Mushroom Media now calls both Joburg and Cape Town home, with their new offices opening in Longkloof Studios. The two offices are connected, so while directors and editors kick back with double-shot espressos in Joburg, clients and creatives can be sipping apple cinnamon kombucha in Cape Town, all while reviewing and approving work in real-time. With perfectly calibrated monitors displaying identical images, Mushroom is now a cross-country one-stop post shop.

Mushroom’s Founder Warwick Allan says of the Mushroom tech, “The company operates with advanced infrastructure, including dual 10-gig lines connecting its Johannesburg and Cape Town facilities. Automatic sync tools and proprietary workflows ensure seamless collaboration, even for long-form projects. We’ve always been ahead of the curve in ensuring seamless post-production workflows and using the latest tech to do so.”

Mushroom Media Cape Town

Over the past 21 years, Mushroom Media has grown into a post powerhouse. They have worked on major projects, with production companies like Team Best, Darling, Star Films, Bioscope, First Pencil, Gentlemen, and agencies like Joe Public, FoxP2, Grey, Ogilvy, VML and TBWA to name a few. Their longform portfolio includes work for major studios like Paramount, HBO, Sony, Netflix, Amazon, Skydance, and CBS.

Mushroom Media Cape Town

Not only are their new studios impressive, but so is the talent at Mushroom. Mushroom operates on a hybrid model, combining a core team of highly skilled post-production specialists with a network of top freelance talent in offline editing, colour grading, online, and VFX.

Their in-house creative and highly experienced online, VFX and Animation artists include Novak Miler, Sarah Kwan, NJ Minyuku, Jannes Hendriks, Lindo Mdlalose, and Herschelle Ncube. On the colour grading side, experts like Warwick Allan and Alex May ensure meticulously coloured and crafted visuals.

Mushroom’s top industry collaborators include colourists Terry Simpson, Nic Apostoli, Craig Simonetti, online artist Marco Raposa da Barbosa, offline editors Anthony Lee Martin, James O’Sullivan, Julian Redpath, Jade de Jager, Jo Gibbon, Jordan Koen and Miriam Arndt.

Warwick says, “Over the past 21 years we have built a super strong production team and a power VFX team (we now have 5 full-time VFX artists).”

Mushroom has always known that top talent is key. Apart from their impressive roster, they put a strong focus on post-supervision, with experienced post-producers Luaan Hong (EP), Zintle Boki, Dries Uys, and Jonene van Zyl, making sure every project runs smoothly, stays on schedule, and, most importantly, keeps the stress levels low. Amen to that.

Mushroom Media Joburg studios

Mushroom’s Executive Producer Luaan Hong says, “It’s so great to  see how much Mushroom has grown, and yet Warwick has managed to keep it fully independent. Not because there haven’t been opportunities but because for us it’s so important to keep it personal with our clients, have that personal touch.”

Warwick adds, “As Mushroom turns 21, we’re excited to step into a new era of collaboration and creativity. We’re excited to continue building meaningful relationships, push our diverse team’s deep skillset to new heights, and craft outstanding work that celebrates our journey and the future ahead.”

Wanna (s)talk some more? Mushroom Media’s IDIDTHAT profile and company website.