Hetrick & Page Alchemy Studios is a makeup effects company that works on Star Trek: Discovery. Even though its two CEOs, Glenn Hetrick and Neville Page, have received individual credits for the first season of the series, the company too has a separate "Prosthetic Makeup Special Effects and Specialty Armor Designed and Created by" credit – for the re-imagined Klingons in particular – as "Glenn Hetrick and Neville Page's Alchemy Studios", and under which all other uncredited company employees were lumped together.
The company was originally founded in 1989 (but only incorporated in 1993) as the special effects (SFX) company Optic Nerve Studios, Inc. by effects artists John Vulich and Everett Burrell in the Vulich's garage in Granada Hills, before the company moved to larger premises in Sun Valley, California. [1] The company became the first gainful employer of SFX artist Glenn Hetrick after he had moved to Hollywood from the East Coast in 1998.
The company has contributed to numerous motion picture productions, the majority of them in the horror, fantasy and science fiction genres. After a number of small small productions, the company took off when it was contracted for The Night of the Living Dead (1990, starring Patricia Tallman and Tony Todd), and movies that have followed suit included among others Romero's followup The Dark Half (1993), Being John Malkovich (1999), The Cell (2000), the two Returning of the Living Dead outings (both 2005), two outings in the horror series Pumpkinhead (2006-2007) and The Feast (2008 & 2009) each, Legion (2010), but most conspicuously The Hunger Games quadrilogy (2012-2015).
Even more successful became the company for television productions after it was contracted in 1993 for the Babylon 5 franchise, for whose entire run the company eventually provided services for and which put the company firmly on the map in the industry, as the franchise garnered several Emmy Award wins and nominations in the various makeup categories. Commissions followed for Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2002), its spin-off Angel (2000-2001), The X-Files (1998-2001), Heroes(2006-2010, starring many Star Trek alumni, including company owner Hetrick in two guest starring roles), Mad Man (2012), CSI:NY (2008-2012), another CSI spin-off CSI:Cyber (2015-2016), Extant (2014-2015), and two Marvel Comics television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (2015-2017) and Inhumans (2017), before the company embarked on Star Trek: Discovery in the same year. All these series, including Discovery, have added to the company's list of Emmy Award nominations and wins.
After Hetrick had worked for a period of time as an independent contractor, he returned to the company in 2005 as its CEO, becoming its owner as well six years later, when founder Vulich sold him the company (Co-founder Burrell had already left the company in the early 1990s because of a conflict with Vulich). [2] [3] Along with longtime friend and colleague Neville Page, who became co-owner, Hetrick restructured "Glenn Hetrick's Optic Nerve Studios" in 2016 into "Hetrick & Page Alchemy Studios", or "Alchemy Studios" for short, shortly before the company was contracted for Discovery, adding digital visual effects (CGI) production to the array of services as well. [4] [5]
A past employee of the company had been Larry Odien who, for a previous employer, was known to have worked on Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country as an uncredited SFX technician.
Star Trek: Discovery staff[]
- Blake Bolger – Costume Fabricator (uncredited)
- Cory Fisher – Special Makeup Effects Artist (unconfirmed)
- Glenn Hetrick – CEO, Make-Up Effects Department Head
- Jose Mora-Perez – Special Effects Makeup Sculptor (uncredited)
- Michael O'Brien – Art Director/Head Sculptor (uncredited)
- Neville Page – CEO, Lead Creature Designer
- Sheila Mia Seifi – Dental Prosthetics Head (uncredited)
- Cale Thomas – Makeup Artist (unconfirmed)
- Brian Van Dorn – Special Effects Makeup Artist (unconfirmed)
Documentary[]
- DIS Season 1 Blu-ray-special feature, "Creature Comforts"
External links[]
- Alchemy Studios – official site
- fOptic Nerve Makeup Studio at MakeupView.co – work gallery (featuring Robin Curtis in Babylon 5 makeup)