- Electric Picture Solutions’ new Santa Monica Facility
For 15 years Electric Picture Solutions (EPS) has been catering to the editorial needs of Los Angeles’ motion-picture and television studios and production companies, with devoted customers traveling to the EPS headquarters in Studio City as well as to its sister branch in nearby Burbank. Now, clients in west L.A. have an editorial base closer to home with the opening of EPS’ newest branch in Santa Monica, less than three miles from the beach.
Having a hip, warehouse and neo-loft aesthetic, the newly remodeled, two-story, 5,200-square-foot structure features 20 edit rooms, a full kitchen, multiple lounges and a complete machine room, plus ample parking. Each room has multiple fiber-optic runs and multiple business-class DSL lines for fast upload and download speeds. The Santa Monica facility even has its own FTP site for file exchange. EPS can set up clients with Apple Final Cut Pro systems, Lightworks Alacrity and Touch systems and a gamut of Avid systems from Adrenaline to Symphony Nitris DX. Currently, the Showtime series Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union is at the new facility, as is the feature film Stone, starring Robert De Niro and Edward Norton.
“We will do whatever is necessary to fulfill the client’s needs,” says David Goodman, general manager, EPS. “We are a full-service, nonlinear editorial company, full service meaning we’ll rent you something as little as a cable or we’ll take care of everything turnkey and all things in between.”
EPS has had a westside presence, but the space was booked by one client for three years, bumping other clients to temporary installations or to the valley facilities. The new, convenient Centinela site rectifies that with a dedicated, full-service facility. “We decided to have a long-term, permanent presence on the westside,” says Goodman.
The nine-room second floor is especially attractive to clients because of its access. “The upstairs has a separate entrance tailor-made for large productions,” says EPS CEO David Pincus, an Emmy Award-winning editor himself. “If you have a big production needing lots of rooms and have an actor or director that wants a private entrance, the second floor is ideal.”
The company also is expanding its services into new media. A key component in EPS’ service expansion is the recent hiring of industry vet Charlie Mitchell as VP of Sales. With a breadth of experience that stretches across the entertainment industry, Mitchell brings a unique outlook and skillset to EPS. As the senior VP of sales at Origin Digital, he reached beyond standard Hollywood accounts to service such clients as the National Football League, Nike and Cisco. He co-founded Streamsign Media, a full-service advertising and digital signage company handling such clients as Princess Cruises. While at Picture PipeLine, he developed custom plans for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, enabling each production to transfer daily cuts and visual effects from Australia to Burbank, and while serving as senior VP at Runway Media, he often called on EPS as a customer for editing equipment rentals.
“He is a seasoned veteran, having been in and around this business for well over 20 years, and he fits our personality – he is open with a great outside-the-box mentality,” says Goodman. “Besides having a base of experience with what we already do, he brings a fresh perspective for the new business ventures that we are going to pursue.”
Mitchell plans to launch these additional services in a matter of months. Longer term, he foresees EPS helping clients distribute their new media content as well.
“I’m not here just to increase revenue with the current set of services but really to add additional services that benefit the client and fit right into their workflow,” said Mitchell.
