SIM Group Signs Lease for New Production Center at Former Eastman Kodak Site; Brings Chainsaw, Sim Digital and Bling Digital Togeer

The SIM Group has entered into a long-term lease for a 65,000 square foot space at the historic Eastman Kodak building off Las Palmas in Hollywood. The company will undertake a multi-million dollar build-out of the facility, currently known as Hollywood Office Campus, to house the Los Angeles operations of its companies Chainsaw, SIM Digital and Bling Digital.

The new space will allow each company to significantly expand services and work more collaboratively. Along with expansion, the move is part of SIM Group's strategy to provide complete and fully integrated services for feature and television production and post-production. Construction is expected to be complete by May 2016. The site is in the Hollywood Media District and in close proximity to many other large media and entertainment companies, including the recently announced new headquarters of Netflix.

The three SIM Group companies will share a self-standing, three-story building at the former site of Eastman Kodak Company. SIM Digital, which rents cameras and other production gear, will occupy the first floor. Chainsaw, a post production facility offering offline editorial, editorial finishing and color grading services, and Bling Digital, which provides dailies processing and workflow services, will share the second and third floors.

There is no company in North America offering this blend of services through one location, said SIM Group Chief Strategy Officer James Martin. Our clients want seamless, integrated services. Productions can acquire their camera packages, design their workflows, edit and finish shows all at one site. There is nothing else like it.

In uniting Chainsaw and Bling Digital, the new facility will become one of the largest independent post production facilities in Southern California. It will increase the companies' footprint with more offline editorial rooms, color grading suites, online edit bays, Autodesk Flame conforming/VFX bays, a DI grading theater, sound facilities, production offices and dailies workflow resources. Chainsaw will retain its current Sycamore facility in Hollywood, which features 25 offline editorial rooms.

We are applying 20 years of experience to create the most modern and efficient post-production facility of its type, said Chainsaw founder Bill DeRonde. The infrastructure will take advantage of the latest technology for routing media and supporting high-resolution and ultra-high resolution workflows. It will be an open pipe and ready for anything. This is exciting new chapter for us, but what is most important is the people and we have the best talent in the industry.

The new SIM Digital facility will feature state of the art prep bays and engineering workspace for cameras and post production, as well as customer service space and loading docks. Bling Digital will feature dailies processing and other production support services. We're excited about the synergies, DeRonde noted. Chainsaw and Bling Digital are natural collaborators with complementary services and talent pools. We can assist clients with everything from dailies through deliverables with high expertise and peak efficiency.

Martin noted that since SIM Group and Chainsaw merged last year a symbiotic relationship has blossomed quickly. We've worked together on a number of projects and found that we share a similar work ethic and culture, he said. We are very excited about these new facilities, but even more so about the prospects of having all of our people working together in one place. Our people are our greatest asset.

About SIM Group:

Backed by Toronto-based investment firm Granite Partners, the SIM Group is a leading supplier of production equipment, workflow and post-production solutions, with offices across the US, Canada and China. Our diverse services can be utilized on any production at any stage. In Canada, our offices in Toronto and Vancouver service grip and lighting from PS Production Services and can be complemented with SIM Digital cinematography and playback equipment for any production's needs. Bling, Chainsaw, Pixel Underground, Tattersall Sound and Picture and Post Factory NY provide an array of services from dailies, to online and offline editing, to final color/DI and visual effects, to sound editorial and mixing. Bling's services, which include a comprehensive workflow solution, are offered at all offices across the US and Canada, as well as off-site service through POD (Post on Demand). Chainsaw's full-service facility in Hollywood provides creative editorial and extensive finishing services with some of the top colorists in the industry. Rounding out the family of companies are Pixel Underground, a Toronto-based post-production company, and its associated service, StationEX, which provides physical and file-based media fulfillment and encoding/distribution services, Tattersall Sound and Picture, a provider of sound editorial and mixing for motion pictures and television and Post Factory NY, one of the East Coast's top independent post-production facilities.

For more information, visit simgroup.com

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