In mid-March of 2020, film and TV production came to a complete standstill. Two first quarter productions, ‘Werewolves Within’ by director Josh Ruben, and the Brazilian production of ‘Diaries of an Exchange Student,’ luckily ended without any infections. A few days after those movies wrapped, the entire industry shut down worldwide due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Over the next eight months, most local industry professionals filed for unemployment and/or scrambled for other work. Conversely, many post production professionals were kept busy preparing films and TV shows for release. As a result, many local post production professionals worked through the pandemic. The Hudson Valley Film Commission has been staying in touch with several of them, and will be writing about their work and the interesting projects they were involved with. This initial blog, features three editors; Woodstock based John David Allen, Saugerties based Blake Gingerich, and Kingston based Chad Smith.

JOHN DAVID ALLEN
‘That Animal Rescue Show,’ which is executive produced by five-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Richard Linklater (‘Boyhood,’ ‘Before Sunrise,’ ‘School of Rock’) and two-time Academy Award winner and documentarian Bill Guttentag (‘You Don't Have to Die,’ ‘Twin Towers’), provides a window into this captivating world through moving, humorous, and powerful stories of animals and the humans who love them, in Austin, Texas.

Although both are based elsewhere, Linklater and Guttentag, both have local connections. In 2015, Austin-based Linklater, executive produced ‘I Dream Too Much,’ starring Eden Brolin (‘Yellowstone’) and Diane Ladd ('Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'). The film was directed by Saugerties based Katie Cokinos. Thanks to film commission director Laurent Rejto and help from Cokinos, while at SXSW in 2008, Linklater accepted to be honored as the WFF Maverick Award recipient for 2009. San Francisco based Bill Guttentag previously worked with Allen on the 2019 documentary ‘Sublime.’ In 2002, the film ‘Twin Towers,’ which he co-directed with Robert David Port won best short documentary honors at WFF and the Academy Awards.

For ‘That Animal Rescue Show,’ the production team turned to John David Allen for editing.

“What a great show to work on!” Allen exclaimed. “It’s funny, extremely warm, family-friendly, and as much about Austin TX as it is about animals. And there’s a twist — it’s often the humans who are rescued by the animals. My episodes cover a Farm Animal Sanctuary, a husband/wife Bat Rescue team, Austin’s own singing cowboy and a young man who moved to Austin to become a goat doula.”

“Originally the edit team for ‘That Animal Rescue Show’ was LA-based,” Allen added, “but when the pandemic hit everything moved to remote and I was offered two episodes to cut from my home in Woodstock. I worked with three other editors, six producers, and a dozen support people spread across the country, all through online streaming. Edit reviews were through the Evercast platform which enabled everyone in the “room” to see my avid real-time and discuss as if we were in the same space. I hope everyone will check out the show on CBS All Access!”

Click here to watch the trailer for ‘That Animal Rescue Show.

Allen stayed busy with more work in 2020. He also edited a series of testimonials on the difficulties with the American Healthcare system for GoodRx and he is currently editing the feature film ‘Ida Red’ for local director John Swab out of Utopia Studios in Bearsville with assistant editor Eric Jacobs. Mixing and local sound design will be handled by Coll Anderson.

Swab, Travolta, Pitt and Rosen at Rome Film Festival

“This is the third film that my producing partner, Jeremy Rosen, and I have done,” said director John Swab. “All three films were shot in my native Tulsa, Oklahoma, but post production on all three films was handled in the Hudson Valley where I live. It’s my second film with local editor John David Allen, and third with the legend of Upper Pond Road, Coll Anderson - both of whom were referred to us by my good friend, and Hudson Valley Film ambassador, Laurent Rejto. This year we are operating out of the old Utopia Studios and very much enjoying it. We’re very blessed to have so many talented people locally and be able to work from home."

Swab’s first film ‘Run With The Hunted’ was edited by Woodstock filmmaker John Greenhalgh (‘Team Foxcatcher’). The film stars three actors who have all worked on regional productions – Michael Pitt (‘I Origins’), Ron Perlman (‘The Escape of Prisoner 614’) and Mark Boone Jr. (‘Frozen River’). The film made its Showtime premiere on October 25, 2020, and can be streamed on Showtime. Swab’s second film ‘Body Brokers,’ stars Frank Grillo (‘The Grey,’ ‘Avengers’), Michael Kenneth Williams (‘The Wire,’ ‘Boardwalk Empire’) and Hudson Valley based Academy Award winner, Melissa Leo (‘Frozen River,’ ‘The Fighter’), who Rejto also introduced to Swab. Stay tuned for news about its impending release.

BLAKE GINGERICH
When the Covid-19 lockdown hit New York State, Blake Gingerich was working as the assistant editor on Neil Burger’s upcoming sci-fi thriller ‘Voyagers,’ which stars Colin Farrell, Tye Sheridan, Isaac Hempstead Wright, and Lily-Rose Depp. The movie is set for release in 2021 via Lionsgate. Burger is best known for his work on ‘Billions’ (Showtime), ‘The Illusionist,’ and ‘Interview with the Assassin,” which tied for best feature film at the 2001 WFF.

“The Covid-19 lockdown changed my work life dramatically on Thursday, March 12,” writes Gingerich. “We had just been doing visual effects reviews on the feature that I was assistant editing, ‘Voyagers.’ We got the news that everything was closing, and so I packed the project onto a couple of drives & we all headed out with no idea of when we would return. The film was mostly cut at that point, but we were still waiting on something like 500 visual effects shots. So I came up to my house in Saugerties & the editor took the other drive to her house in Brooklyn, and we managed to finish the rest remotely with a lot of help from facilities in NYC.”

In the wake of his work on ‘Voyagers,’ Gingerich has been working in recent months on post production for nonfiction work, including as the editor of the MTV quarantine special, ‘2020 Code.’ He has also just started as the assistant editor on Michael Lewen’s new movie, ‘Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between.”

Writes Gingerich on the new project, “I'm still doing all of my work in Saugerties, and the editor is at home in Brooklyn. They send the footage out to us every morning & then we do our thing with it pretty much as usual. The plan is to work remotely with the director once shooting wraps, but we'll have to be very flexible with how the end of this goes since none of us really have an idea what we'll be dealing with come 2021. Obviously, the biggest issue with working this way in our neighborhood is the shaky reliability of our broadband access, and also, sometimes, our electricity. But we're happy to be working again!”

CHAD SMITH
Kingston based Chad Smith of Massive Clouds on Wall Street, recently finished on EPK on the new Ryan Martin record ‘Wandercease,’ which was recorded at Kenny Siegel’s Old Soul Studios in Catskill. Click here to view the EPK.

"I really had a good time up at Kenny’s shooting a behind the scenes with Ryan and the band,” says Smith. “We were also able to capture some music video performances of ‘I Just Wanna Die’ at the same time. There was so much talent in that room, and it was my privilege to capture folks doing what they do best, making great music. “

Production clip from ‘A Reckoning in Boston’

When the Covid-19 Pandemic hit, Smith was unsure how the company would be affected, but he quickly realized they would stay busy with picture editing and color correction work on several projects including some internal content for BMW of North America, and the feature documentary ‘A Reckoning in Boston,’ from directorJames Rutenbeck. The film will air in 2021 on PBS’s Independent Lens.

Additional work included editing for Project ALS on their ‘Tomorrow is Tonight’ Virtual Family Dinner.

“The only thing we’ve missed is having our directors in session,” added Smith, “but doing Zoom edit sessions has been the next best thing.”

Massive Clouds Film and Video Post Productions just moved into a larger space at 318 Wall Street in uptown Kingston. The added space has made it easier to properly social distance with clients when needed.

As of October 28, several productions are back at work under new strict Covid-19 guidelines, so it looks like post production professionals will continue working on new projects as they are delivered for picture editing, sound design, scoring, mixing, VFX, and more. The Post-Production Tax Credit program is designed to strengthen the post-production industry in New York State and its positive impact on the State’s economy. With so many post production professionals in the region, the Hudson Valley Film Commission hopes and looks forward to reporting on their work. Stay tuned....

Blog written in part by Rosie Felice for Hudson Valley Film Commission

The Hudson Valley Film Commission is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization that helps productions secure local crew, cast, locations, vendors, post production facilities, and more! Since 2000, the film commission has supported and worked on over 500 productions, helping to create thousands of jobs and over $250 million in regional economic development. The Hudson Valley Film Commission is supported in part by Dutchess Tourism, Markertek and the Wood Dock Foundation.

Please support our efforts with a tax-deductible contribution @ hudsonvalleyfilmcommission.org/support