Growth, Changes and New Hires at Journeywork Entertainment
Big things are happening over at Chicago-based Journeywork Entertainment, owned and operated by post-production power couple C. Ryan Stemple and Ana Christian.
Building on years of professional experience in a wide variety of post-production roles, Ana and Ryan have been growing their own post-house into a steadfast presence in the Chicago indie film and advertising scenes. Journeywork recently (as of January 2025) acquired two subsidiaries that were originally founded by its owners – Ryan’s color-and-delivery-focused Quicksilver Color and Ana’s editorial-focused Anachrony Post. With all 3 companies officially together under one roof, they now offer the full range of visual post-production services from dailies through to delivery along with post-supervision.
“Merging the companies under a single umbrella just made the world of sense to us,” says Ryan. “Now we’re able to offer our clients a seamless, all-in-house, family-business solution for their visual post.”
“Plus, we basically share all of our brain cells, so we literally live and breathe this work – everyone on the team gives their all to every single project” adds Ana.
While the early years of their business were a two-person labor-of-love, they have recently expanded their team to be able to accommodate an even larger project load. They now manage and provide ongoing professional and creative development to a young and energetic team of freelancers and most notably, they have hired up-and-coming talents Xanthe Moon Brown and Mary Jane Deer to full-time staff.
“What makes this place truly special is the interest the owners take in their employees. They fight tooth and nail for us with a fierce advocacy, determined to make the film industry livable (and dare I say comfortable) for budding artists” says Xanthe.
Mary Jane shared with SCREEN, “The company is a perfect storm of talent and diligence; it embodies a rich passion for storytelling and puts protecting those stories and creatives at the heart of everything it does. The respect and vibrant joy they cultivate in client relationships and work culture leads me to believe this is one of the few companies in the world where everyone is excited to come to work on a Monday morning. The pride I feel for my coworkers and the trust this company has built makes me confident that cinema in Chicago and beyond is in safe hands with Journeywork Entertainment.”
Journeywork’s recent credits have included full visual post + post supervision on several of Chicago’s indie feature darlings, such as John Mossman’s “Good Guy With A Gun” and Brittani Ward’s “Single Car Crashes”, as well as two of Very Merry Entertainment’s holiday romances, “Reporting for Christmas” and “Christmas on the Ranch”, all of which are now streaming on major platforms. Several short films the team has worked on have also found mainstream success, including George Ellzey’s “Cottage Grove” which streamed on AMC+ as part of the channel’s “Future of Film” series, as well as Matthew Paul Everitt’s “You Can Go Home Whenever You Want” which is hosted by the acclaimed YouTube channel Omeleto and you can watch it right here…
On the advertising front, the team has provided post-production services for household name brands like Whirlpool, Purina Pro Plan, Walmart, Aldi, Fancy Feast, and Hostess, along with spots for local Midwest businesses like Imo’s Pizza, Kale Reality, and SureWerx.
Journeywork’s business ethos is one of making the highest quality post services available to the independent filmmakers of the Midwest. They are fervent in their investment in Chicago filmmakers and believe in Chicago as a hub for independent cinema.
“We have such a wealth of talent here in the Midwest, we just want to do our part to help elevate all of the amazing voices that are here,” says Ana.
Journeywork has been a sponsor of the Midwest Film Festival for several years running and offers partnership discounts to films produced through local nonprofits such as the Independent Film Alliance and Full Spectrum Features. “We are dedicated to making professional level post-production accessible to all filmmakers and strive to provide support to talented creatives whenever possible. Building strong relationships with artists and forming true creative collaborations is foundational to the heart of our business.” Starting this year, Journeywork and its subsidiaries will also be sponsors of the Cinema Femme Short Film Fest.
Looking to the future, Journeywork intends to expand beyond its post-production offerings to producing their own original content. They began small with the production of the short film “Baby” (written and directed by Ana Christian and produced in association with Full Spectrum Features) which will release this year, and are in active development on a feature film, “Line Cooks”, written by Mary Jane Deer, which will go into production this fall. Journeywork will be producing the film alongside Executive Producer Ann Deer, Producer Jennifer Jelsema, and Director/Producer John Mossman with Christopher Rejano attached as Director of Photography. The Journeywork team also has a slate of several other feature scripts they are actively developing and hoping to produce within the next couple of years.
“Our cork board of script ideas which hangs next to my desk is a constant reminder that everyone here longs to create,” says Xanthe. “Someday, I’d like to write a dramedy web series, and I know when that day comes, I’ll be surrounded by collaborators. Journeywork is all about possibility.”
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