The story of Frantic Films - and it is one that is still young and continues to evolve - is unique. The company built itself into a successful visual effects service provider and then branched off into proprietary software and long-form and commercial production. Today, it continues to excel in all these areas, and despite making an impact in Hollywood and abroad - opening satellite offices in Vancouver, Los Angeles and Australia - it still calls Winnipeg home.

Frantic was formed 10 years ago, when Winnipeg VFX artist Chris Bond joined forces with longtime friend and University of Manitoba commerce grad Ken Zorniak. Their idea was to offer cutting-edge VFX, animation, and computer graphics to the TV and feature film industry at higher quality and lower prices than established shops.

"After graduation, I was working at Safeway getting some management experience, while Chris was working for a local TV production house," says Zorniak, Frantic's COO and executive coproducer. (Bond is president.) "We looked at the Winnipeg market, and figured that there was no one doing what we had in mind, so we decided to give it a go."

Today the duo, both 36, has taken on a staff of 113, a live-action production division headed by CEO Jamie Brown (see interview, p. 28) and a commercial wing under the eye of executive producer Jeff Peeler. And the company's profile is as high as it gets. At the recent Academy Awards, Poseidon and Superman Returns, both of which Frantic worked on, were nominated for best visual effects.

Meanwhile, it continues to grow its production and copro credits, with a catalog as diverse as its corporate makeup, including: the lifestyle Til Debt Do U$ Part, which advises couples in messy financial situations, airing on Slice; the various Quest reality shows, including Pioneer Quest and Quest for the Sea, which have participants live in conditions and situations from the past; the darkly comic CTV MOW Zeyda and the Hitman, starring Judd Hirsch and Danny Aiello; and the feature film Lucid, a psychological drama by director Sean Garrity.  

On a totally different plane, Frantic's homegrown software solutions have proven so sophisticated that offerings such as Deadline are sold to post houses worldwide.

Frantic's early days were anything but ostentatious. The 250-square-foot space that was its first home was hardly Industrial Light & Magic. But that was fine with Bond and Zorniak. All they wanted was to make a living doing what they loved best - Bond producing VFX, and Zorniak managing and selling their services.

They started getting clients early on. Tight for cash, they bought equipment and software as needed, often on a job-by-job basis. Despite the fact that much of their early work was for the local Winnipeg market, Bond and Zorniak always had their eye on Hollywood.

"When you're from Winnipeg, people in larger Canadian cities tend to look down on you," Zorniak says. "But they couldn't care less about this in Hollywood, in part because they are accustomed to dealing with people by phone and e-mail, rather than face-to-face."