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May/June 2021

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rt Confidential is an American re- ality television show that centers on artist/curator Sir Daniel Winn, along with his elite Beverly Hills gallery staff. Together, they make acquisitions and sell masterpieces to affluent and discriminat- ing collectors, while giving viewers an in- timate look at the ins and outs of running Winn Slavin Fine Art (winnslavin.com). The show is in its first season, with its initial three episodes available on Roku, Apple TV+ and Amazon Fire, as well as on mobile devices by downloading the A-List TV app. Jessie Imundi is the cre- ator of the program, which is produced by her company of the same name — Art Confidential. "It's a production (company) for film, for television, reality," says Imundi of her company, Art Confidential. "I created all of it and wore a lot of hats." Imundi says Winn — the star of the show — wanted to explore ideas for a program during the pandemic. "When I went and met with him, I said, 'Wow, this is brilliant!' There is no other show about fine art on television, so I created it. Now we have produced three episodes. We are on Episode 4." The intent for the first season is to create eight episodes, with the hope of expanding to international markets and producing additional seasons. "We've got a lot of interest," says Imundi. "The entire China market wants it… Since the lead star is Vietnamese, there is a huge draw for him now… It's currently seen in a lot of markets. It's seen in Japan and most of South America, all of the US. But to go international we will be dubbing it according to the languages where they will be airing it." There are plans to dub and translate Art Confidential to Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish. The first two episodes were released simultaneously, with Episode 3 following a few weeks later. "It takes us about six weeks to create an episode and finish it completely," she explains. The show is shot with three Blackmagic Design cameras, along with two drones. Most of the series takes place in the Beverly Hills gallery, while additional locations include office space, restaurants and, for Episode 4, a yacht. "We shoot everything in 6K, but by the time it gets done, it is 4K, which is what Netflix and all the streamers require," says Imundi. Wes Kemp, Sven Ciupka and Carlos M. Jimenez handle camera work, which spans 10 days for each episode and roughly 14 hours for each day. "We try to do 12 (hours), but always go over," she notes. Imundi says her goal is to have the storyline unfold organically, but the team is careful to plan shoots around events, such as the opening of a second gallery on Rodeo Drive, which serves as a sto- ryline in Episode 4. Ronn Head edits the series, working from home and cutting the show in Apple's Final Cut Pro. "I sit in on Zoom or FaceTime," says Imundi, who will view shots and provide feedback. "I select all the music that is on the show. I send all the elements. I create these beat sheets, where the editor has the direction that the show wants to go in. Since it's a three-camera shoot, we have a lot of angles to do one segment. That's what takes a little long — synchro- nizing all the cameras together." Art Confidential currently makes use of tracks from a music library that Imundi has a monthly subscription to. "It has a variety of music available, and I choose it accordingly," she says of the library. "Ideally, we want composers and original music moving forward, once we have a bigger budget, and that's going to be based on how many markets we go into." Sound for the show is mixed by George Palousis, who is based in Greece. "Basically, we upload the show and he works from Greece," she explains. "He does all the mixing and sends the files back to us, and we put them together." Greg Kibler performs a color grade to give the footage its final look. Exposure in international markets could dramatically impact the production budget going forward, and if that hap- pens, Imundi already has plans for how to take Art Confidential to the next level. "It will be a huge, dramatic change when we get into these other markets, like China," she states. "We are going to upgrade the production at that point. It will be a significant budget, somewhere between $700K and $1M per episode. That's not where we are right now." That next level would increase the number of producers working on the show, double the number of cameras to six, and increase the shoot schedule from 10 days to a month or more for each episode. Imundi would also like to hire a composer for a custom score. And of course, the talent is hoping to score as part of a successful, international show. "All the talent is waiting to get paid big. That's their hopes," she explains. "Right now they are getting paid small, but moving forward, when we do get the production to that level, we are hoping to be able to pay them a very nice amount!" ART CONFIDENTIAL BY MARC LOFTUS SHOW CREATOR JESSIE IMUNDI HAS HER EYE ON INTERNATIONAL MARKETS A REALITY TV www.postmagazine.com 28 POST MAY/JUNE 2021 Three episodes are already available. The show is edited in Final Cut Pro.

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