Known primarily as a camera rental house, the company acquired Bling Digital in 2009 to bolster its offline editorial business and add file-based digital dailies to its range of services.
“With both the Master Key and Bling Digital acquisitions, SIM places itself in a position where we can offer our clients a complete package of services, from the camera all the way to a color-corrected master for broadcast,” explained SIM chief strategy officer, James Martin.
As part of the deal, Master Key co-owner, Elan Dassani, will join SIM Digital as its new vice-president of Bling Finishing Services. Also joining the SIM Digital team will be colorist, Chris Jacobson as the company’s new vice president of creative services.
“We looked hard at the existing post business models out there, and merging with a progressive company like SIM Digital made complete sense to us,” said Dassani. “Our clients can now work with a company that can handle all of its production and postproduction needs, resulting in greater cost incentives.”
That sentiment is echoed by John DeBoer, COO of SIM Digital. “With SIM Digital and our Bling Digital division, we currently supply camera, on-set data management, digital dailies (with a high-speed data-pipeline to remote editorial staff), Avid and FCP system rentals and now, with the acquisition of Master Key, conform and color-correction services – one company handling all the data from beginning to end,” he said.
SIM Digital CEO, Rob Sim noted, “This is a very exciting time for our company. In August, our CTO, Chris Parker will move to our Los Angeles office to oversee and manage our post services division with Elan. I’m very proud of our company as it continues to reinvent itself to create better workflow models for our clients in a constantly changing digital environment.”
The new finishing division will be located at the company’s Los Angeles facility in Hollywood. SIM Digital will host an after-show party during CineGear, on June 2, at its Hollywood location.
