Company 3, a subsidiary of Deluxe Entertainment Services, has acquired Sixteen19, a creative editorial, production and post services company based in New York. The deal includes Sixteen19’s innovative visual effects wing, PowerHouse VFX, and a mobile dailies operation with international reach. The combination will unite two talented teams of artists and technicians, and fortify Company 3’s position as a leader in New York’s booming postproduction market for feature film and episodic TV. As part of the acquisition, industry veterans and Sixteen19 co-founders Jonathan Hoffman and Pete Conlin, along with their longtime collaborator, EVP of business development and strategy Alastair Binks, will join Company 3’s leadership team.
“With Sixteen19 under the Company 3 umbrella, we significantly expand what we bring to the production community, addressing a real unmet need in the industry,” said Stefan Sonnenfeld, Company 3 president. “This infusion of talent and infrastructure will allow us to provide a complete suite of services for clients, from the start of production through the creative editing process to visual effects, final color, finishing and mastering. We’ve worked in tandem with Sixteen19 many times over the years, so we know that they have always provided strong client relationships, a best-in-class team, and a deeply creative environment.”
As a subsidiary of Deluxe, Company 3 is part of a broad portfolio of postproduction services. Bringing together the complementary services and geographic reach of Company3, Sixteen19 and Powerhouse VFX, will expand Company 3’s overall portfolio of postproduction offerings and reach new markets in the U.S. and internationally.
Known for creative color artistry and pioneering technology, Company 3 is home to notable colorists working across feature film, commercials and television. Out of its facilities in Los Angeles, New York and London, Company 3 also provides dailies creation, both in-house and through its extensive location services, EC3, making use of custom hardware and software solutions and highly-skilled field technicians. Now, with the addition of Sixteen19’s services, the company will expand dailies and complement available services to include creative editorial spaces in those cities.
Sixteen19’s New York location includes 60 beautifully-appointed and large editorial suites; two 4K digital cinema grading theaters; and a number of aesthetically pleasing and comfortable spaces designed utilizing natural light, open environments, and an abundance of common areas. Sixteen19’s mobile dailies services, well known for the ability to rapidly deploy and equip pop-up dailies and/or editorial spaces virtually anywhere in the world, will add a perfect companion to Company 3’s existing robust offerings in that arena. PowerHouse VFX includes dedicated teams of experienced supervisors, producers and artists in 2D and 3D visual effects and compositing.
“The New York film community initially recognized the potential for a Company 3 and Sixteen19 partnership,” said Sixteen19’s Hoffman. “It’s not just the fact that a significant majority of the projects we work on are finished at Company 3, it’s more that our fundamental vision about post has always been aligned with Stefan’s. We value innovation; we’ve built terrific creative teams; and above all else, we both put clients first, always. It’s not hard to see why people in the community were strongly supportive of a partnership like this for some time.”
Sixteen19’s Conlin added, “With Company 3, we can not only provide the film and episodic communities with the absolute best-in-class creatives, engineering teams, and facility environments, but we also have the opportunity to innovate postproduction workflows for 21st century content creators on a global scale. It’s the right strategic move for both companies and it will build on our respective strengths while creating a new kind of company that simply didn’t exist in New York until now.”
Sonnenfeld will continue to serve as president of Company 3 and now also oversee operations of Sixteen19.
