Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/511209
www.postmagazine.com 41 POST MAY 2015 post production costs in New York. Almost all costs qualify for the credit: editing, post audio, music recording, VFX, titles and lab finishing. PNYA now counts 50 companies, 300 post professionals and one more union (AFM Local 802) among its members. The collegial group hosts bi-monthly "Post Intelligence Gatherings" to share info on work coming to New York. "We all rise and fall together," says Lehman about the collaborative nature of the organization. A significant amount of time also is dedicat- ed to educating the workforce of tomorrow via helping to develop school curricula, offering professional internships, making financial do- nations to educational programs and creating informational podcasts. "People tend to know about jobs in production, but not know about all the jobs in post production," notes Lehman. And the post marketplace is "growing mas- sively," she reports. "We didn't anticipate how much TV would take advantage of the post tax credit. Eighty-seven pilots shot here last year and many remained to post." Post houses are opening in New York or expanding their existing facilities. "Post Facto- ry is now leasing an entire building in TriBeCa," Lehman says. "Harbor Picture Company is about to open a big mix stage that New York has long needed. The music scoring company Fall On Your Sword has opened in Brooklyn." Other power- houses include Phosphene; Mr. X Inc., which has offices in Toronto and New York; and Buffa- lo-based Empire Visual Effects, which has ties to the academic program at Daemen College. "It's a very vibrant, diverse, artistic communi- ty," says Lehman. "We haven't created an indus- try here, we've expanded it. Film commissions from other states call us and ask how we did it." FILM AND TV POST GET INCENTIVIZED Film and television in New York "isn't going to slow down any time soon," observes Rob Mor- lano, senior vice president of post production at Prime Focus Technologies (www.primefo- custechnologies.com) in New York. Headquar- tered in Mumbai, India, PFT has offices in LA, London, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Toronto and, of course, New York. "With the tax incentives, we've seen a big increase in scripted shows, but a ton of reality content doesn't qualify for incentives," he notes. "That's a shame — it could really help them because their budgets aren't growing with the demand for new technology." Still, Morlano cites the large number of script- ed pilots in town and the new deal between Dis- ney-Marvel and Netflix for four live-action series based in New York. "Shows used to shoot here then go back to LA, but now they're staying for post and keeping everyone busy." Brooklyn-based post and finishing house WorleyWorks (www.worleyworks.com) believes the post tax incentives have "created a lot of energy" in town. Minah Worley, who co-owns the facility with husband Greg, says, "Boutique companies like ours have really seen a differ- ence in the quality of work coming through. Filmmakers from LA, London and even Korea are interested in the incentives — places that have strong post markets of their own. It's a really good time to be in business here." WorleyWorks caters to indie features and feature-length documentaries. It grew into the post business in 2014 after offering motion capture and stereoscopic 3D services. "Direc- tor Ang Lee wanted to do a project requiring 60fps 4K stereo and nobody was placed to do that in LA or New York," says WorleyWorks' director of post production, Jack Reynolds. "Greg had some solutions, so Ang Lee became our first post client." The company recently performed the DI for the new feature doc, Song of Lahore, codi- rected by Academy Award-winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. WorleyWorks also donated its motion-capture system to the filmmaker for her next project, Pakistan's first animated feature. To meet the demand for 4K finishing, Wor- leyWorks has invested in the city's first Mistika color correction system, Barco 4K projector and Canon 4K monitor for its DI theater. "Everyone is interested in finishing in 4K or higher for longev- ity, if nothing else," Reynolds notes. "Amazon is talking about requiring 6K finishing." FUSEFX COMPLETES WORK ON THE BLACKLIST & POWERS NEW YORK — FuseFX New York (www.fusefx.com) recently wrapped up work on The Blacklist and Powers, both for Sony Pictures Television. The studio is a satel- lite of FuseFX, Burbank, and launched last fall, initially with a staff of six, but has since grown to a team of 27. FuseFX produced a wide range of VFX for the two shows, which included 22 episodes for The Blacklist and 10 for Powers. Creative demands for the two series were markedly different. For The Blacklist, in which James Spader plays a former fugitive now assisting the FBI, the work was primarily supporting VFX and included a lot of pyrotechnics — enhancing gun battles, explosions and the like. The effects team also produced numerous matte paintings and set extensions to support the exot- ic, international locations where the show takes place. Powers, in contrast, features a cast with super hero abilities. The effects work here had a more fantastical bent, with FuseFX called on to create everything from super power simulations to full CG characters. Each episode featured hundreds of effects shots. "The work was interesting because the shows were so very different," recalls VFX supervisor Greg Ander- son. "The Blacklist had a tight schedule and we had to get into a rhythm very quickly. With Powers, there were only 10 episodes, but they involved highly-com- plex CG effects." FuseFX employs a proprietary pipeline capable of servicing 30 or more productions simultaneously. Anderson says the New York facility is optimistic about landing more television projects, thanks to the state's generous state tax incentives. They are also looking at the area's burgeoning independent film community, as well as at commercials requiring major VFX components. Rob Morlano (left) says Prime Focus could benefit from tax incentives for reality TV, such as Too Cute (shown). FuseFX enhanced explosions for NBC's The Blacklist. Powers required digital characters and super power VFX.