base in Los Angeles along with locations in London, Vancouver, Sydney, Melbourne, New York, Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta. Kubsch will report to Stefan Sonnenfeld, President of Creative Services, Deluxe. Darin Grant has been named Chief Technology Officer of Method Studios, and will report to Kubsch.

Method Studios, home to over 500 exceptional artists and technicians, provides outstanding creative artistry and award-winning visual effects to a panoply of projects from feature films and commercials to games and motion graphics. With facilities in the United States, Canada, the UK and Australia – and plans to further expand its footprints in London and Vancouver – Method offers highly integrated workflow solutions across the globe for a full range of visual effects services including conceptual design, look development, on-set supervision, 3D animation/CGI, matte painting, compositing and finishing. Artists at all Method locations are equipped to collaborate with shared technology solutions, offering the powerful ability to expand talent and services as required should a project’s scope change, even at extremely short notice. As part of the Deluxe family, Method also enjoys the stability required to meet the demands of its clients in a changing marketplace as evidenced by its recent commitment to expand existing CG animation capabilities. 

“There are many reasons I’m excited about this job,” says Kubsch. “Besides the wonderful group of talented individuals already in place, one of the most important is that Method offers our clients access to a very diverse and global talent base in so many key areas of our business and we are committed to expanding our presence long term. That’s because the company has been focusing on the way the industry has been evolving, and it understands how to handle the challenges.”

Kubsch and Grant will add their expertise to that of Method’s award-winning Visual Effects Supervisor Dan Glass, who will continue in his creative leadership role as Chief Creative Officer, alongside a team of Method’s top executives who will share global oversight for enhanced communication and efficiency.

“Chris and Darin both come with world-class skills in the VFX industry,” says Sonnenfeld. “We are all very excited to have them join Method. Together with Dan Glass, we now have a team in place that can take the company to new heights of technological and creative innovation.”

Kubsch, a highly respected industry veteran, was most recently with Prana Studios where he oversaw global production of visual effects and animation. Prior to that, he was EVP and General Manager of ImageMovers Digital. As the first Managing Director of Lucasfilm Animation Company in Singapore, Kubsch was responsible for the start-up, initial build out, and talent acquisition for the company’s first slate of animated feature films, live action visual effects work and interactive entertainment. His previous experience also included a stint at DreamWorks Animation as a production executive, and he has visual effects production credits on a number of tentpole projects such as “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” “The Matrix Revolutions” and “The Matrix Reloaded,” “Mars Attacks!,” as well as working at Industrial Light & Magic as a visual effects producer on “The Mask.”

Darin Grant comes to Method with a great deal of experience in production technology. His most recent position was Chief Technology Officer at Digital Domain. Prior to that, he spent six years as Head of Production Technology at DreamWorks Animation.  Grant is known as one of the leaders in the field, and has contributed to dozens of presentations of innovative techniques at SIGGRAPH, where he has also served as Computer Animation Chair and juror along with several other prestigious positions. He is currently serving on the Digital Imaging Technology Sub-Committee of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

Feature films currently in production at Method Studios include titles such as Iron Man 3, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Red 2, The Wolverine, White House Down and Mad Max: Fury Road. Recent notable feature releases include Cloud Atlas, Argo, Beautiful Creatures and A Good Day To Die Hard. Method’s top commercial projects airing during the 2013 Super Bowl included Kia “Space Babies,” Soda Stream “Effect” and Kia “Hotbots.” In February this year, Method collected the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Compositing for the Chevy “2012 Silverado” commercial.

Source: Method Studios

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.