Post-production: the green lights of recovery

Broadcast 

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/production-feature/post-production-the-green-lights-of-recovery/5025275.article

Like their London peers, regional post facilities were hit hard by the economic downturn, but a rise in commissions has given them renewed confidence for 2011, says Adrian Pennington.

Facilities outside the M25 face many of the problems that afflict their London counterparts: the struggle to keep afloat during recession, budgetary pressures forcing rates down, and the impact of production companies keeping more work in-house. Almost without exception, the sector has suffered in the recent downturn, so it’s good to report signs that business is picking up.

The benefits of working outside the capital are universal: with rents cheaper than London, office space can be larger; the wage bill is lower; and the reduced costs can be passed on to clients in competitive rates.

There’s also the delight of working somewhere without the travel and parking hassles and associated stresses of London life.

“We have quite a few clients who return here because they find it an appealing change from Soho,” observes Sarah Miller, facility manager at Bristol’s Big Bang Post.

Commercials and corporate work sustain two significant players in the north-east, although the bankruptcy last November of the region’s biggest ad agency, Robson Brown, caused some disruption.

“We can cut big holes in London charges,” claims David Jeffries, managing director of Newcastle’s Mere Mortals Moving Image. “We are looking further afield for our business and would consider partnering with a significant London company.”

The CG and editing facility owns two Final Cut Pro suites, Smoke, 11 seats of Maya and a Pyramix stereo suite. It recently completed a graphics segment on BBC2’s How TV Ruined Your Life.

Jeffries would like to attract more work from north of the border but says: “It’s like the wall still exists. We’ve got to be a bit more tenacious to win Scottish work.”

Although a high proportion of postproduction work at fellow Newcastle firm Dene Films is in-house, it does cater for a number of external clients. “For the C4 series The Lakes On A Plate, we provided dry hire editing, the grade, online and dub,” says managing director Steve Salam. “From time to time, our audio suite is involved with a number of automated dialogue replacement jobs for dramas like Wire In The Blood.”

A new £12.5m post-production facility dedicated to stereo 3D has been earmarked by an unnamed group of venture capitalists for launch in the North. Sites in Wales and Manchester are being considered but Sunderland is the most likely candidate, with the decision depending on an award of regional development money. “We aim to outsource work from London to the North, where the salaries and offi ce space are cheaper,” says Saif Chaudhry, founder of Sunderland 3D specialist Stereographix and a consultant on the project. “The missing piece is public funding, which would help make it feasible.”

Although Birmingham stood in for London in scenes in recent series of Kudos’s Hustle, and BBC drama Doctors is shot there, there are fewer network productions in Birmingham than perhaps a city of its size deserves.

Aquila, the Midlands’ largest independent, landed the post on Hustle in 2009 for the 2010 serise and offers six Avid editing suites linked to Unity, and a Symphony for grading.

Collaborative approach

Relocating from Warwick two years ago, corporate production outfit Fullrange was disappointed to find fellow houses weren’t willing to collaborate to win larger post projects. “Everyone is fairly insular,” observes post supervisor Dave Stephenson. “People shout about trying to get productions up here but there isn’t the sort of bonding that can really help make it happen.”

Nonetheless, Fullrange is now receiving its largest-ever number of enquiries and feels it is on safe ground, with skills in production and post. It recently cut locally produced feature Tortoise In Love.

Tony Quinsee-Jover, managing director of HD Heaven, agrees there isn’t a local post community as such in Birmingham, but points to a worksharing relationship with The Audio Suite on the floor above his company.

“We are networked, so we can offer a complete post solution,” he says. C5’s The Gadget Show and Fifth Gear from locally headquartered North One are examples - they are edited downstairs and soundtracks laid upstairs.

BBC S&PP closed its commercial post operation in Birmingham in 2009 but the corporation retains facilities at The Mailbox and at the Selly Oak campus (the latter supporting Doctors). “Despite the closure, the BBC still endeavours to do as much in-house as it can,” says Quinsee-Jover. “Everybody wants more for less and things are getting even harder as producers begin to install their own online equipment. But we continue to forge ahead and remain hopeful.”

Bristol’s facility scene, which contains one of the UK’s largest indies, Films at 59, remains healthy on the back of BBC Natural History Unit commissions and its relative proximity to London. Also in Bristol, Big Bang Post performed grade, online and audio on Madagascar, and is finishing BBC series Ocean Giants. “We’ve been privileged to have worked on a lot of landmark natural history commissions over the past seven years,” says Miller.

The self-proclaimed ‘largest facility on the south coast’ is Brighton’s BTV, owned by factual producer Electric Sky, which generates 30% of BTV’s business. Other clients include the Royal Opera House’s Opus Arte music label and Sussex producers like Lambent Productions. It opened a Soho office for 3D finishing but Brighton is handling offlines for three Discovery 3D docs.

“We’ve gone through a tough couple of years but the number of productions being greenlit now is astonishing, so it looks like a very positive 2011,” says business development manager Susan Tunstall.

Facilities have tended to congregate in areas of BBC presence but, with FTP and fast broadband connections, this is increasingly unnecessary.

The founders of Nottingham graphics and animation boutique Bottle Top are ex-ITV and have regular clients in Manchester, London and Birmingham. “The launch of MediaCityUK has made London producers more aware that they can get the same quality of service outside the capital but pay less for it,” says creative director Anne Whiteley. “Sometimes we don’t even meet with clients but send work back and forth online. Your physical location is more and more irrelevant, since the bottom line for most companies is cost.”

MEDIACITYUK
A BOON FOR THE NORTH

The imminent opening of Media-CityUK should provide Manchester’s established facilities with additional work, although it is premature for them to be banking on business.

“There’s a lot of speculation about MediaCityUK but it’s too early to feel its impact or to gauge the type of work that may become available,” says Leo Casserly, managing director of Flix. “We’d consider relocating to Salford Quays depending on the signals we got from the BBC and Peel Media [which is launching a joint-venture post operation with SIS] about their post plans and how much work may overflow.”

Flix is on the BBC preferred suppliers list, has edited 150 films for The One Show and has finished high volumes of children’s animation.

“Because we’ve worked on a more national basis, we’re not as reliant on the local market as some facilities,” says Casserly. The house has just won its first drama, BBC North’s 6 x 30-minute series 32 Brinkman Street.

Sumners is the city’s long-form powerhouse and has already picked up a couple of BBC Childrens’ commissions, including Mr Bloom’s Nursery. This time next year, the facility will have moved from Oxford Road to maintain its proximity to the BBC at MediaCityUK. But managing director Andy Sumner is reluctant to predict a work bonanza: “The market will grow but we’ve yet to see how much will be tied up in guarantees to Peel Media. There has to be a credible post infrastructure to support the studios.”

Sumner runs editing agency SumTalent and says finding the appropriate freelancers for children’s work is challenging. “It can take weeks to find the right talent for a specifi c show but I’ve no doubt that when the BBC department officially opens, we’ll get an influx of editors looking for work.”

David Jackson, who owns graphics and finishing shop 422, says he’s “extremely excited” about the BBC’s move. “It’s fantastic for the region, which will step up to the plate and deliver.”

He has spent £400,000 on new kit, split between Manchester and its sister site 422 Glasgow, partly in expectation of a rise in demand for finishing work from MediaCity-UK. The equipment includes two Avid Nitris, Flame and Smoke, and a Lustre 4K suite.

“The BBC is putting in 50 desktop Final Cut Pros at MCUK, so we don’t believe the workfl ow model for offline is required in the northwest,” he says. “However, if producers want higher-end services, a grade or a more complex audio dub, then we represent quite an important offer.”

VFX and film editing specialist Editz says it is having a bumper year. It completed work on indie feature Best Laid Plans and has a number of commercials on its books. “Work in TV idents seems to have dried up but we’re constantly on the lookout for talented people,” says creative director Rob Pickard