Having met up with Bustanoby while at Digital Domain a number of years ago, the two came to realize that building a digital division for Stan Winston Studios would serve “as an extension of [Winston’s] existing work.” — the perfect one-stop shop to create greater studio efficiency and a higher value for productions.

SW Digital has already begun planning for a number of upcoming projects, including Because of Win-Dixie (directed by Wayne Wang) and The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam about the Persian mathematician (directed by Kayvan Mashayekh). With these films, SW Digital will create a broad range of vfx from matte paintings and set extensions to various 3D effects to support the diverse visual requirements of the films.

But SW Digital’s coming-out party plans to be Winston’s own development of My Monster and Me, to be directed by Neil Jordan (Interview with the Vampire). Rosa and Bustanoby are confident that My Monster and Me will truly showcase their facility’s digital ability to create spectacular digital creature and character effects in addition to supporting other visual effects.

By keeping a small, strong core staff and relying on dependable freelance artists and keeping the ability to remain flexible and agile, SW Digital should become a strong player in the digital and visual effects industry. And with the efficiency and talent pool at their fingertips with this expansion, they stand a wonderful chance of doing just that, especially with creature work.

D2’s offices boast a Frank Gehry-designed conference room (left) known as “The Whale.” The open floor plan includes ceo Scott Ross’ office.

With some vfx and even entire films slipping through the cracks and losing focus so easily, no wonder D2 and SW Studios have decided to expand their reach to gain greater quality control.

Dariush Derakhshani is a shaky 32 and makes for an interesting Googlism. Nicely bald and slowly going insane, he has a fear of commitment and having to cook. He has written a slew of articles littered throughout the Web, wrote the book Introducing Maya: 3D for Beginners and contributed to Maya: Secrets of the Pros, Maya 5 Savvy and Getting a Job in CG: Real Advice from Reel People. He is currently working on more Maya books due out later next year. A senior animator at commercial effects house Sight Effects in Venice, California, he can be found at www.painfulurination.com — or you can send him viruses at koosh3d@earthlink.net. He's got flat feet and misses NYC.