Barnstorm VFX is an Emmy-nominated visual effects studio that has grown from two independent artists into a global operation known for both invisible, story-serving work and high-energy spectacle. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Burbank, California, the company takes its name and spirit from early aviation barnstormers: inventive, agile, and willing to take on ambitious jobs with limited resources.
The illustration above is a colorful cartoon-style scene built around classic movie-night objects: a long strip of black-and-gray film curves across the background from the upper left toward the right, while in the foreground sit a red-and-white striped popcorn carton overflowing with yellow kernels and printed with the words “Fresh POP CORN” and “SWEET and CRUNCHY!,” a matching soda cup with a red base, silver rim and blue straw, and a pair of silver-framed 3D glasses whose left lens is blue and right lens is red; a few stray popcorn pieces lie beside the carton, all rendered with simple outlines, soft shading and a slight drop shadow against a plain white backdrop. illustration by Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay.Com.
Its co-founders, Cory Jamieson (CEO and executive producer) and Lawson Deming (CCO and executive VFX supervisor), met while working as freelance VFX artists, often embedded in-house on television productions. After a showrunner encouraged them to formalize as a vendor rather than continue as individual contractors, they incorporated in August 2011. The name “Barnstorm” referenced their itinerant early careers; Jamieson’s family background in aviation reinforced the theme. Deming, a DGA and IATSE Local 600 member, also brings on-set and 2nd-unit directing and cinematography experience that extends the studio’s capabilities beyond post-production.
The studio’s public identity leans into that aviation metaphor—“Come fly with us”—and describes itself as embodying “the pioneering ingenuity, daring creativity, and freewheeling spirit of the first aviators.” In practice this means a solutions-oriented approach: supervision, in-house or remote artist work, cloud rendering, look development, virtual production, and even practical production support such as aerials, miniatures, inserts, and stunts. No two projects are treated as identical.
Work that ranges from invisible to spectacular
Barnstorm built its reputation on high-end episodic television. Early and mid-period credits include The Man in the High Castle, Silicon Valley, Outlander, Strange Angel, The Order, Ted Lasso, Star Trek: Picard, Cowboy Bebop, and Yellowjackets. The Ted Lasso work—particularly the episode “Mom City”—earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Single Episode. Much of that series required invisible effects: stadium crowds, set extensions, and environmental work that supported the comedy without calling attention to itself. Lawson Deming has spoken about the value of a generalist mindset and tools such as Mocha Pro for planar tracking and roto on those shots.
More recent high-profile television includes Prime Video’s Spider-Noir, for which Barnstorm delivered 450 shots. Work encompassed period environments, a train sequence with CG set extensions, trains, and cars, plus collaboration with ILM on fire and electricity effects for the character Megawatt. The episode “Nightmare on a Gurney” received an Emmy nomination. The series’ dual black-and-white and color presentation added another layer of continuity and look-development complexity. Other notable series work includes Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, One Piece, The Sympathizer, and Clipped.
On the feature side the studio has contributed to major Marvel titles including Deadpool & Wolverine, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Captain America: Brave New World, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Additional credits include A24’s Backrooms and the 2026 DC film Supergirl, which opened in U.S. theaters on June 26, 2026. Barnstorm was among the supporting VFX vendors on Supergirl, working under production VFX supervisor Geoffrey Baumann alongside Digital Domain, Framestore, ILM, Territory Studio, and Peerless.
The common thread is a willingness to handle both the shots audiences never notice and the ones they remember. Artists and supervisors frequently describe satisfaction in “invisible VFX” that serve story and tone while still delivering the more overt magical or action-oriented sequences when required.
Scaling through cloud and global studios
Barnstorm adopted AWS Thinkbox Deadline early and moved a large share of 3D rendering to Amazon EC2 Spot Instances. In a 2018 case study the studio reported peak cloud capacity equivalent to roughly 77 times its local farm—scale that would have required hundreds of additional machines and a dramatically larger physical footprint. Tools commonly cited across projects include Nuke, Houdini, Arnold, Deadline, After Effects, and ShotGrid (formerly Shotgun). Pipeline flexibility and cloud bursting have allowed a mid-sized company to take on feature-scale sequences without matching the capital expenditure of larger houses.
Canada has become the center of that expansion. Barnstorm’s first international studio opened in Vancouver in May 2019, a move designed to tap British Columbia’s talent pool and competitive post-production tax incentives while adding compositing and 3D capacity that could work in lockstep with Burbank. Co-founder Lawson Deming said at the time that the company was deliberate about the leadership mix: Gregory Watkins and Chun Seong Ng were brought in to lead 2D and 3D, respectively, joined by executive producer Paul Quinn and visual effects supervisor Freddy Chavez Olmos. Watkins and Ng already had a track record together on features such as Rampage, San Andreas, and Death Note, as well as television including Stranger Things. Deming positioned the Vancouver team both to collaborate on existing Burbank shows and to take the lead independently on new work. Chun Seong Ng remains listed among the studio’s current VFX supervisors. The Vancouver operation has been associated with addresses in the Mount Pleasant / South Granville production corridor, including 18 West 4th Avenue and 308 East 5th Avenue. The Vancouver crew’s credits include season two of The Order, where the team mixed invisible effects with more overt magical work using Maya, Houdini, Substance Painter, and Redshift.
Quebec followed. In January 2024 the company incorporated Barnstorm VFX Montréal, Inc. (Effets Visuels Barnstorm Montréal, Inc.), listing 200-606 rue Cathcart in downtown Montreal. The studio is a member of the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec, with Bharti Sattar and Cory Jamieson listed as contacts. Montreal hiring has focused on compositing, CFX, rigging, and production roles, typically limited to artists legally eligible to work in Canada and residing in Quebec. Job postings describe a hybrid of staff and project contracts, with extended health benefits and RRSP participation, and emphasize the same artist-driven culture the company tries to preserve as it grows. The Montreal presence gives Barnstorm access to Quebec’s VFX labour market and incentive structure at a moment when several larger houses in the city have contracted or closed.
Toronto is the newest Canadian outpost. In July 2026 Barnstorm announced that it was opening a studio there to deepen relationships with productions across Canada and to recruit Ontario talent. The company framed the move as an extension of its “solutions-driven” model rather than a standalone brand. As of early September 2026 the Toronto site was still in its build-out phase; a recent hire, VFX producer Esther G., was introduced specifically as support for the growth of the new Toronto studio. No public street address had been widely published at the time of the announcement. Together, Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto give Barnstorm coverage of Canada’s three main production hubs and the corresponding provincial incentive systems.
India is the other major growth bet. In July 2025 Barnstorm opened a Hyderabad outpost with local partners, describing it as a milestone in the company’s global strategy and a way to deliver high-quality work at greater scale. CEO Cory Jamieson said the timing was right: the studio would support existing projects in the western hemisphere while bringing Barnstorm’s pipeline and standards into a growing Indian market. He pointed to available talent as the industry recovered and to Hyderabad’s rise as a hitmaker for both pan-Indian and global productions. Sid Maganti, Head of Studio in Hyderabad, called India “a powerhouse for creative and technical talent” and said the company was building a team “that will help shape the future of visual effects.” Hiring at launch covered compositing, CG, pipeline, production, and related departments, with the Hyderabad group intended to work in close coordination with Los Angeles headquarters and Barnstorm’s other offices. The company also framed the site as a partnership with local leadership and creative communities rather than a simple offshore farm.
The choice of city was not accidental. Hyderabad has become one of India’s primary AVGC (animation, VFX, gaming, and comics) centers, home to homegrown houses such as Makuta VFX, DQ Entertainment, Rhinestone VFX, and Pixelloid as well as satellite studios from international companies. By 2026 the city’s roster also included names such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Skyline VFX, Mattel, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft, and Netflix opened its Eyeline Studios facility there in March 2026. Telangana officials publicly welcomed Barnstorm as part of a broader push to position Hyderabad as a South Indian film and AVGC hub. For Barnstorm, the outpost functions as both overflow capacity for Hollywood and streaming work and a foothold in a market that increasingly produces its own large-scale visual effects.
The company has also referenced operations or hiring in New York, Atlanta, and the United Kingdom. Headquarters remain at 2860 N Naomi Street in Burbank. LinkedIn lists roughly 174 employees in the 51–200 range.
Leadership includes Bharti Sattar as COO/CFO, Chad Hudson as Global Head of Studio, Lindsey Yates as VP of Production, Tommy Tran as senior VFX supervisor (noted on Spider-Noir), and department heads such as Tom Rolfe (2D) and Omar Morsy (animation and CG). The public team page lists a mix of supervisors and producers who move between projects.
Culture and outlook
Barnstorm presents itself as artist-driven and collaborative rather than rigidly departmentalized. Co-founders have emphasized self-taught curiosity and a generalist attitude as traits that help artists thrive. The company continues to hire across compositing, CG, pipeline, production, and related roles at its various sites and actively posts opportunities on its website.
In an industry marked by consolidation, remote work, and fluctuating production volumes, Barnstorm’s path—from two freelancers who “barnstormed” from show to show to a multi-studio vendor contributing to both prestige television and major features—illustrates one viable model: stay nimble, invest in scalable infrastructure, expand where talent and incentives align, and treat every project as having its own unique constraints. The aviation metaphor still fits. The studio keeps taking off from new fields while trying to land the shots that keep stories in the air.
