Milk co-founder Will Cohen to step down

Cohen will continue to work with the Milk board and senior team in the first quarter of 2022 on strategic and commercial projects and to ensure a smooth transition.

Following that, Cohen will remain involved as a Milk shareholder and non-executive board director.

Cohen co-founded Milk in 2013, leading a team who went on to win three consecutive BAFTA Awards in its first three years, in addition to an Emmy for the BBC/Hartswood’s Sherlock and co-founder Sara Bennett becoming the first woman in twenty years to win an Oscar for VFX in 2016.

Before Milk, Cohen worked at Mill Film and TV for the VFX on the BBC’s revival of Doctor Who with Russell T Davies.

At Milk, Cohen continued the relationship with Steven Moffat and team, leading Milk to create the BAFTA-winning VFX for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode.

Cohen went on to executive produce the BAFTA-winning VFX for episodic series Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and brought BBC/Amazon’s acclaimed Good Omens to Milk which earned the team a BAFTA nomination in 2020.

Cohen has been on the board of UK Screen Alliance for the past five years and helped orchestrate the merger between UK Screen and Animation UK into the UK Screen Alliance.

Cohen said: “I’m incredibly proud of Milk and the creative success we’ve achieved over the last eight years. With the confirmed slate we have for 2022 and the quality of the team we’ve been building it feels like the right moment to step forward into a new adventure.

“VFX is a team sport like no other and I want to celebrate all the talented people who have made Milk a success and will continue to, long into the future.”

Jag Mundi, executive chairman of Milk Visual Effects commented: “Will is passionate about the people, the work and the vfx industry and possesses a rare combination of creative and commercial flair. We would like to thank Will for his extraordinary passion and commitment to Milk. We are delighted he is going to continue to work with us all and that we can draw on his energy, expertise and experience as we build the business creatively and commercially into the future.”

Milk says that 2022 is set to be its busiest year ever with a roster of work for major studios and production companies including Amazon, Netflix, Apple TV, Sony, the BBC, Left Bank and Working Title.

The company recently hired Michelle Martin as chief business development officer, Andy Morley and Oliver Cubbage as VFX/CG supervisors and a number of producers.

Milk’s credits include Amazon/BBC’s Good Omens; Netflix’ Cursed; Amazon’s Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams; Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them (Warner Bros.); Baltasar Kormakur’s Adrift; and Alex Garland’s Annihilation.

Milk’s recent work includes 850 shots for Sky Original’s sci-fi series Intergalactic, Amazon/New Regency’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie; Netflix’ The Last Letter From Your Lover and Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s Earwig, in addition to Netflix’ feature The Old Guard, Ben Wheatley-directed feature Rebecca and episodic series Cursed.