Friday, October 30, 2015

Makin' the move to Trailblazer Studios



Well, it finally happened... I finally said goodbye to Los Angeles and headed for greener pastures... quite literally. After 3 really great years with the team at Prehistoric Digital, I've finally decided to get out of the city that has been my home (and my professional world) for more than a decade, and relocate back to the east coast. As of June 01, I officially became a "Tar Heel" and started work as a resident colorist at Trailblazer Studios in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

Actually being able to leave Los Angeles was a bit of a pipedream for me over the past couple of years. As much as I love the people and the excitement of being in Hollywood, I've never truly been an urbanite at heart. I've always wanted a bit more "room to roam": so to speak, a little more greenery and fresh air... however I never thought that was going to be in the cards for me for a LONG time. After all, how does a colorist who primarily works in features and commercials, work outside the markets of Los Angeles, and New York (and do so relatively lucratively I might add)? I never thought it was possible... until the folks at Trailblazer offered to have me by for a visit and a talk!

Trailblazer has been an amazing mecca of creativity and production in the southeast for 15 years, and is currently in the midst of a huge boom of growth and expansion. With more than 40 full time employees and numerous freelance professionals scattered throughout the country, Trailblazer is a full scale production and post production house who also specializes in original content creation and development for film and television. Trailblazer posts numerous shows for TLC, Discovery, DIY network, Ovation, and PBS while also working on national commercial campaigns, and award-winning documentary films that have premiered at Sundance, Tribeca, and on HBO and PBS. And all from their home base of Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, a thriving academic city, which is home to the esteemed Universities of UNC Chapel HIll, Duke, and North Carolina State.

Currently the big push at Trailblazer has been to court more commercial and theatrical finishing work (both for picture and sound), and bring that business to Raleigh where costs can be extremely competitive with houses in both NY and LA and can offer the same level of service and expertise without any sacrifices on quality or creative intent. With multiple broadcast color suites, mixing stages, and an offsite theatre for theatrical color and mixing, Trailblazer has everything you would expect from a finishing house in the major production centers, but does it in a much more relaxed, down to earth, and filmmaker friendly environment. And that is what I've been looking for ever since starting in this business 11 years ago!

I'm excited for this new chapter of my career and my hope is that my time at Trailblazer will continue to connect me with the talented filmmakers, producers, and artists from all over the country, making impacting visuals and telling great stories for years to come!