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Another one bites the dust
Matchframe Video in Burbank closed their doors yesterday. All the staff were laid off with about 1 hour’s notice.
Since i was employee number on there, and spent 16 years helping to build the place, this is particularly sad. I still have friends who worked there.
It’s a testament to the fact that bad management can even ruin a solid company with a great staff.
Terence Curren
http://www.alphadogs.tv
http://www.digitalservicestation.com
Burbank,Ca -
14 Replies
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WOW! Really? Holy cow…I worked on so many shows that were onlined there.
Keep up your GOOD management Terry…
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Ugh!!! I hate to hear that news. They were once so busy too.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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This is always sad to hear, but I’d have to wonder if the economy isn’t a major factor, coupled with the trend to go lone gunman with your post since the gear has come down so far in cost.
I can remember walking down some streets just off the Magnificent Mile and seeing too many post houses to count, when I was a college student in Chicago. And those were HUGE places. The DV revolution killed off a lot of what hadn’t already succumbed to the recession and the rise of boutique editing shops.
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[Mark Suszko] “I’d have to wonder if the economy isn’t a major factor, coupled with the trend to go lone gunman with your post since the gear has come down so far in cost.
“Undoubtedly true Mark.
In addition, as I recently found out when visiting my home state of Louisiana, the huge tax incentives that are being dished out in states other than California, now apply to post and to equipment as well.
In the past, Hollywood production went to those states, but post was typically brought back home for a Hollywood finish. Now, a 30% kickback on post, facility build-out, equipment purchases, and even music recording has taken the whole enchilada away from Hollywood. And Gov. Arnie, who vowed to bring the biz back, has effectively failed miserably.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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What is now called “River North” – the whole area from the Chicago River up to maybe Chicago Ave. was full of the edit facilities, sound shops, optical houses, at least three full service motion labs (Astro, Douglas, Cinema Processors) and a lot of production houses.
Ahh, memories.
We’re getting old, Mark.
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It’s amazing how many places with unlimited potential are so eager to place folks with no experience in management seats. We’ve all seen it. Frustrating as an artist when you know what is on the horizon for the very place yer trying to build up. In a nutshell it’s why I finally had to fire all bosses.
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Well it’s a depression and easy to obtain technology that is leading the evolution of video but it’s the failure to evolve that closes these places doors. You just can’t buy a francy couch and expect to bill 4 times the amount of worth. That was neat in the 80s… which is where minds of these failing managers dwell. These places made a fortune out of double and tripple billing. You know the game. Send stuff to the audio room and other elements to the animation department when the client just needs a show. This workflow was required 20 years as there was no other way to do it. Now that there are other ways of doing it, well, they should probaly live in the now and make a show. Companies can’t afford budget surprises anymore and they are no longer impressed with the most expensive in town. They’d rather just have the best.
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Speak for yourself, Alan; I just turned 49 this month and consider myself only “2-pass” still:-) OTOH somebody has seriously messed up all the mirrors in my house because they do not read right.
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G-man, you bring up a good point, in that back in the day, billing on a cost-plus basis was the thing, with the mad men at the mega ad agencies footing all the bills. They were all off buying Rolexes and sports cars and snorting coke off off buxom companions and didn’t care about overages, as long as things looked cool and got done on time. In cost-plus contracts, there is no incentive to save anybody anything; the more things cost, the more you make as a percentage OFF of that cost. Well, that ride came to a bumpy end by the mid-eighties.
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Mirrors out of adjustment? Yours too?
Mine seem to have been miscalibrated to “gray hair” mode.
Who do I write to to complain about that?
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