Brian Power is a sound mixer and editor. He runs his post-production sound facility The Hideout Studios in the Roy Building, the headquarters of his company Cottage Lunch Consulting. It’s a cozy, high-tech service provider, offering post-production sound editing and ADR (also known as “looping”) to local and from-away TV and movie productions.
The last few years have brought a lot of change to post-production work in Halifax, and for Power in particular. He was a minority stakeholder in Power Post, the biggest post-production facility east of Montreal, a company run by his brother, Rob. They operated it for six years. Prior to that it was Salter Street Digital, an offshoot of Salter Street Films. The Power brothers purchased the facility when it was sold by Alliance Atlantis—which owned Salter at the time—and they were employees. But Power Post closed last year.
“Things were great,” says Power of his former company’s heyday. Sound editing at Power Post included every episode of Trailer Park Boys and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, as well as work on animated shows such as Lunar Jim and Animal Mechanicals, and video editing for the Trudeau miniseries. “Anything of note that happened locally came through our doors, whether audio or video,” he says. “It was a very busy place.”
They also provided a lot of free studio time to local student filmmaking opportunities, AFCOOP’s Film Five and the Bridge Awards, figuring the directors of tomorrow would consider Power Post for their future work. “In some years we offered almost a million [dollars] in services that we didn’t recoup a dime, and we still had to pay [staff] salaries.”
But things started to change in 2008. More productions shooting in Halifax did post-production in Toronto, which chipped away at Power Post’s revenue. The model changed from producers using an outside provider for post-production work to doing it in-house when the cost to do it dropped dramatically. “An Avid,” the industry equipment standard for digital editing, “used to cost $50,000, now it costs $4,000,” says Power. “Same with ProTools, that kind of thing.” As a result, the industry has seen studios and equipment suppliers shut down. Precision Camera out of Toronto—in business for decades—went into receivership recently. CEV on Barrington Street closed its shop last week, though will continue online and as a home-run business.
When Power Post folded, Rob Power went to work for CBC Halifax, where he’s now manager of production services. Brian left town to work at the Olympics in Vancouver and the Youth Olympics in Singapore for six months, and came back with a new plan. “For me, the big picture was, let’s work for my friends. And if the phone rings, have a good hard look at who I’m going to do business with. A little less work to allow you to have a happier life.”
Former Power Post employee Doug Woods now can afford to run his own boutique, 902 Post, a high-end video post-production shop, also in the Roy. “The overhead is minimal, though it’s a lot more work, I gotta admit,” says Woods of owning his own business. He bought the online system equipment from Power Post, and retained many of its clients, including Halifax Film. “My clients are independents, and they’re doing well. There’s a bit of an upswing in the industry at the moment.”
Right now Power is working on Mike Clattenburg’s movie, The Guys Who Move Furniture, as well as Roller Town, and will do Mike Volpe’s CBC sitcom starring comic Gerry Dee, shooting in town this summer. His slate of work will take him into 2012. But he still is hyper-aware of the cycles in the business, and suggests there are things the local governmental agencies could do to help get the word out to potential from-away clients, the ones that no longer consider doing post locally.
“Post-production could be represented by NS Film, not unlike the way locations are represented,” says Power, indicating the provincial film liaison’s webpage isn’t very informative. “This segment is a one-liner. It says we have world class post facilities, but there’s no brand recognition. It’s not a difficult thing to do.”
This article appears in Jun 9-15, 2011.
Must be nice for some people to bounce back so easily. Some of us weren’t so lucky and lost a lot in the process.
so nobody gets the wrong idea.
Dean Soltys is the editor of “The Guy’s Who Move Furniture”
His Assistant is Ehren Davis.
If your going to make an article about the post world in Halifax you should probably also look at the two other major facilities in the city (Hatch Post and RPM).
You should also look into the fact that since the film industry in New Brunswick is dead. Companies such as Post Man (Who bought most of the remaining “Powerpost” assets) are talking about moving to Halifax.
Just saying don’t paint half a picture, it gives people the wrong idea.
@ Post Worked. What exactly is the wrong idea?
This story is about the recent history of a company as it relates to a particular local business. For the record, there are other companies that were contacted for this piece that would not return requests for an interview. That said, I’d like to know if you think the information provided is inaccurate.
As I understand it, Brian Power is only doing sound post on the Clattenburg project, which is specified in the story. Is this incorrect? A number of independent operators are making a go of it here, despite changes to the economy and equipment costs. Is that incorrect? And how is the situation in New Brunswick related, in your mind?
If you have a specific point to make, don’t “paint half a picture.”
Wow, this article is nothing more than a promotional piece for the surviving remains of PowerPost. Here’s a little does of truth…
PowerPost lived large for several years because the price of gear was so outrageous. Their pompous treatment of clients had no repercussions because everyone needed what they had: the expensive gear. Just before closing their doors, PowerPost was whining in a local newspaper about how the local community should support them in hard times. Excuse me while laugh until I vomit a bit in my open mouth.
And Doug Woods’ “high-end” Video services? What in hell does that mean??? I’m guessing “high-end” means the Avid he bought from PowerPost. Big deal. I can finish your show with a Mac Pro and give you the artistic element that the “high-end” workflow is more than likely lacking. In fact, that’s exactly how I make my living. It’s not even outrageous to say I’m one of the nails in PP’s coffin. That’s okay with me.
Here’s another nugget for ya…CEV did NOT close its doors because of lower equipment prices as stated in this here article. They closed their doors because of the way they treated their customers. You’d be lucky if you could actually give them money, because you could barely get them to return your calls. They ascribed to the same pompous attitude as PowerPost. If you weren’t buying the most expensive Sony gear, they weren’t really interested in you. They weren’t always like that, so it’s unfortunate this attitude rubbed off on them. There’s a simple theme going on here.
I was just waiting in the wings to fill the void that PowerPost created and I’m thrilled to have been a key player in bringing one of Halifax’s biggest TV content creators into the new age.
Okay, I got a show to finish.
Come on, Coast, no way to edit my post???
I apologize for my spelling mistake. End of my first post should read “Here’s a little DOSE of truth…”
Thank-you.
@The Unloved Son. We always encourage dissenting opinions, thank you for yours. I have to wonder how much professional jealousy is driving your version of “the truth,” crowing over having potentially helped shut down your competition that employed dozens of skilled technicians for years and serviced the best shows made in Halifax. My suggestion is you send your comment to letters@thecoast.ca and our letters editor will consider it for print. But be sure to sign your actual name to it, which will prove the courage of your convictions.
whatever, Brian Power is the man.
Owning a Post house is a very tricky business unless you also have your own production company feeding it. Basically every content creator in town is now vertically integrated to do thier own finishing work. The traditional post production service companies have a hard time in smaller markets anyway, but since gear is now cheaper and budgets are lower it just makes sense for a producer to move Post work ” in-house”. This leaves the old school single purpose post facilities with leather couches, high overhead and antiquated equipment in a tough spot. I wish Rob and Brian good luck in thier future endevours.