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Home » Slate Media Group’s PostWorks New York Acquires Mega Playground

Slate Media Group’s PostWorks New York Acquires Mega Playground

While this press release doesn't go into details, we can just speculate that even a well-regarded, established veteran of the New York post scene like Mega Playground (in business since 1994) found the ever increasing competition and ever tightening post budgets too much for it to continue. Postworks will occupy Mega Playground's 609 Greenwich Street premises while ditching the name.

Slate Media Group, a leading independent provider of post-production services to the film and television industry, announces that its PostWorks New York has acquired the assets of Mega Playground, a post production facility located at 609 Greenwich Street in New York's West Village. Simultaneously, the Company entered into a new long-term lease at 609 Greenwich Street reflecting the commitment of Slate Media Group and PostWorks to downtown New York, the hub for television and feature finishing.

"This acquisition significantly adds much needed capacity to our New York operations," said Slate Media Group New York's COO Rob DeMartin. With Slate Media's other West Village and Soho footprint, the combined companies will offer 185,000 square feet of space for post-production services, making it New York City's largest facility.

Slate Media Group provides post-production services to film and television producers through several brands, including Technicolor – PostWorks New York, PostWorks New York and bi-coastal Hula Post Production. Collectively, Slate Media Group companies provide a full range of post-production services, including dailies, lab services, editorial system rentals, editorial conform, color grading, finishing, graphics, sound editorial and sound finishing.

"We are thrilled to combine the Mega Playground facilities and services with the Slate Media Groupfamily of companies," stated DeMartin. "We are excited by the potential for our clients, both current and new."

Mega Playground was formed in 1994 and serves a diverse clientele that includes major film and television studios, broadcasters, independent producers, documentary filmmakers and others.

About Slate Media Group
Slate Media Group is an entertainment technology services company driven to redefine the intersection of technology and creativity. The company provides film and television studios, production companies, independent producers and other content creators with technologies, services and expertise that are crucial to bringing their creative visions to life.

At a time when tools and techniques of media production are undergoing revolutionary change, Slate Media Group collaborates with its clients to develop unique solutions to the challenges they face to help them achieve even higher levels of creative excellence and production efficiency. slatemediagroup.com 

 

–SHOOT Publicity Wire

About Dan Ochiva

New York City-based journalist and NYCPPNEWS founder Dan Ochiva writes and consults on film, video, and digital media technology.

Community & Partner Links

How Sony’s New Virtual Sound Technology Can Change How We Hear Films

Kami Asgar and Jessica Parks are post-production heavyweights who work with major studios, namely Sony. As a sound designer (Asgar) and as a post executive (Parks), their collective resume touches on everything from Apocalypto to Grandma’s Boy to Venom.

Parks has recently shifted her focus from supervisor to hands-on sound design, and we talk about how it’s never too late to pivot on your career path and find the thing you love doing wherever you are in life.

Click on this link to read the rest of the article on No Film School’s site.

NJ – Governor Murphy signs $14B Incentive Program Bill – the NJ Economic Recovery Act of 2020

 Film tax credits — amending existing programs to include provisions for so-called New Jersey film partners and New Jersey film-lease partners and allowing an additional $200 million of tax credits annually over 13 years.

Click this link if you want to read the full article on the Lexology site. http://bit.ly/35NtDx6

Film Commish announces date for production restart

In her December 18, 2020 news update, MOME Commissioner Anne del Castillo announced that the Film Office is now accepting permit applications for production activity that begins on July 27th.

She also announced awards now (Awkwafina) and more. To read all of the Film Commish’s bloggy sort of news column, click here.

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

The coronavirus relief package that Congressional leaders agreed to this week includes grant money that many small proprietors described as a last hope for survival.

For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the coronavirus relief package that Congress passed on Monday night offers the prospect of aid at last.

To read the full article on The New York Times’ site, click here.

If you want to start production, here’s the latest news from the Mayor’s Office

Phase 4 production guidance is available on the Film Permit website. All production activity, whether it requires a Film Permit or not, must comply with New York Forward Industry Guidance.

For more information see, please refer to the State Department of Health’s Interim Guidance for Media Production During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. Please review the guidelines and FAQ before submitting permit applications. The Film Office is operating remotely, so please allow additional time for Film Permit processing.

The above paragraphs contain links to the various FAQ – just mouse over the relevant words.

Nikon to Stop Making Cameras in Japan

Nikon has fallen on hard times as of late as its camera sales have cratered, and now there’s a new indicator of how dire its financial situation is: the company is reportedly pulling the plug on making cameras in Japan after over 70 years of doing so.

To read the full article on Petapixel’s site, click here.

NVIDIA Uses AI to Slash Bandwidth on Video Calls

NVIDIA Research has invented a way to use AI to dramatically reduce video call bandwidth while simultaneously improving quality

What the researchers have achieved has remarkable results: by replacing the traditional h.264 video codec with a neural network, they have managed to reduce the required bandwidth for a video call by an order of magnitude. In one example, the required data rate fell from 97.28 KB/frame to a measly 0.1165 KB/frame – a reduction to 0.1% of required bandwidth.

To read the rest of this article on Petapixel, click this link.

 

 

 

Union Health Plan Dodges Film Workers’ Suit Over Virus Relief

Law360 (October 9, 2020, 5:22 PM EDT) — The Motion Picture Industry Health Plan’s board can’t be sued under ERISA for allegedly flouting its duties when it relaxed plan rules in response to COVID-19, a California federal judge has ruled, nixing a proposed class action filed by two cinematographers who still couldn’t qualify for benefits.

In an order entered Thursday, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner granted the board of directors’ motion to dismiss Greg Endries and Dee Nichols’ Employee Retirement Income Security Act suit accusing board members of breaching their duty to treat all plan participants fairly.

Endries and Nichols, members of Local 600 of the International Cinematographers Guild, said in July that the board left them and others “out in the cold” in its attempts to address the problems COVID-19 caused for plan participants.

But Judge Klausner agreed with the board’s contention that the case, which alleged a fiduciary breach, should be tossed because plan administrators don’t act as fiduciaries when they amend health care plans.

Read the full article on the Law360 site by clicking here.

Russo Brothers Received Close to $50 Million From Saudi Bank

Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo photographed at the PMC Studio in Los Angeles for the Variety Playback Podcast.

The Russo brothers, directors of the all-time top grossing film “Avengers: Endgame,” quietly secured a roughly $50 million cash infusion for their production company AGBO from Saudi Arabia earlier this year, multiple sources tell Variety.

In a deal brokered and closed at the beginning of the pandemic, the Russos received the investment from an undisclosed Saudi bank in exchange for a minority stake in the brothers’ Los Angeles-based shop.

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