MyEyeMedia is taking the expertise it has developed on quality control for the entertainment industry and applying it to new post-production services. Company officials say the Burbank firm is venturing into the post-production space for two reasons — there’s a limited market for its quality control services, and high-profile Hollywood clients were asking the company to provide additional services. CEO Michael Kadenacy said MyEye plans to invest at least $1 million in offering post-production services this year. Since January, the firm also has hired two executives to fill out its ranks and promoted five of its employees. “With us quality control becomes a verb,” Kadenacy said. “We can find problems because we have the professional grade equipment and then we can correct those problems.” Kadenacy founded MyEyeMedia in 2004 in Glendale and moved to Burbank in 2006, as the company grew and required additional space. MyEye reviews files used for home entertainment products and online downloads and streaming for entertainment clients such as Warner Bros., Paramount, and Comedy Central. The transition to offering post-production services has prompted the company to conduct a rebranding campaign that includes an updated website, social media connections and a message to the industry that MyEyeMedia is not a passive partner. Under its new brand, MyEyeMedia adopted the slogan “Perfecting a higher state of content.” The post services are summed up by Kadenacy in three words: evaluate, elevate, and evolve. The first stage is to evaluate the material, whether in a tape or digital format. The second is to elevate the material by creating a master file used for making copies; and lastly, the firm aims to help the product evolve by making the master file meet technical specifications for international sales or uses such as in-flight movies. Bryan Ellenburg, vice president of content security and distribution technology at Paramount Pictures, said the depth and breadth of what MyEye offers is unmatched in the industry because of the foundation that Kadenacy put in place from the earliest days. The company has become Paramount’s eyes and ears because the studio doesn’t have the staff to watch every master file, Ellenburg said. “They are familiar with how a film is supposed to look in theaters, in high definition and on DVD,” Ellenburg said. “They have carved out a nice niche that others try to emulate.” Kadenacy says the company aims to offer clients the same type of quality and service with its post-production services. “A number of our people have studio side experience,” said MyEye President Craig Leener. “We know what they are thinking from that side (of the business).” Leener and Kadenacy both worked at The Walt Disney Co., and Kadenacy also previously held a position at Sony Pictures Entertainment. MyEye added to its executive ranks in January when it appointed Rodd Feingold as CFO. A month later, Gregg Sandheinrich joined the company as vice president of professional services. His duties include selling the new post-production services. Between January and May, MyEye made five promotions, including Ken Kiers to executive vice president of post-production services; Daniel Koontz to executive director of quality assurance; and Rachel Park to executive director of marketing and administration. This year, MyEyeMedia joined the consortium of entertainment and media, consumer electronic and technology companies that developed Ultra Violet, the next step in home entertainment. It gives the buyer of a physical disc a digital copy of the same content that can be viewed on multiple devices. “We have to be involved in all the new technology,” Kadenacy said. “We don’t know which one will take off.” The company has embraced technology at its 12,000-square-foot MyEyeStudio facility. Last year, the company invested $1 million in improvements to its facility and added new equipment. Its server system uses ½ petabyte (or 500 terabytes) of storage for working on digital files. A single digital encoding and decoding machine costs more than $100,000. The area used to view DVDs and Blu-ray discs contains “every player known to man,” Kadenacy said. Working on files containing big-budget feature films requires a sophisticated security system. At MyEye, cell phones aren’t allowed outside the administrative offices and an alarm goes off when the security doors stay open for 30 seconds. The USB ports and disc writing capabilities have been disabled on the computers used to view content files to prevent unauthorized copying.
Burbank Firm Casts Eye on Post-Production Services
