Building upon what had been the successful Southern California chapter of the Association of Imaging Technology and Sound (ITS), and applying lessons learned from the national ITS—which failed to generate the necessary support for survival—a group of key players has formed the Hollywood Post Alliance (HPA).
As reported in last week’s lead story, a prime lesson learned from the national ITS’ demise is that the HPA should now cast a broader net for members, going beyond the core component of post facility executives. Two HPA organizers—Leon Silverman, executive VP of Laser-Pacific Media Corp., Hollywood, and J. Michael Brinkman, director of strategic business development for Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Company—noted that it’s imperative to make the HPA inclusive of all those who earn their livelihoods in post. Among these are creative artisans, tech experts, and people in operations, marketing and sales. Those individuals can be staffers or freelancers, coming from a mix of entities such as post facilities, effects houses, sound studios, equipment manufacturers, software makers and new-media companies.
A goal of the founders’ group is to build a diverse, yet interrelated, membership. The focus is on those Southern California shops and people who provide expertise, support, tools and the infrastructure for the creation and finishing of motion pictures, TV programs, commercials, digital media and other dynamic media content.
While the HPA is looking to secure companies as part of its rank-and-file, individuals are also a priority in the membership drive. "To provide a place where artists such as colorists can talk to each other, compare notes and bounce ideas off of one another is in and of itself valuable in the context of what the HPA can help bring about," said Silverman.
Acknowledging that there are times when "issues and viewpoints are not common" between, for example, facilities and equipment manufacturers, Silverman noted the HPA can provide a forum for those differences to be discussed and meaningfully addressed. He observed that the HPA is not a facilities-versus-manufacturers scenario, but rather an organization inclusive of both sectors, as well as of many others related to the industry.
I hearken back to Silverman’s comments shortly after the national ITS closed last summer (SHOOT, 8/24/01, p. 1). At that juncture he assessed, "The industry is at a critical point in transition economically and technologically. The national organization is closing at a time when there’s more reason than ever for post facilities to band together, share information with one another and have a collective voice."
Because of that, Silverman said in August that he hoped to keep the ITS Southern California chapter together in some form: "It’s necessary to have a core group of professionals who understand, even though they are competitors, that they need a collective voice to address issues and attain goals that benefit the entire industry. That’s what we have in Southern California, and we intend to keep that intact."
Well, now the HPA’s founding members aim to keep that intact—and to build beyond it in terms of bringing different industry sectors and perspectives into the fold. The founders are Silverman; Brinkman; Fred Rheinstein, chairman of The Post Group, Hollywood; Ron Burdett, CEO of Sunset Digital, Glendale, Calif.; Andrew Stucker, a strategic development executive at Sony; Mike D’Amore, a VP at Thomson Multimedia; and Bob Solomon, senior VP of Santa Monica-headquartered Liberty Livewire Pictures. Eileen Kramer, formerly Pacific Region director for the ITS, is the HPA’s executive director.
