Jake is an Animator who studied at Escape Studios in 2020. Since completing his course, he has worked in many aspects of the institution, including managing the alumni and aftercare offering, followed by working within the Student Community team. He has been in his current role since April 2024 as the Community and Events Coordinator assisting with the planning of graduation, welcome week, showcase and Escapeverse Live.

Whilst studying at Escape Studios, Jake directed his first short film, ‘Mafia Mix-Up’ which has since won 5 film festival awards. He has been directing his second short film ‘Am I Dreaming?’ for the last three years with a release date in the first quarter of 2025 set to run the film festival circuit.

After a period working as a builder, he began as a set designer in 1982. Since then he has art directed movies for Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Bob Zemeckis, Zack Snyder, Peter Jackson and James Cameron - amongst others. In 2010 Kim received a BAFTA, and an Academy Award for art direction on the movie Avatar. 

Other projects include designing The Adventures of Tintin, and a TVC for Samsung directed by Romain Gavras. In 2014, he production designed two New Zealand feature films: The Dark Horse which won Best Film at the 2014 New Zealand Film Awards, and Slow West which won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2015. 

Jessica works as a Generalist TD, specialising in lighting and groom. She brings a wealth of knowledge to the team, having worked at studios like One of Us, Blue Zoo and now Vine FX. Whilst working on The Rig: Season 2, she developed the lighting effects for the Ancestor Tree asset and lit a range of environments for the project with a keen eye for the nuance of lighting to tell the narrative. 

Will Hughes is Escape Studios' Talent Development Manager. He has been with the company for eight years and services studios with industry ready talent. Will is pivotal in ensuring Escape Studios graduates are getting the dream jobs they've worked so hard for.