Parent organizations Kodak, Technicolor SA | ||
Headquarters Los Angeles, California, United States Founded 1990, United States of America | ||
LaserPacific Media Corporation, formerly owned by Eastman Kodak, is a post-production facility in Hollywood offering a variety of end-to-end services for the entertainment industry.
It provides technological solutions, including services such as telecine, film scanning and recording, digital intermediates (DI), multimedia, as well as digital cinema packaging for customers ranging from independent filmmakers to major studios. LaserPacific has created a new workflow for independent film makers called inDI.
The company was acquired by Eastman Kodak in late 2003 for $30.5 million. Kodak sold Laser Pacific and its subsidiaries Laser-Edit, Inc, and Pacific Video, Inc., in April 2010 for an undisclosed sum. In 2011, Technicolor acquired the company.
Laser Pacific Media has its roots in several companies. The oldest, Pacific Video Industries was a remote truck operator that began in 1972. It provided the remote facilities for the 1977 location recordings of "The Nixon Interviews" when David Frost and the former President sat down for a grueling series of historic interviews. 28 hours, 45 minutes of material was recorded over a 12-day period in March 1977. The equipment Pacific Video supplied included three RCA TK-44B cameras and RCA TR-70 Quadruplex recorders. The edited programs aired in May and Sept. of 1977.
PVI opened Pacific Video Post Production Center, Ltd. in 1979 with financing through a limited partnership tax shelter for entertainers Olivia Newton-John, Karen and Richard Carpenter and others. It went bankrupt, and was acquired in 1982 by Robert Seidenglanz, the founder and former chairman of Compact Video, a PVI competitor in the television remote truck business.
Seidenglanz, several former Compact Video associates and former PVI executives operated Pacific Video as a post house focusing on filmed, network produced dramas.
Gregory L. Biller formed Spectra Image in 1983 as a post production service primarily for filmed situation comedies. In 1985 Spectra developed a transportable computerized random access editing system called Spectra System, which used proprietary laser disc technology for editing filmed or videotaped programs. The system allowed editors to quickly find shots and segments without waiting for tapes to shuttle from place to place.
The Spectra Ace was introduced to the market in 1986, and won the company an Emmy Award. The proprietary system for off-line editing incorporates an edit controller, a video switcher, single and dual-headed laser disc players, video monitors, videotape recorders, terminal equipment and associated software. It operated Laser Edit, Inc. as a marketing arm. Laser Edit became a post production house over time.
In 1990, Spectra Image and Pacific Video were merged into a new company, Laser Pacific, although the Pacific Video and Laser Edit corporate identities remain.