Five minutes with Scot Evans, CEO & Partner Monkeys with Pistols

Monkeys has already worked on two global Netflix hits, Counterstrike (AKA Contraataque), helmed by Mexican filmmaker Chava Cartas and DP Beto Casillas and Lucca’s World (Los dos hemisferios de Lucca), a Woo Films production, directed by Mariana Chenillo and DP Serguei Saldívar; as well as the Sony family comedy Switched Up (Caras Vemos) for director Beto Gómez and DP Michelle Castro.

Additionally, Monkeys and its partner facility in LA, Arsenal, recently provided look development, dailies, and color grading for Man on Fire, an eight-part thriller Netflix series. An adaptation of the 2004 film by Tony Scott starring Denzel Washington, Man on Fire was shot on location in Mexico and produced by New Regency Productions, Chernin Entertainment, Chapter Eleven: with showrunner Kyle Killen, and photographed by DP Alejandro Martinez and DP Paula Huidobro.

We caught up with Scot to tell us all about his exciting new venture.

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Can you tell us about your history with Mexico and its film and TV scene?

I’ve been living and working in Mexico, on and off since 1991. Although my father is from the US and my mother is from Argentina, I’ve been living here for most of my adult life. My wife and children are Mexican, so I feel more at home here than anywhere else. I started my career here as the President of Virgin Television and later founded the post-production facilities CityGlobal Images, Fiction Digital Imaging, New Art Digital, and Cinematic Media. More recently, I held management executive positions at Technicolor and MPC. Just before founding Monkeys, I was consulting and living in San Francisco while commuting to Mexico, LA, New York, and London which, as you can imagine, was quite intense in my time. Then COVID happened. My family and I decided, since most of my work was in Mexico and that’s where we’ve always been happiest, to move back to Mexico and launch a new facility based around talent, experience, and collaboration.

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Could you tell us what’s unique about your facility?

The traditional post facility in Mexico always had one or two colorist options. Now we have limitless talent, and it's changing how we think about everything.

At Monkeys, we want to create a global artist base, where we offer key talent from Mexico, Latin America, Europe, and the US. Working with the best remote workflows allows us to connect our clients with the best talent available in the industry, all while doing it at local rates. We want to discover new talent and introduce their experience, passion, and creativity to the market. It’s an idea I’ve been considering for a while, but only recently has it become possible with advances in technology and the acceptance of new patterns of work in the industry post-COVID.

I’ve known Larry Field and OT Hight (Founders and Partners) at Arsenal for a while, and we share very similar philosophies about talent, technology, and trends in the industry. The experience Arsenal has in Hollywood, as well as both the artistic and technical support they provide, means that we have the best foundation for creating this model. They’ve already run numerous remote workflows out of their studios in LA, Atlanta, and Albuquerque for years, so I knew they’d be great partners for this concept.

The idea behind Monkeys is to leverage our Arsenal talent, the exciting talent that lives in Mexico and the wider Latin America region, and work with them no matter where they live by being able to connect remotely. You could think of us like a record label where we represent extremely talented artists in the field and support them with all the technology, security protocols, and service that is required to work with major studios and streamers like Sony, Disney, Apple, Amazon or Netflix. 

What resources do you have on site?

At Monkeys we primarily use DaVinci Resolve, Sony X300 HDR, and Colorfront Express Dailies; as part of our design, we also have the ability to access all of the resources available at Arsenal. In addition to color we have VFX facilities, specializing in 2D comps and cleanups.

The majority of our work is with our colorists in the facility; however, we’ve also been very successful working remotely with colorists in different locations through high-speed connectivity via the Sohonet private network and Sohonet ClearView Flex. This is the backbone of our infrastructure. 

We rely on File Runner to share media with studios, producers and distributors around the globe securely and efficiently. It is also used to facilitate remote collaboration with directors, cinematographers, editors, colorists, and other production partners.

Likewise, the technological collaboration between Monkeys and Arsenal is really important. Josh Baca, CTO and Partner at Arsenal, pre-designed our systems before launching. This allowed us to fully take advantage of all the prior remote workflow experience at Arsenal. This, as well as Josh’s design, gave us a lot of confidence from the beginning.

Specifically, how do you use ClearView Flex?

Every project we’ve handled at Monkeys to date has employed ClearView and/or File Runne, and we’ve not had a single glitch or one frozen frame. Any concerns we had about latency over long distances disappeared within seconds of use. It’s just not noticeable. 

Lucca’s World was filmed in Mexico City, but the director lives a 6-hour drive away in Veracruz. Normally, this would have made it difficult to schedule a lot of the color work and VFX approval, but by using File Runner to send color and VFX reviews, she was able to watch and review everything from home. She was really happy with the process and embraced the whole new remote world. There’s a lot of trust involved in working remotely, but the solid performance and ease of use of Sohonet has enabled us to overcome all those doubts. 

We delivered a similar workflow for grading Caras Vemos when our colorist’s schedule meant she was committed outside of the country. Again, she was able to attend color sessions with the director and photographer via ClearView. Our client commented to us that being able to see and make changes in real time was such a smooth experience that it simply didn’t matter that she wasn’t in the same room.

Towards the end of post on Counterstrike the producer decided to go in a different aesthetic direction and brighten up a couple of scenes. We were able to do that work remotely, and he was really impressed with how natural the experience was.

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‍You seem to have hit the ground running. What’s next?‍

You’re right! Our postproduction concept and the work we’re producing have been very well received. Looking towards the future, we would love to expand to Colombia, Spain, Argentina, and other Hispanic markets, finding local talent and bringing them into Monkeys.

We’ll also be adding new services like creative editorial, CG VFX, and titling.

What is the status of high-end TV production in Mexico?

It looks very promising. Netflix recently announced a $1 billion dollar investment to produce new films and series in Mexico over the next four years. We’re seeing the same level of excitement from companies like Apple, HBO, Max, Disney, Hulu, and Amazon Studios. So, production has really started to grow, and we’ll likely see more than 50 new productions start this year alone.

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Monkeys With Pistols - what a great name! How did you decide on that?

Well we first thought of going for Monkeys with Knives, but, really, it was because we wanted to emphasize how much we prioritize creativity over technology and a corporate image. The technology we use has become incredibly accessible. Everyone has DaVinci or a Filmlight panel, and there isn’t any software or equipment that will make one posthouse stand out from the rest. There comes a point where the technology is an equalizer. Our entire model centers around developing a large network of talent to fit any project. Since our focus lies on our artists, we wanted the name of Monkeys to reflect that. Also we like monkeys.Monkeys With Pistols launched in 2024 in Mexico City offering dailies, color grading, and VFX. Partnered with LA-based high-end postproduction studio ArsenalFX Color, Monkeys is led by CEO Scot Evans, a highly experienced industry executive who has managed large-scale postproduction operations in the United States, Mexico, and Canada including for Virgin Television, Technicolor, and MPC.