Loft opens US base for 3D work

The post firm is in negotiations with three US broadcasters about remastering their primetime drama and entertainment programmes.

Loft said it would be able to offer a broad spectrum of services from algorithmic automated conversions to manual stereoscopic solutions.

“There are very few facilities servicing high-end 2D-3D conversion work, and those that do have a high cost base,” Davide Maglio, director and partner at Loft, told Broadcast.

Maglio said broadcasters have told Loft it is offering a price four times better than other post firms. “We have always found that trying to get material from the US to the UK is never straightforward and is often costly. We saw a niche in the market. We looked at acquisition,but we felt the firms available were not our core business.”

Loft is also talking to LA-based line producers about archiving, digitising and distributing content.

Recently appointed chief technology officer Maria Ryan, former vice-president of broadcast technologies at Viacom, will front the opening of Loft LA.

“Maria has in-depth knowledge of large-scale technical infrastructures and business change-management programmes, implementation and how they sit in the industry,” said director and partner Daniel Martin.

Ryan will be supported by five local staff, together with Maglio, who will divide his time between London and LA.