It’s Now the Dailies Show for Electric Picture Solutions

ENTERTAINMENT – Mark Madler After more than 15 years of providing editing equipment and services to the entertainment industry, Electric Picture Solutions has taken a big step into a new business opportunity. The Studio City-based company now processes dailies for feature films, starting with a project currently filming in Louisiana. For decades, big film labs such as Technicolor and Deluxe and labs of the post-production houses exclusively handled developing raw footage. With so much film work migrating to the digital format, smaller firms now chip away at that exclusivity. Processing dailies is an add-on for the editorial services the company has long offered to the industry, said Marc Fishman, the director of sales. “It is a natural progression to keep the data for one more step,” Fishman said. “We hand it right to the editor.” Fishman has spent his career on the post-production end of things, including those same film labs he now seeks to take work from. He joined Electric Picture in September, and that was when interest in processing dailies began in earnest at the company. “With my background, I was able to push through the idea that it was time to do this,” Fishman said. The sales director position had been vacant when Fishman was hired. It had been up to Electric Picture founder and CEO David Pincus and others to bring in new business through the relationships they had in the industry. Fishman expanded on those referrals by using his ring of contacts from the independent film world and television. Fishman goes after the projects not locked into using editing equipment and services on the lots of the Hollywood studios. To win that business, he said he emphasizes how the Electric Picture staff can quickly respond when something goes wrong. “The technology and customer support is where EPS really shines,” he added. The technology Electric Picture makes available doesn’t end with just the Avid and Final Cut Pro editing machines, monitors, and audio and video recorders. The company also supplies iPads and laptops, which now becoming standard on a film shoot. The company also made an investment in the equipment needed to process the dailies and stream the content to portable devices, Fishman said. Another new offering is a centralized data system of call sheets, script pages, production notes and other material that previously had been gathered in three-ring binders and distributed to the crew. Electric Picture put all that material into a virtual cloud accessed through a secure system for that production’s crew, Fishman said. This IT package makes handling printed pages more manageable and without using paper at all, he said. “It is starting to catch on and people are amazed that they did it any other way,” Fishman said. Going Once, Going Twice Liquidation firm Great American Group auctioned off Hollywood memorabilia and movie and television props from Perfect Touch Props in Palm Springs on July 19. Among the items sold were murals of famous performers, signed movie posters, a replica of the S.S. Minnow from “Gilligan’s Island,” film projectors, editing equipment, old style director megaphones, director chairs, and clapper boards. Perfect Touch supplied decorations and props to parties and themed events in Palm Springs for 15 years, said Michael Presto, vice president of business development with Great American Group in Woodland Hills. “I think this auction will especially be of interest to other prop houses, collectors of Hollywood memorabilia and party and event planners,” Presto said. Graphics Fun REZN8, a subsidiary of Stereo Vision Entertainment in Van Nuys, will create 3D broadcast graphics to air on CBS during the 93rd PGA Championship. The company’s graphics have previously appeared on NBC, ABC, CBS Sports, Entertainment Tonight, Fox, HBO, VH-1, Sci-Fi Channel, and Showtime. Stereo Vision acquired REZN8 earlier this year to add resources and talent to improve production quality and lower the cost of the firm’s 3D film productions. Distribution Deal Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. in Woodland Hills will distribute several theatrical programs from ARC Entertainment. Using digital cinema, ARC gets programming before specific audiences, Cinedigm said. “This type of distribution model creates significant business upsides for all partners: Exhibitors will benefit from both increased box office and concession revenues, consumers will benefit from a unique theatre experience and the producing community will get an outlet for programs that wouldn’t normally get a theatrical release,” said Cinedigm Chairman and CEO Chris McGurk. Now Here’s a Surprise… “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part 2” pushed the storied boy wizard franchise over the $7 billion mark. The Harry Potter series stands as the top-grossing film franchise of all time. In its first week of release, “Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” the final film in the series, brought in $640 million in global box office receipts. “It has truly been the movie event of a generation, as Harry Potter fans who were there from the beginning have been joined by new fans over the years, and their enthusiasm—as well as our own—has never waned,” said Sue Kroll, president of worldwide marketing. Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected]