IT'S EASY BEING GREEN
Everywhere you look people are sharing information on how we can
reduce, re-use and recycle. (Although, recently a car salesman tried to
convince me that I could, in fact, drive around in a V8 SUV and not get
pelted by reusable water bottles filled with hatred — I convinced him
otherwise.) And at Post, we
are trying to help spread the word with what I hope is the first of
many articles we will be doing on how our industry can reduce its
carbon footprint.
This month, in our “Going Green” story, we spoke to studios that have
already committed to making a difference. Here’s how one studio is
trying to pitch in. “At Brickyard VFX the most unique way we go about
being ‘green’ is in the way that our offices, in Santa Monica and
Boston, are built using almost exclusively reclaimed wood, steel,
windows, refurbished fittings and fixtures and vintage furniture,” says
managing partner Steve Michaels. “Recycling is part of what this
company is about, down to our signature facility décor. Aside from
that, we’re working almost completely tapeless in review and approval
with clients and file transfer between offices.”
Switching gears for a moment, last month in this space, after trying
and failing to get anyone from a post house to talk to me about the
writers’ strike, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek note about how the strike
will spur more reality programming that might not be of the highest
quality. My fear is this: it’s not going to fix the problem. Viewers
will quickly see through it and many may stop tuning in altogether,
further hurting the industry down the line. I do understand that in the
short term reality programming might save some jobs, but that will be a
small band-aid on a very large wound.
Since that letter, Jim Hardy, CEO/president of Illuminate in LA, kindly
spoke, and what he says is what we don’t want to hear, but what we know
to be true: “The writers’ strike, obviously, is having an adverse
affect on the post production industry, especially for
small-to-mid-size post houses that may not have a broad client base.
Unfortunately, the longer the strike continues the more damage it
creates.
“The strike impacts every area of production and post,” he continues.
“In addition I have seen a number of people who have been laid off and
I know a number of people who are going to be laid off because of the
strike. Many facilities will be vying for work that they normally don’t
focus on, which will make it far more competitive and difficult
to sustain business. Sadly, the looming SAG strike may be worse yet. It
appears that we are in for some very turbulent times.”
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