Veteran colorist Michael Smollin has joined Fancy Film, the independent postproduction facility based in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood. Smollin, whose credits span features, episodics, reality series and documentaries, will serve as the facility’s senior colorist for theatrical and television projects.
“Mike is someone who can lead our color division in both technical and artistic capacities,” said Fancy Film CEO Bill Macomber. “He brings a significant ability to grow our business through his many diehard fans. He has especially deep experience as a colorist for mid-budget features and television series, projects that are a perfect match for Fancy and the facilities we have here. As these projects gear up for HDR, Mike’s leadership will be key.”
Smollin has worked at Fancy on an occasional freelance basis for over five years. His credits include Undefeated, the 2012 Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature, as well as The Case Against 8 for HBO and Underwater Universe for Discovery. “They do great work at this facility, including a lot of films that have gone to Sundance, Toronto and Cannes,” said Smollin. “The facility is very familiar to me, the people are great and there is excellent interaction between clients and staff. The location has a hip, eclectic feel. It’s a great place.”
Smollin’s career in postproduction spans more than 20 years, the past four at Roundabout Entertainment, Burbank. His background also includes posts with Walden Media, Mega Playground, Technicolor and Encore Video. He got his start with Complete Post. His many credits include the television series American Dreams, CSI: Miami, Once and Again and Grounded for Life¸ the documentary Sound City, the features Chasing Mavericks, Parental Guidance and Won’t Back Down, and the Disney live action feature The Jungle Book.
Launched by Macomber in 2003, Fancy Film offers a seamless workflow from dailies processing through picture lock and has developed a strong reputation for providing high quality post services in a boutique, creative environment. The facility features a DCI-certified, Da Vinci Resolve color grading theater and three broadcast color correction suites, plus editorial conforming, quality control and related resources. In addition, it has 20,000 square feet of offline editorial space that it leases to film and television productions on long- and short-term bases. Recent projects that have undergone postproduction finishing at the facility include Beatriz at Dinner, Miguel Arteta’s film, starring Salma Hayek and John Lithgow, that had a major release through Roadside Attractions after premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Its series work includes Sing It! for YouTube Red and Party Over Here for Lonely Island and Fox.
