Are you fans of Game of Thrones and Stranger Things? Many of the special effects used in those successful series and films were produced by RodeoFX, a company managed by Sébastien Moreau, a resident of Brome Lake. He has lived in our region for five years, dividing his time between here and the South Shore.
Brome Lake is his safe harbour, the place where he can take a break from his hectic life. He has been a visual effects artist since 1993, and was recruited by George Lucas and his company Industrial Light and Magic. After seven years in San Francisco, he headed to New Zealand to work for Peter Jackson on the Lord of the Rings project. Overall he has spent 15 years as an FX special effects artist with the best companies of the world in the industry. He was also involved in four seasons of Game of Thrones and Stranger Things, Netflix’s biggest success.
In 2006 he grabbed an opportunity to return to Montreal to found his own company with two of his friends. Drawing on their experiences with George Lucas, in films like Star Wars and Terminator, they took the plunge to create a viable business here, investing their personal savings. Starting with three employees, they grew to more than 600, with offices in Montreal, Quebec, Los Angeles and Munich. Mr. Moreau’s wife, Isabelle Langlois, is Vice President of Production, part of the executive management team.
RodeoFX is now the largest Canadian special effects company under Quebec ownership and one of the top ten players in this industry in the world.
What Sebastien Moreau likes most about his profession is the delight his work generates. “We work in people’s make-believe and we want them to believe in it,” he tells us. Although he no longer has a lot of creative time, he is still very passionate about his trade. Relaxing for him means a tour around the lake, winter skiing even more so. Father of three boys, this summer he chauffeured his eldest son on his paddle board to camp at the Boat Club. Even if special effects is part of his everyday life, here in Brome Lake his life is well anchored in the reality of spending time with people he loves.
Translation: Tam Davis