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Deluxe, the world’s largest processor of film for the motion picture industry, is now the worldwide provider of 35mm release printing services for Universal which has abandoned Technicolor. (Could it be that Warner Bros is the only major Hollywood studio left using Technicolor?) I understand an announcement will be made Wednesday that Deluxe Entertainment Services Group has signed a multi-year, exclusive worldwide 35mm film print services agreement with Universal Studios that includes Focus Features. The deal follows last week’s opening of a digital intermediate suite by Deluxe’s subsidiary EFILM on the Universal Studios lot. To meet Universal’s day and date needs, Deluxe’s high volume processing and printing labs in North America are in Hollywood and Toronto, and internationally in London, Rome, Barcelona and Sydney. Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc is a wholly-owned subsidiary of investor Ron Perelman’s MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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This is no surprise to anyone who’s worked in theatrical distribution for the past decade. Technicolor’s film service division redefined “incompetent.” DeLuxe is far superior in every way.
I wonder how many theaters will still be using 35mm in five years.
Is this change just effecting labwork, or delivery services as well? I realize that the 35mm market will continue to shrink, but this is sad proof that studios don’t seem to care what their product looks like or have enough respect for the audience to think they’ll notice. I’ll miss 35mm, and it looks like I’ll miss clean, clear, & (mostly) trustworthy Technicolor prints sooner.
Digital cinema is still usually packaged with the DI, but Deluxe does it as well… Conversion from dpx to xyz jpeg2000 and packaging and distribution
Great! More execs and AP producers with no visual talent making decisions that the DP should be making. Another case of sacrificing the look because its just easier for them. Like standing in the freezing rain in the middle of the night to get the sequence was as easy as sitting in your office sipping lattes! These are the same JACKO’s that want to pick the print stock for you too. Even though there are many different stocks that produce very different results. A DP shoots for a particular print stock and then someone with absolutely zero talent decides to pick the lab and the stock for you. These dilettantes visually acuity is limited to the primary colors they learned about in grade school.
Please leave these decisions up the to DP and Director. Universal should learn not to make unilateral decisions which sacrifice the intent of the artists they paid so much for.
I am not making a comment on which lab is better than the other. I am just saying that the decision should be made on a case by case basis as to which better serves the film. Sorry if the execs have to put in actual work time now rather than being on autopilot.
This has nothing to do with manufacturing prints! The labs are completely separate divisions of their respective companies. This is only about the storage and shipment of prints to and from theatres.
wrong.
The fact that Universal is going with Deluxe shows an inability to understand the work required and the vision of the DP. They are brainless fucktards that are engaged in one thing – content. They couldn’t understand the time and care taken by a DP and the work required to bring forth the product. All they see is content and a catalog filling product that will eventually end up in the 5 dollar or two for one bin at Wal-Mart. The recent write up on the Blu Ray version of SPARTACUS can attest to that. Hapless brainless bottom feeders.
If DPs and Directors were able to deliver huge advances and volume discounts, they’d be able to pick labs and stock providers.
This is, rightfully, all about money. The real news is that only WB (and Paramount?) use Technicolor, and with DCIP in full swing, Deluxe may very well be the “last lab standing” for all legacy physical prints.
JS- then those studios shouldn’t submit for festivals and awards, cause thats all about the actual artistry. Don’t be hypocritical!
Dont you have some penny pinching financial awards you can submit your films to so that you can win the award for “Most compromised vision”?
Don’t be glib.
98% (higher?) of consumers don’t care about who the lab is or what kind of stock you use, or the repercussions of either choice (in other words, 98% of the public doesn’t think x lab instead of y lab yields a “compromised” film). Since their customers don’t care, the studios make these deals to get volume discounts and signing bonuses. These aren’t pennies. These are 10s of millions of dollars across a contract. Thus, the studios lower their costs across the board, freeing up money in the budget for other things (or, for someone like MGM, keeping them in business. Maybe.)
Unfortunately for the “art-house” crowd, these deals require the studios to be exclusive, so if you want to shoot your film with them, you’re using their deals. If you don’t want to use a studio’s deal, easy solution, make your film somewhere else. I’m sure there are other, more discriminating patrons out there who are more concerned about art than making money, and they will be happy to market and distribute your film. Of course these angels are few and far between because, well, they don’t make enough return on their investment.
Last point: studios submit to festivals for three reasons: (a) cheap(er) marketing exposure for the film, (b) the off chance they will win and thus have an extra selling point, (c) because the prestige is important to talent.
Uh… kind of strange that the Universal Pictures lower studio lot shares a gated entrance with Technicolor… Will make for a few awkward moments, I imagine…
Universal switched to Deluxe in the early 80′s because of some very shady dealings between executives @ Universal and Technicolor (well known story), then Tech got the account back around the turn of the century cause Tech forked over big bucks for the contract, but everyone in management @ Universal really wanted to stay @ Deluxe.
What’s awkward is the off duty police walking around packing heat for safety reasons since the hammer came down.
The demise of Technicolor was the topic at a recent party I attended. The people whose conversation I overheard seemed to feel that Technicolor has been in decline since the French company Thompson purchased it. To hear the anger and concern in there conversation was an eye opener. It sounded as if a very anti union management has been installed. In a union industry like the motion picture biz that can’t be good for the workers. It sounded like the company has been more concerned with cutting down the union workforse while increasing mangement. There comments were most damning when it came to promotions of inexpirenced personnel to sensitive positions.
Technicolor does appear to be going through some serious problems. Their new post facility on the Paramount lot was supposed to open this past July, but the rumors are now that it will not be ready until well into 2011.
Whatever the reasons are…Technicolor seems to have lost its MOJO.
Thank you Nikki Finke for your article. But i cant help but wonder if you at all investigated the real reason for the Universal Studios bail on Technicolor. Did you just accept the spin?
The real story. As you all know Technicolor is a legend in Hollywood ( sorry was!!) Universal bailed on Technicolor because the French business model does not work here. There are individuals at Technicolor that the studios wont work with. However, the French CEO Fred Rose doesn’t get it. His problem is the Hollywood management team he has in place. Incompetent, disrespectful, vulgar, degenerates, dangerous for the business and the environment and definitely dangerous for the employees. The facility on the Universal lot is known by the employees as the mens prison universal city. The atmosphere is ripe with anger discontent and miserable for employees.
You have Directors who were nothing more than quality midgets in the native EU country running the business in LA. He has lost all the business Technicolor serviced for the past 90 years in a short 4 year period. Thats progress M You have VPs of production who were printing posters for bus stops and plumbers managing the client production. You have account managers who were can boys and distribution clerks in warehouses in Ohio as business analysts and forecasters.
They fired all the people who know how to keep the customer and fix the machines that produce the finest motion pictures in Hollywood history and I am sure they believe that the customer will come back because they have the best quality!
And they still hire Union busting law firms for massive amounts of cash to break the working man. The only thing that will break is Technicolor under it’s own complete incompetence.
Inmates?
I work in Negative inspection at Technicolor. And we all bust our guts for the best Quality prints. We are very proud to carry Technicolor name on out shoulders. I know Digital film is coming into Play. But you can’t top the quality of the real thing. FILM… And Now 3-D…
When I left Technicolor 5 years ago, we were having weekly meetings with the existing management and lab personel. They were told by us that the company was headed the wrong direction and at that point the meetings became less and less frequent until they just didn’t exist at all.
They were told that first of all they needed people that knew the business to run the lab. (Rejected).
Second of all they started puting CFI people in charge instead of intergrating fairly.
Technicolor was run by (2) plant superintendents, 6 customer service managers( that actually serviced the customer) before the new company heads took over at that point they hired people with college degrees and with no formal lab knowledge. All I can guess is that Thompso liked to promote People.
Walter Shoenfeld should be ashamed what he alone did for Technicolor.
He must be off ruining another Company. The first thing he did was started by giving the old timers (not timers) incentives to retire. These guys took a lot knowledge with them Walter then started putting people in charge that did not have a clue of what is, or was going on.
All they need to do is check the payroll of management then, and the management now, or (none productive personel as I like to call it.) They have far less people in production than in managment. The business so top heavy in managment.
Oh by the way, we used to have foremans that actually ran their departments . But of course they knew how to then.
Last but not least Managment does not have the mental capacity to run a company with less personel. It seems like they need an overseer for every worker that works there. By the way where is Tim Renolds? He was very capable of runing the company. Techinecolor needs a complete turnover of upper management & mayby they will take the steps to turn around a top notch company. They need somebody that knows the function of a lab. I could talk forever but I feel enough said.
To “Got out just in time” – You are way off base and obviously have no knowledge of the business as it is today.
The Universal account went to Deluxe for one reason only, MONEY. The business and the industry as a whole was a lot different five years ago with technology being the biggest factor for the changes.
As for the CFI vs. Technicolor rift since the merger, get over it. People were promoted into management positions based on knowledge, performance and merit. You seem to be the type of person that would never want this type of resposibility, much less handle it, but would bash the ones that do and eventually get the chance to take on the challenge.
Technicolor like any other company is not perfect. It’s unfortunate that it is in the situation it is in today but Deluxe and Fotokem are not doing well either. I do not pretend to have all of the answers but I can tell you one thing. It’s attitudes and small thinking such as yours that cause businesses to fail. Instead of being part of the solution you bash and criticize. Really? I would imagine based on your view points and your pseudoname you were a negative person when employed by Technicolor and continue to be today. This could also be the reason the U.S. no longer a super power today.
In closing I would ask the owner of this blog site to include a spell check and grammer check moving forward because you clearly lack the basic general education fundamentals to express yourself properly. You misspelled Technicolor. Really?
Much luck to everyone in film lab industry.
@Optimistic Lab Rat
My spelling is not a factor in this business. I have more time in this business than you will ever accrue. It is certain you are a simple minded man and don’t know jack s— about what you are talking about. As far as I can tell you are one of the people we were talking about. You are simple minded just like the management that runs that place, take a seat with the rest of the good old boys and by the way take a look back at the history of the place before CFI came over. ( Profit ) Don’t’ worry lab rat you will be without a job just like everyone else.
CFI didn’t just come over, they were bought.
DITTO!!!——from a negative assembler
I have worked at deluxe hollywood for over 12 years now and being union I would love for both Tech and deluxe get big contracts so both labs can stay running. Labs like Foto chem(non-union) is the contracts deluxe and Tech should be going after. Work Union, Live Better. IATSE 700
Well, I’m no expert….but I hear reliable stories about that place, that have me both laughing to tears and shaking my head! There’s a guy there that’s doing the bone dance on someone he shouldn’t be ( a possibly married co-worker), after costing the company a TON of money, and lying about co-workers productivity, which led to their un-fair termination. The beauty of it is, that “guy” STILL HAS A JOB THERE! I can’t believe that with such precise management (SARCASM), that company is in the toilet. There’s just got to be a much smellier place than a toilet that would be more appropriate for such a “comedy of errors” place like that to be
I thought PA and JH broke up…or are they back together?
Well, at least I know where I can soon have the dents taken out of my car and vacation photos processed all in one stop…Pablo’s Photo Body!
Money is only part of it, relationships and tending to the customer needs is something Deluxe has a handle on and Tech does not. I have seen the corruption in HR, from the hundreds of employee grievances (costing millions) to an outright illicit fraternization with a shift manager, to dismissal of qualified “obstacles”.
“Ted” was right; the Technicolor NH management team is a bunch of clowns who don’t even know the customers. And the customers that do know them won’t talk to them and can’t stand them. So wade in the vermin infested Marinara that you created, you are a joke in the lab and in the industry. Too bad upper management at Tech is blind to it.
BTW, No doubt Lab Rat is Tech management. I’m surprised that he didn’t issue a CIPLER for spelling.
If your readers only knew the truth. I must say the comments added are more for a whistle blower web site turning in crocks. But I get the point, Technicolor employees need a place to vent. Perhaps the original article’s author should interview VB or CK or perhaps MM and ask why there is so much venom contained within the walls of Technicolor. A 95 year old company brought to its knees by it’s management within a staggering 4 years.
No wonder you have lost the business in Hollywood. Fred Rose should be ashamed of himself maintaining a dysfunctional organization such as the North Hollywood Team.
Team my A** More like trolls.
This management went out of its way to destroy the business because the business model did not contain the incompetence level they were used to. Hollywood is still printing motion picture films on film, just not at Technicolor.
The anti union sentiment of the management is legendary.
Sorry Fred your French it is hard for you and your dysfunctional team in North Hollywood Technicolor to get it. So your being kicked of the island, permanently. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
First of all, not every facility needs or wants to be union. Unions have hurt the film business, no question about it. The majority of productions have left the L.A.-area over the past 10 years due to rising costs because of this. A Technicolor facility just two weeks ago voted down IATSE 700 by an overwhelming majority. And a point of fact, two of Technicolor’s major film labs ARE union.
As for Technicolor, it’s true the film services division is struggling, but it’s the only division that is. Technicolor showed a 12.6% growth in revenue in the 3rd quarter of this year (compared to last year). For those that get them confused, this is REVENUE, not profit.
The company is growing again, and is formidable in many areas. But it does have issues, as all companies do. But you can’t point the finger and then expect me to believe that every other company does not. I’ve worked at other post houses/companies and know that all have their own internal problems (either with management, their owners, or with some of its workers). But the truth is, Technicolor is growing, so Fred Rose must be doing something right.
Just a minor point:
You may not realize that the “Sales Figures”, which show an “amazing” 12.6% Revenue Growth rate do NOT include the sales results for companies that Technicolor is trying to sell.
Got that?
According to IFRS rules, companies that are ‘for sale’ aren’t reported.
In other words, the Sales figures for the ‘Dead Ducks’ that are dying and near death and that Thomson is desperately trying to dump are invisible.
Any clue how bad the Sales figures are for these companies? Hmmmmm….
For anyone who has followed Thomson’s results over the years (I can name many long-suffering Analysts) nearly EVERY reporting quarter has included a boatload of “Sorry, not required to tell you”, horrific Sales results for companies they have decided to dump.
Wake up please.
NumbersMan, that’s great that revenue is up. What about the profit? The trouble with revenue as a metric is it indicates only that more products were produced. We can increase the revenue by lowering the price and selling more products at a loss. This sounds very French to me.
I was in the Lab business for 48 years. I saw Technicolor buy and close, or otherwise ruin many good companies. I guess what goes around, comes around.
Technicolor has been in a downward spiral from the day the French bought it. Fred Rose might be doing a great job, but he is Captain of the Titanic (Technicolor) after it hit the iceberg. In a business that requires front money to obtain contracts, how can a bankrupt company compete? Perhaps some of you true believers would loan them some money.
Sorry Numbers Man, who are you trying to convince. “Lier’s can figure but the figures don’t lie”, The whole Technicolor is frothing at the mouth with management disease. Your idea of business is to throw good money after bad. It will no doubt make the headlines when you go out of business or should I say out of the film business. According to you Technicolor is making money again because they are unloading the unions. You sarcastically imply that the unions were the cause of Technicolor’s problems. In fact, the unions built Technicolor, the hardworking union men and women are “Technicolor.” and without the union post production expertise the best Technicolor can hope for is an independent parking slot at the gate of Deluxe.
Unfortunately your management will have the media to contend with when they find out that Technicolor will not have a facility in Hollywood! Gee try explain that to film makers like the cliental you used to have. Yes Numbers Man you might know your numbers but you don’t know Hollywood or the entertainment business.
The feeble attempt at the entertainment business by Thomson, now Technicolor took you ten (10) years to learn. No one in Hollywood knew who Thomson was but they now know enough not to come back to Technicolor as long as the current management remains.
I work for Technicolor in Canada. We are on hold for now, waiting for Fred to make a decision about our lab, the rumors are that they are thinking about building another lab in Hollywood and closing ours, even if we are pretty recent, produtive and cheaper.
For now we are under unemployement since we lost Universal. I personnaly think that Deluxe are making awesome price for their client so they can kill Technicolor and have control of whats left of the 35 mm. I really wonder if Technicolor is even fighthing back..Good luck for everyone in the industry.
Good luck “ME” in Canada. Things are not going well for TColor in No. Hollywood. Shut down is certain by June, 2011. Company might open a much smaller business in Glendale (California, USA). Perhaps as many as 70% of No. Hollywood souls will be out of work. It does not matter, USA or Canada, this country, that country, union, non-union — we all have families we have to support in a world economy with too many people and not enough jobs. This is so sad. TColor is 95 years old. Too bad it won’t survive to be a hundred.
To labwife, I got the news yesterday about the North Hollywood Lab..all my thoughts are with my American colleague (and friends since i got trained by some of them). Good luck to your families and on our side, we will try to be more prepare for the next bad news..cause we all know for sure it wont get better! Simple matter of time..sadly.
The axe has fallen on Technicolor plant 20 on the Universal lot. Failure of a new lease to be signed has the company shuttering the lab on May 31st, 2011. Release printing will move to Montreal, Canada. The new owner of NBC/Universal, Comcast, needs the space.
There is some chatter that the old Technicolor lab on Seward Street (now shuttered by Laser Pacific owner Kodak) might roll once more under the Technicolor banner. It is too small to do any serious release work.
Interesting times.
What an amazing death spiral its been for Technicolor in just 4 short years since the current upper management came on-board. The lack of industry experience and unwillingness to form relationships in a relationship based industry was so obvious from day one with the current Tech management, that I’m sure Deluxe smelled blood in the water immediately. Couple that with the general arrogance toward customers and the F-U attitude whenever there was a customer issue and you have a climate where Disney (after 50 years), Universal, and Lionsgate, to name a few, don’t want to do work.
Sure Deluxe offered lower prices, but not as low at the Tech Mgrs would like everyone to believe. Customers love the quality and the “look” at Technicolor but not what they had to go through to get it. Deluxe knows how to treat their customers and form lasting relationships.
During the decline, they also eliminated most of the industry experts and experience at Tech because they were a threat to those “on high” who did not want to understand how to run a successful lab business and be made to look like the morons that they are.
Don’t be fooled by the opening of a new small front-end lab or the new overpriced building at Sunset & Gower, the same people are running the show and that spells impending doom. Shame on French Fred for buying into the BS that has been fed to him. Common sense should have told him something was amiss when he joined 2 years ago.
I would call these SAD times for an industry icon!
You nailed it.
I predicted the downfall of Tech on the very day that Thomson bought the company.
Thomson stated specifically in 2001 that they bought Technicolor to ‘generate cash’ for their new ‘growth businesses’.
Unfortunately, nearly all of Thomson’s ‘new businesses’ have failed or faltered (Grass Valley?), along with their other legacy businesses, such as Thomson Consumer Electronics (Europe) and RCA (USA). Incompetence can’t be ruled out here.
Technicolor’s profits have mainly been spent acquiring questionable companies and paying off severed employees and shutting down plants at companies that Thomson killed vs being reinvested in Technicolor.
Those of us at Technicolor who have worked our faces off to generate those profits are, naturally, disgusted.
Thomson has never had a clue about how to run Technicolor and, aside from draining it dry of funds has managed to completely alienate not only its managers but also its customers. And now, after all these years of mis-management they have the nerve to hijack Technicolor’s name as their own! Again, disgusting.
Fred Rose’s ‘heroic’ efforts to revive the company are, of course, 10 years late.
The chickens have come home to roost.
I heard they hired off duty LAPD to run Technicolor because they are afraid of people going postal over loosing jobs. What a sad Christmas this will be for North Hollywood Technicolor employess. I guess I won’t be getting those new thongs panties