Turncoat Pictures
- Open roles
- 0
- Founded
- 2015
- Employees
- 1-10
- Offices
- 1
About Turncoat Pictures
Turncoat Pictures is an independent visual effects, creative consulting and post-production studio based in Chicago. Founded in 2015 by visual effects supervisor Ryan Urban, it works across feature films, episodic television, streaming productions and commercial advertising. Its debut studio project was Terrence Malick’s documentary feature Voyage of Time.
The studio combines visual effects production with supervision and consulting. Its work encompasses effects designed to blend into live-action photography as well as more visible action enhancements, simulations and design elements. Projects range from independent cinema to major studio features, with responsibilities extending from individual shot delivery to coordinating a production’s wider visual effects requirements.
Visual effects and post-production
Turncoat Pictures provides 2D and CG compositing, green- and blue-screen integration, background replacement, plate integration and look development. Its digital artistry capabilities include makeup fixes, de-aging, head replacements and relighting. For action sequences, the studio creates muzzle flashes, bullet hits, glass breakage, tracer fire, pyrotechnics and environmental destruction, alongside simulations of blood, dust, smoke, fire and snow.
Its broader post-production offering includes creative editorial, main titles, title design, motion work and visual branding. Consulting services cover on-set and vendor-side supervision, creative and technical project management, production planning, vendor evaluation and custom pipeline workflows. This combination supports assignments involving both hands-on image creation and oversight of external visual effects teams.
Selected production work
For The Matrix Resurrections, the studio delivered more than 150 final visual effects shots and 75 temporary effects, including work on the opening shootout. On Wolf Hound, it served as the central visual effects department, managed external vendors and delivered 351 final shots within a production containing 416 visual effects shots.
Turncoat Pictures also delivered more than 200 final shots and 120 temporary or postvisualization shots for Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17. Other supported studio credits include White Noise, Revealer, Catalyst, Work in Progress season two and Pacific Rim: Uprising.
More about Turncoat Pictures
Leadership
- Ryan Urban serves as Principal and Production Visual Effects Supervisor.
- Ashley Leitner is identified as VFX Coordinator.
Operating model and collaboration
The studio combines a compact Chicago leadership and coordination team with a globally distributed network of freelance digital artists. In 2024, it established a partnership with worker-owned cooperative NEXODUS, gaining access to its cloud-based pipeline, infrastructure and artist roster for larger projects. Urban also became Executive Visual Effects Supervisor at NEXODUS while maintaining Turncoat Pictures as his independent operating entity.
Founder’s earlier experience
Before establishing the studio, Urban worked at Warner Bros. and Method Studios and later led compositing teams at The Mill. His earlier work included the commercial Halo Reach: Deliver Hope, which received the Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Live Action Commercial. This recognition concerns his earlier career work rather than a Turncoat Pictures production.
Notable credits
9 creditsOffices
Where Turncoat Pictures is based
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
Chicago office
HeadquartersCentral operating base, creative direction hub and registered headquarters. No public street address is supplied.
Open roles
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