North America film and TV round up
2015 is going to be a big year for Power Gems; we are in the process of setting up a new facility in Atlanta to support the rapidly growing film and TV market. In the last year more than 100 TV, commercial and film productions were filmed in the city. The list includes the Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Fast & Furious 7 and Insurgent.
While Atlanta is fast becoming the Hollywood of the South, we may be about to see a reversal of the decline in the fortunes for television and film production in California. In an attempt to bring back filmmakers, the state has voted to reinstate tax breaks, more than tripling the programme to $330 million in annual production incentives for the next five years. Specific incentives for post-production work will be good news for many of our friends and colleagues who are directly employed by the industry in California – the electricians, the tradesmen working in lighting and set construction. While our ballasts can go anywhere – reliable and rugged for use on location worldwide – these people’s jobs depend on a buoyant Hollywood entertainment sector.
We’ve had people on the ground supporting Hollywood’s entertainment sector for over 17 years, offering sales and technical support from our facility in Van Nuys CA. Our Hollywood subsidiary is staffed by factory-trained engineers led by Chip Harley, and carries a large stock of finished product, and original spares for servicing.
During this time we’ve enjoyed long relationships with the Hollywood studios – Paramount, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures and CBS. In addition we supply many of the largest lighting rental companies. Los Angeles gives us a an ideal base to work with Cinelease, Paskal Lighting and Hollywood rental, all with multiple locations across North America.
John Smith, Service Manager at Paskal Lighting says: “Power Gems’ new line of modular ballasts are a must have for any studio or rental house. The versatility of these ballasts with their wide range of wattage selection makes them the go-to ballast. Add to that the 1,000hz high speed feature already built-in and the ability to swap out modules at locations ensuring no down time is invaluable to both the crew and production and rental house. Having worked closely with Power Gems for the past 15 years I can safely say their professionalism, customer service, technical support, and attention to detail are second to none.”
Our network spreads across to the East Coast, to supply equipment rental companies such as Miami Film Trade, based in Miami, and Eastern Effects & Available Light amongst others in New York. Get in touch to find out more.
