With over 15 years in the Visual Effects industry, Alana has seamlessly transitioned from artist to executive leadership. From her early days as a compositor in LA to a decade-long stint in Australia, progressing from comp lead to production & operations management, her focus has consistently centered on enhancing the artist and client experience. Motivated by a desire to create better work environments, Alana made a strategic move into the business side, leveraging an MBA to sharpen her acumen. Returning state-side, she assumed the role of COO at Crafty Apes and, after three impactful years, confidently stepped into the CEO position during a pivotal moment in Crafty’s and the industry’s history. Alana finds balance through artistic pursuits, indulging in oil painting and various crafts. Her passion extends to the intellectual challenge of competitive games, especially chess and strategic board games, often engaging in spirited matches with her husband.
Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Alex ironically developed his love for film when his father took him to the drive-in to see The Shining when he was 5-years old. He began his craft as a filmmaker at thirteen when his parents purchased their first Hi8 camcorder and he started to write, direct, edit and act in his own short films. Alex went on to study acting at USC and Shakespeare & Co. before getting his first job in post production in 2004. While working as a vault manager, Alex would start his own production company, Gantry Productions, in 2006, where he would go on to write, direct, edit (and sometimes act in) two features and four short films. He also developed a love for directing and editing music videos, working with such notable artists at Jurassic 5 and solo members Marc 7 and Soup. Working simultaneously behind the camera and in post, Alex’s appreciation for Visual Effects blossomed, leading him to become a VFX Producer in 2012. His passion for that world took over, and he’s never looked back, eventually becoming a VFX Supervisor in 2016. Alex is proud to have worked as a supervisor on films such as Avengers: Endgame, The Revenant, and The Flash, as well as acclaimed television shows True Detective, Veep, 1883 and What We Do in the Shadows.
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Brandon hails from the sticky, gator ridden lands of the Southeast and grew up on a steady diet of 80s movies from his father’s masking-tape-labeled VHS film library. That early understanding of the importance of the visual arts led him to eventually pursue a higher education in the field at Savannah College of Art and Design.
Today Brandon is an accomplished artist and supervisor; an alumnus of Rhythm and Hues and Method Studios. He cites the movie Hackers and the pink and teal Solo Jazz pattern as chief amongst his artistic influences. His list of credits include Fast & Furious, Life of Pi, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and too many talking animal movies and product launches to name.
Brandon loves a challenge and pursues all his interests to their logical extreme, whether that be building motorcycles, hot-tubbing, or making computer pictures. He may never become as strong as The Rock, but he’s not going to stop trying.
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Growing up in San Diego, California, John’s favorite class in school was always video/film. Whether dressed as a detective solving mysteries, or popping out of trash cans to the beat of The Proclaimers, John’s love of all things film was solidified. Although his grand oeuvre is yet unrealized, he is filling that creative urge in the realm of visual effects.
John’s VFX journey began doing night-shift rotoscoping for Jason Sanford, where he lived on Trader Joes frozen dinners and RadioLab podcasts. His skills were further forged at Pixomondo, working late nights on the VFX Oscar winning “Hugo,” and making himself sick on Ralphs fried chicken and potato wedges. Occasionally he ate vegetables; sometimes it went poorly. John is also an alumnus of Scanline VFX and Kelvin Optical, where he worked on great teams and also started eating like an adult and competing in triathlons.
John joined the amazing team at Crafty Apes in 2017 and hasn’t looked back, supervising shows such as The Batman, Mulan, Cry Macho, and Spider-Man No Way Home.
When not being attacked by his two small children, which is most times, John’s passions include photography, Padres baseball, US soccer, and travel. If John were an animal he’d be an orange cat.
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After graduating from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan for Visual Effects, Nico began working as an on set supervisor and an artist in CG/Compositing for episodic TV. He’s now a Visual Effects Supervisor with Crafty Apes and moved to L.A. just a few years ago. Some of his highlight experiences include working with the Sesame Street Workshop puppets, fighting off bad guys with CG creatures in Happy!, and expanding film in the sports world with Lebron James’ The Springhill Company as the overall supervisor on Fantasy Football, in which he partnered with director Anton Cropper from conception through completion. He also served as the overall VFX Supervisor on-set through post on Shawn Levy’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day for Walt Disney Pictures, and Sony’s Karate Kid Legends (Summer 2025). In his spare time, Nico is always composing music, spending quality time with his family in the Northeast, and hiking the treacherous mountains on the Pacific Coast.
John Nelson has spent over 20 years in visual effects. As a VFX Supervisor at Crafty Apes, he loves being part of the talented Los Angeles team and solving creative challenges with innovative VFX workflows. John’s journey started in the early 2000s with a passion for video games, which led him from gaming into commercials, particularly in automotive advertising. Currently, his focus is on television and film, and he has worked on exciting projects like Shondaland’s The Residence, Unfrosted, Picard, Westworld, Promised Land, The Walking Dead, and NCIS: New Orleans.
Thomas is an award-winning Visual Effects Supervisor and Producer with over 100 Feature and TV credits to date.
After getting his start as a compositing artist for advertising and music videos in his native Germany, Thomas began to establish himself as a VFX supervisor on local films like “Run Lola Run” and “The Harmonists”.
The success of these early projects led to bigger budget European films: “The Legend of 1900”, “Enemy at the Gates” and “The Pianist”, to name a few.
During this time, Thomas had become a partner and CTO in Germany’s “Das Werk”. A rapidly expanding VFX and Post Production company with over 700 artists and studios all over Europe.
Following the merger with Roland Emmerich’s Culver City based studio “Centropolis Effects”, Thomas put down roots in Los Angeles and began his successful second career chapter in the US. Over the next 16 years, Thomas worked on a wide range of titles from the early “Blood and Chocolate” and “The Box”, to “2012”,“Harry Potter” and “Game of Thrones” in the 2010’s.
Following Montreal’s siren song in 2016, Thomas moved to Canada joining MPC and later Cinesite, to work on films like “Aquaman”, “The Mountain between us” and the Elton John Biopic “Rocketman”.
After supervising the Netflix series “Tribes of Europa”, Thomas joined Crafty Apes as their Head of Studio in Montreal in early 2021.
Thomas is a VES member and former board member of the Montreal VES chapter.
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Reid has over 40 years experience as an artist, producer, supervisor, and manager of visual effects for television, feature film, and special venue production. He is currently a Senior Bidding Producer in the Los Angeles office of Crafty Apes. Reid has traveled extensively to train crews, manage productions, and learn new things including 3D Filmmaking and Virtual Production. Active in the Visual Effects Society, he has been a Co-Chair of the LA Chapter and a member of the Awards Committee since 2003 and Co-Chair from 2019-2024.
Grayson was born in Houston, Texas and immediately had a flare for the arts. She was involved in acting and musical theatre from a young age and studied Theatre and Communications at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She started as an Executive and Production Assistant for music videos and commercials and transitioned to an Executive Assistant role at Crafty helping EP and Co-Founder Jason Sanford. She is now the Sales Coordinator supporting the EP Sales team on a global scale with her mission being to always make sure Crafty clients are happy. She is a die hard fan of hot yoga, music festivals, and her Crafty must watches are Insecure, The Last of Us, and The Menu!