Playhouse Post opens 12,000 sq ft Soho facility
Playhouse Post has opened the doors to its new 12,000 sq ft facility on Noel Street in London's West End.
The Soho site includes newly refurbished cutting rooms, the industry term for editing suites, overlooking the street below, according to Deadline. The rooms are ready to go.
The opening follows a double rescue deal. Playhouse Studios, an Irish media production company, bought the assets of Halo Post after Halo went into administration, a formal insolvency process, and took over the Noel Street site. Those assets were merged with the assets of LipSync, which had also gone into administration, to launch Playhouse Post.
Inside, the refurbished building covers the full post-production chain, meaning everything that happens after filming stops. That includes colour grading, the final polish on look and colour, plus visual effects (VFX), picture finishing, sound and delivery. The work is done in rooms fitted for Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, the cinema standards for immersive sound and high-contrast picture.
The kit list is specific. There is a 4K theatrical grading theatre and two Dolby Vision 4K HDR grading suites for high-resolution colour work. There are also two purpose-built 4K HDR Flame suites, high-end systems for effects and finishing, plus three additional finishing rooms for grade, VFX and online, the final assembly of picture and sound.
Sound gets its own space. The facility has three refurbished Pro Tools studios, named for the industry-standard audio software, offering voiceover recording for film, drama and documentary projects.
The first feature to complete post-production at Playhouse Post already has an audience. Lemonade, an Irish drama directed by Kim Bartley and financed by Playhouse Studios, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The operation is led by Mark Foligno as CEO. Foligno was with LipSync before taking the top job at Playhouse Post. Playhouse itself is Dublin-based and has launched a Belfast office led by Martin Brennan as Director of Playhouse Northern Ireland and Janine Cobain as Head of Production.
For viewers, this means finished stories. A post house is where a shoot becomes something you can watch.
