By Katie Makal, September 30, 2003
Post-production company PostWorks New York has acquired the Tapehouse Companies and all of its affiliates -- including Tapehouse Editorial, Tapehouse Digital Film, Tapehouse Broadband, Black Logic and The Anx -- as well as SMA Realtime. Additionally, PostWorks has purchased 50 percent of audio post house Caterini Studios.
Considering the vast collection of creative and technological assets involved in the acquisition, the moves makes the new company one of the most comprehensive and diverse post-production houses on the East Coast. The company will have the ability to handle every aspect of post-production -- digital or film -- for both short-form and long-form television, film and multimedia projects.
Equally impressive will be the company's enormous network of computer servers and infrastructure that will allow a client's project to move seamlessly among the company's creative professionals, resulting in time and cost savings.
"In an age of shifting formats and technology, our goal is provide a safe haven for producers to realize their projects," said PostWorks CEO Billy Baldwin
. "We are taking the best parts of these companies and
bringing them forward into a new era of post-production that will surpass a client's expectations and focus on service, not just services."
The new entity, housed in 50,000 square feet of office space in Manhattan's SoHo district (with the exception of The Anx, which will remain in its current downtown Manhattan location), will offer clients 25 Avid off-line edit suites; two Discreet inferno* compositing suites; numerous flame*, smoke* and
Maya 3D workstations; two Spirit DataCines with Pogle MegDefs for color correction; one Quantel iQ and Sony-equipped HD linear bay; one Millennium machine; one da Vinci 2K; and two Avid|DS HD suites.
In addition, the company will also house six ProTools mixing suites; a live recording room; a LaserGraphics film recorder; an Arri-Laser film recorder; a Teranex standards converter, allowing finishing in numerous HD formats including HD D5, HDCAM and D6; and a high definition screening room.
Besides the technology, the new company will be home to numerous creative professionals, including some of the most gifted creative talent in New York:
- Longtime Tapehouse director of HD/data services Tim Spitzer, who will serve as the new company's vice president of operations
- Director of graphics Todd Ruff
- Senior editor Peter Heady
- Henry artist Jay Tillin
- Senior visual effects designer/supervisor Brian Benson
- Broadband manager Scott Ettin
- CG artists Doug Johnson and Kuan Lin
- Colorists John Crowley, Eric Alvarado, Alex Berman, Scott Olive and Sam Daley
.
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