Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/40055
A different model Unlike independent post houses that are constantly trying to com- pete with fellow facilities for business, StudioZ Productions in Fort Lauderdale is unique in that it's owned by an agency that feeds it a steady stream of work. Zimmerman Advertising (www.zadv.com) owns StudioZ, which has more than 30 employees and delivers as many as 1,000 television spots per month, in addition to a consid- erable amount of radio work. Ryan Salazar (pictured) is the director of engineering and post production technology at StudioZ, and says the facility works with many national clients, including Nissan, Papa John's and Party City, as well as with numerous smaller clients throughout the country. My prices are competitive with other boutique agencies around town, but the margins are bigger because I don't hire editors on a per-day basis. I hire them on a flat rate based on what I think it should take them to do.This way the editors that work for me are also free to work on other projects at the same time. That's multiple streams of revenue for them." NICE & PLEASANT Pleasant Post (http://pleasantpost.com) is a two-year-old facility located on Grand and Lafayette in Manhattan.They also have a smaller studio in Santa Monica, and are a sister company to production company East Pleasant Pictures and motion graphics shop EP Vision. According to executive producer Sarah Roebuck, the New York studio has three suites, all of which have Final Cut Pro for editing.One of the rooms also has Color for color correction and Pro Tools for sound design and mixing.The LA space has two edit suites. Pleasant Post's two lead editors, Will Znidaric and Lindsey Houston, call the New York space home, and their work can range from commercials to Web projects to music videos to episodic TV shows. "We've done a lot of different types of things and from the editors' standpoint; they really enjoy that because it keeps the content fresh and challenging," says Roe- The world's first Digital Lab for VFX dailies. "They basically get the work for us," he says of Zimmerman.All of StudioZ's work comes from the agency. In addition to broadcast work, they also provide post services for non-broadcast projects required by its clients. None of its work, however, comes from outside producers. The business model allows the agency to package production and post services, along with the creative, to clients, thereby creat- ing value by keeping it all under one roof. Of the studio's 30-plus employees, 15 are motion graphics artists and editors. Maxon Cin- ema 4D is the main application used for graphics, though they are calling on Autodesk Maya more and more these days.Artists also rely on Adobe's CS5 suite, particularly After Effects. For editing, Stu- dioZ is outfitted with numerous seats of Final Cut Studio 3, and ac- cording to Salazar, they have no interest in upgrading to FCP X. "I bought another 30-plus Final Cut Studio 3 licenses before they stopped selling them," he explains."We can coast on them for a couple of years.The file format we use primarily is Apple ProRes 422 HQ, and it works really well with Final Cut Studio 3, so we're fairly happy with it. I think we will be fine with it for an- other one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half years.As far as the other technology goes,we are constantly upgrading." StudioZ has Final Cut Server and a Facilis TerraBlock for stor- age. Salazar likes to keep as many assets online as he can, but when it comes time to offload, he'll use LTO-4 tape. The studio uses DG Fastchannel, an automated system that de- livers finished HD and SD spots to television stations throughout the US and Canada. "It can be feast or famine," says Salazar of the post business and studios that don't have the benefit of an agency sending them work."Usually you don't have much work coming in for half the year and then the other half of the year you've got so much you can't handle it. Here,we are cranking pretty good." — Marc Loftus Mac or PC: $4,995 Optimized for DPX, OpenEXR & RAW Stack unlimited shot versions in a single timeline Full XML support and powerful database integration for effortless media loading Full automation of aspect ratio or frame offset correction Automatically set correct LUT based on file type Free trial offer at: www.assimilateinc.com/trial DIGITAL INGENUITY Scene from "Battle: Los Angeles" © Sony/Columbia www.postmagazine.com August 2011 • Post 37