With the purchase of The Post Group, announced April 1, as well as audio facility Novastar Digital Sound Services, brothers Matt and David Cooper have added two more companies to a growing portfolio of media enterprises. Two of the original owners of Lightning Media, the Coopers also own Santa Monica-based production company The Vault and, in the latter half of 2004, became full owners of Lightning Media and acquired co-ownership in iO Film. Lightning Media expanded with a new DVD replication facility in Valencia last year.
The Post Group, established 31 years ago by Fred Rheinstein, is one of the oldest post houses in L.A. and one of the few independents left standing after previous acquisition sweeps by Ascent Media and Technicolor. The purchase price was undisclosed.
The New Post Group will be headed by CEO Stephen Buchsbaum, who will also remain CEO of Lightning Media. "We want to grow the company, not scale it down," says Buchsbaum, who stresses there will be no lay-offs. Additions include a second Avid Nitris, a new telecine suite, more client offices and room specialized for reality TV shows. The new owners are also boosting the resources of Post Group’s VFX facility, Momentum Labs. The adjacent iO Film facility, which offers the Nucoda DI system, will be networked to The New Post Group.
Novastar Digital Sound Services, located in the CNN building in Hollywood, offers three mixing stages set up for feature film and TV among other services. According to Buchsbaum, The Post Group’s audio services will be migrated to Novastar to enable that division to grow. "This was acquired to handle TV series and feature film as well as the reality shows we’re doing," he says.
Acquisition of these facilities is the first phase of an ultimate goal to establish an independent studio releasing 10 to 12 films a year. Buchsbaum stresses that, although each facility is expected to be a profit center, no profits from these businesses will be used to open the studio, which the Coopers will self-finance independent of their other holdings. With the idea of developing and producing their own content, the Coopers also plan to handle the release and distribution of feature films and television.
Cooper’s street creds include having produced (and, for two, written and/or directed) four films through The Vault: The Last Supper, Campfire Tales, Panic and Perfect Opposites. "The dream is to do it all, from a script through distribution," says Cooper.
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