HOLLYWOOD — Hollywood Center Studios has forged a new alliance with shooting and visual effects company Engine Room. The strategic relationship provides Engine Room live-action clients with exclusive rates for stage andproduction office rentals, as well as grip and lighting services provided by HCS.
Engine Room offers a unique production partnership to clients. With a turnkey shooting unit that's ready-to-roll, it provides an extensive menu of production services including cinematography, casting, talent, crew, art, equipment and large scale stages. Creative directors and producers of all types love the simplicity and fluid collaborative experience of working with ER.
Hollywood Center Studios, located in Hollywood's Media District, hosts a dozen sound stages and more than 200,000 square feet of production office and other ancillary production space. The studio has a cinematic history spanning nearly a century, but has kept pace with technological changes. The studio has three dedicated, coved, greenscreen stages with enhanced virtual technology, as well as two large, dedicated, coved, white-cyc stages primarily servicing the commercial production industry. From this exceptional location, Engine Room has crafted high-end production, visual effects and post solutions for feature films, episodic television, network promotion and commercial clients over the last seven years.
"We love being part of the HCS family," says cinematographer Dan Schmit, owner of Engine Room. "The studio lot is an inspiring mix of classic Hollywood and modern technology. We share a passion for shooting talent and bringing stories to life, and we have also contributed to the development of the HCS permanent green screen stages. This new alliance takes our relationship deeper, matching our creative and execution capabilities with Hollywood Center Studios' premiere offerings, all for the benefit of our clients."
"Having Engine Room at Hollywood Center Studios has been a perfect fit," according to Jerry Cole, Director of Virtual and Broadcast Services at HCS. "As the industry forges new roads into digital storytelling, we've expanded and developed the palette of resources and facilities while maintaining the magic of the classic Hollywood production studio. We see the alliance with Engine Room as an opportunity to welcome even more of the industry into this one of a kind environment."
HCS has added motion capture to its largest green screen facility, Stage 12, which, according to Schmit, "provides the hardware front-end required for the some of the more serious VFX production we specialize in." Not all Engine Room/Hollywood Center Studio productions are focused on technology. Many shoots are straight talent and/or product shoots that involve interior studio sets.
An Engine Room/Hollywood Center Studios shoot can be ramped up within hours. "Our location at Hollywood Center Studios allows us to provide our clients with smooth running productions and, of course spectacular on-camera results," Schmit says.