Postproduction/visual effects studio R!OT Santa Monica, part of the Livewire Television Group (LTG), is spreading its brand to the East Coast via sister post/ effects house Manhattan Transfer, New York. In addition to having changed its name to R!OT Manhattan as of April 27, the New York studio will undergo physical upgrades and high-level additions to its creative staff. Additionally, the Santa Monica and Manhattan studios have been linked via a fiber network, allowing them to share their respective talent pools and technical resources.
The move is the first step in a planned expansion of the R!OT brand that will include the creation of studios in other U.S. and foreign cities. LTG president Larry Chernoff declined to speculate on where the next R!OT studio would be located, but alluded to discussions within the LTG family, which encompasses about 30 entertainment entities in cities such as London, Mexico City, Miami and Atlanta. Among them is post/visual effects house Manhattan Transfer, Miami.
The rechristening of the New York shop comes as R!OT Santa Monica unveils its newly renovated studio. The $15 million facelift, which involved substantial construction and equipment upgrades, began a year ago following the merger of three Santa Monica-based post houses owned by the Four Media Company (4MC), a subsidiary of LTG. The merged companies comprised the original Riot, Digital Magic and the film and animation divisions of POP (SHOOT, 3/24/00, p. 1).
The resulting facility encompasses two contiguous studios, one of which houses compositing, 3-D animation, editing, matte painting and visual effects operations, while the adjacent site features telecine and duplication services. R!OT Santa Monica is capable of working in all formats, from standard broadcast video to high-definition (HD) and various film resolutions. Headed up by executive VP/managing director Jeff Ross and managing director Richard Cormier, the studio is active in the commercial, music video, broadcast television and feature film markets.
"The new R!OT is a very large boutique that still provides clients and artists with an intimate environment, but that can execute projects with a critical mass of artistry and technology," said Chernoff.
R!OT Manhattan will pursue a similar strategic course aimed at diversifying its service offerings across various media. Chernoff contended that the rapidly evolving entertainment landscape—fueled largely by the Internet, interactive television (iTV) and technologies such as TiVo and Replay—demands that companies offer a range of products and services across disciplines (i.e. advertising, TV, film, music videos and new media). By the same token, pooling creative staffs, technological resources and expertise in different areas allows companies to better respond to that changing marketplace.
"New paradigms in terms of how we do business at the production, post, network and viewing levels require that postproduction be focused on finding a way of converging advertising and entertainment," Chernoff noted. "That’s what the R!OT brand is about, taking our competency in the core disciplines of television and film, and using them to create a cohesive presentation to the public that includes how you pay for it with advertising [dollars]." In the foreseeable future, he continued, "one of two things is going to happen. Either advertising messages are going to be imbedded in the entertainment experience, or advertisers will have to give viewers a reason to watch [their branding messages]." Either way, R!OT is poised to meet the postproduction needs of its clients. "There’s ten ways to skin a cat in this place," Chernoff said.
Additionally, in the next few weeks LTG parent firm Liberty Livewire Corporation (LLC) will introduce an iTV group housed at R!OT Santa Monica. The new venture’s business model is in the process of being developed. According to Chernoff, the approximately 10-person team will be comprised of "a skilled group that can execute interactive [content], the likes of which no one else has performed before. We hope to [help define] that new and fledgling art form." Eventually, iTV services will be incorporated across appropriate LLC entities. LLC is a subsidiary of the publicly traded cable and communications conglomerate Liberty Media Corporation.
R!OT Manhattan will keep on providing visual effects, 3-D animation, telecine and compositing services for commercials and music videos, while it continues to foster its broadcast design department, offering design, 3-D animation, visual effects and production services.
Further plans for the Manhattan facility are being formulated. Current managerial and artistic staff will remain intact, with new additions in the planning stages. R!OT Manhattan currently employs about 100 people, while the Santa Monica studio numbers approximately 160 staffers.
The Manhattan studio opened in 1983 as a film-to-tape transfer and online editing facility primarily dedicated to the spot business. Several years ago it began offering visual effects and broadcast design services, which currently account for about half of its revenue, according to managing director Dan Rosen. "We see tremendous complements [between R!OT Santa Monica and the Manhattan studio], in terms of being involved in the same markets and sharing our resources," he said. "When you have that, you can give real meaning to the term synergy." Rosen predicted that the greatest advantages to the relationship will involve the production of visual effects. "The ability to pool talent and share computing power will help us in undertaking large-scale projects. It will enable us to more easily scale up in response to demand."
R!OT Santa Monica’s commercial clients include AT&T, Ford, Budweiser and Lexus. The visual effects division is currently working on features such as Queen of The Damned and The One. The studio is also in postproduction on the third season of The Sopranos.
R!OT Manhattan has provided postproduction services to features such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and television shows such as Sex and the City. Its advertising clients include Cingular, Volkswagen, ABC News and MTV.
In addition to 4MC, the LTG umbrella encompasses the Todd-AO Corp.; the Virgin Television Group; and Northvale, N.J.-based Video Services Corporation (VSC), parent company of the former Manhattan Transfer, New York, which is now R!OT Manhattan. VSC was acquired in December 2000.
