Support Soundcheck Austin at Austin Studios
Rebecca Campbell | Aug 04, 2009 | Comments 16
The Austin Film Society is delighted to announce that we have completed negotiations with a new long-term tenant at Austin Studios, Soundcheck Austin. The process will conclude with a vote by City Council at their August 27th meeting (date change!), and we are asking you to contact them to express your support.
Here is what we have agreed to. AFS and Soundcheck will remodel Stage 4 into seven rehearsal studios (ranging from 800 to 2,400 square feet), vendor showrooms, offices and lockers for equipment and set storage. Upgrades to the metal building will include insulation, HVAC, electrical service, and soundproofing–all designed to meet a minimum 2-star rating with the Austin Energy Green Building Program. Soundcheck will invest $500,000 up front and AFS will invest up to $475,000, which we have borrowed from a charitable foundation that believes in our mission. Long term, this makes Stage 4 a more viable and valuable asset to Austin Studios, regardless of how long Soundcheck remains a subtenant.
We see benefits for filmmakers and synergies with musicians. The facility will be used for shooting music performances, behind-the-scenes television shows and inserts. Voiceover and ADR recording and live scoring will be supported. Multimedia uses will include the creation of music videos, webcasts, soundtracks, stills and video components of live performance rehearsal.
This venture is about opportunities for future generations too. Having Soundcheck as a tenant will help position Austin as a production center in the increasing convergence of digital media. Soundcheck is committed to education, offering internships for college credit and free and paid workshops for both professionals and youth. Their local hiring commitment is a minimum of 75%.
Please let your local elected officials know that this deal is a good thing for Austin! You can contact City Council members through a phone call, email or letter. Contact information can be found right here on the City web site or if you’d like to email council members directly rather than use the web form, the email format is consistent: lee.leffingwell@ci.austin.tx.us, mike.martinez@ci.austin.tx.us, laura.morrison@ci.austin.tx.us, sheryl.cole@ci.austin.tx.us, randi.shade@ci.austin.tx.us, bill.spelman@ci.austin.tx.us, and chris.riley@ci.austin.tx.us.
Please copy me at rebecca@austinfilm.org.
Thank you for taking immediate action on behalf of this exciting project!
Popularity: 4% [?]
Filed Under: Austin Studios
I’ve been interested, as a member of the Austin film making community and a supporter of AFS, to watch the supposed controversy over the negotiations to make Soundcheck Austin a tenant in the Austin Studios. To me, the deal is a no brainer. It helps keep the Studios economically viable, especially through the current lean economy. It also reinforces the creative synergy between the film making and music production communities in Austin.
The Austin Film Society has been a real force for good for film in our city. We’re lucky to have them doing so much as is. This new relationship will only help them to do more.
This is a win-win situation. Work comes into Austin, more work is generated here, facilities are improved and rent and wages get paid. It is a good idea.
It seems like every year I get about one inch away from having one of my pictures greenlit. The last one had couple of Million dollar impact on the New Brunfels and Austin economy. When my next picture does get greenlit, I want there to BE an Austin Studios. This badly needed income will insure that the planned growth of the studio will proceed without interuption or delay. It is a very timely solution that keeps our Studio solvent. Good job!
Finishng out Stage 4 on someone else’s dime on top of that! Great job! Let’s keep the studio running.
Being one of the major user’s of the studio’s, I think this is a good for the studio’s and good for Austin! Some obviously do not agree but please keep in mind that the last film to shoot at the studios was my film the HBO film “Temple Grandin” which finished December of last year. There was a 6 month + period of time in which the stages were not being used and no income for the studio. A long term deal like this with Soundcheck will keep income coming in during the lean times. I think it is a win win for the studios and for Austin. I have done a few films at the studios and believe me the people at Austin Studios always have the studios and the film making community in mind, they would not have gone through with the Soundcheck deal if it were not in the best interest of the studios and the Austin film community!
Rich Chapla
The Soundcheck proposal presents an opportunity to bring resources to the Austin Film Studios in a time and manner that simply would not exist otherwise. I believe the AFS board and leadership is pursuing this proposal with the best interests of the city and its film community at heart. The enhancements to the studios inherent in this proposal will build on the legacy that the AFS and its facilities have built over the past 20-plus years, and will help sustain that legacy for the decades to come.
Bringing more professional diversity to TX is key, I have been and used Soundcheck Nashville and what a great addition they would be.
This is good for Austin in many ways. It enriches the area not only monetarily but also greatly contributes to the diversity of talent. That alone is amazing and when you look at our current economic climate this deal surpasses amazing, bordering on the realm of miraculous.
Watch out! Austin is a moving locomotive. With the growing film interest in our great city and the ever changing demands of the entertainment industry, isn’t it sobering to know that our very own creators of moving pictures have a studio to use—Austin Studios-Stage 4, that is—right here at home? I only hope we continue to grow and prosper in this industry and show other cities better-known-for-their-film-production that we are a force to be reckoned with. The lease agreement with Soundcheck only helps to keep us on those rails.
This is exactly the kind of new businesses we need to bring to Austin to keep our creative class working. It seems to me that this is both the time and the right place for Sound Check to come to Austin.
As media continues to merge and evolve at an ever increasing velocity, Sound Check would serve not only as a major asset in the growth of Austin Studios / filmmaking community but in the overall creative “capital” of Austin as well. Austin is built upon creative collaboration; Sound Check would fit right in to that modus operandi.
10 comments for and none against? Seemed like 10 against and none for at the public information session held June 25, 2009 at 11am at Austin Studios.
RICHARD WHITTAKER covered it for the Austin Chronicle:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A803311
I am glad that The Austin Film Society got this deal to carry on with their vision. Certainly, a win-win…
Keep it up guys!
This is a fabulous opportunity for Austin and we need to support this relationship… Not only for the Creative Working Class, but for all the other folks out there that simply love Austin for its rich cultural offerings. Let’s help take Austin to the next level and make some money!
It is important to acknowledge not only greatness but the possibilities of further greatness. Soundcheck Austin can make dreams come true and bring to fruition countless hours of hard work for many people. Its good for filmmaking, its good for bringing dreams to reality and it is good for Austin.
Since this is obviously a “done” deal, this may seem redundant but I believe bears repeating.
From the City Council agenda for Thursday 6/18, item number 16 – “The premises may be used only as a studio complex for the production of films, television programs, commercials and multi-media productions, as well as educational, and literary uses as well as accessory uses and job-training associated therewith.”
From the AFS Persistence of Vision journal on 6/12 – “Soundcheck Austin is a new Austin business founded by the owners of Soundcheck Nashville. Soundcheck Nashville serves the 300 bands that call Nashville home, offering full production rehearsal, tour prep services, set and equipment storage, cartage and backline.”
“Full production rehearsal, tour prep services, set and equipment storage, cartage and backline” are not services allowed under the proposed council recommendation. They have nothing to do with film or television. Soundcheck is not now and never has been a film or video production company. Check out their website, video and television are not mentioned. They are a music rehearsal and musical equipment rental facility, similar to existing Austin-based companies.
Supporters of the Soundcheck deal who think Soundcheck will have any positive effect on the film community have been duped. There will now be LESS space for film production and the local music production community will be harmed, not helped. The real reason for Soundcheck coming to Austin Studios is greed. Soundcheck will become primary backline vendors for SXSW and the ACL Festival, which will have unfortunate financial consequences for the companies already based here, companies that do not enjoy city subsidies. Soundcheck will rent gear to the major festivals by undercutting local companies’ prices, Soundcheck will make the profit, AFS will receive the rent, film production space will be smaller than it currently is. Soundcheck will store the gear on city property that has been set aside for Film, though it will seldom, if ever, be used for film purposes.
The photo at the top of this page shows Meyer Sound equipment being demoed to Catherine Parrington. In fact, Soundcheck doesn’t own the gear they are demonstrating. It is owned by Meyer Sound and is stored at Soundcheck for demo and sales purposes. Gear like this will be brought to Austin and is probably included in the $1.3 figure that has been stated as being part of Soundcheck’s “investment”. Additionally, there is already a Meyer Sound rep firm in Austin so most likely Soundcheck will not be able to bring this sort of gear to AFS without violating their dealer’s territorial restrictions.
Way to go AFS, you’ve now screwed yourselves and the Austin music community, violated the terms of your lease agreement with the city and generated lots of ill will toward AFS. But at least you have a tenant to help your bottom line. You win! I hope the voters remember this when the time comes that you really do need to expand or ask for more city funding. I’m a voter and employee of one of the companies you will be harming, and you can rest assured that I’ll remember.
As a filmmaker based in Austin I think this is a beneficial endeavor from diverse perspectives. AFS gets a permanent tenant who pays rent, the Austin film community gets another viable production facility and the city of Austin attracts a strong business which potentially hires some of us craving for work at the moment.
To say the Austin Film Society is a strong force in the Austin (and Texas) movie landscape is an understatement. In my humble opinion any positive business venture that ensures AFS’ success and longetivity should be cherished and strongly encouraged.