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Post-production, special effects, and video and sound editing team for The Walking Dead
MTI Film (Los Angeles, CA)
Modern VideoFilm (Burbank, CA)
Mad Old Nut Productions (Beverly Hills, CA)
Panavision (Woodland Hills, CA)
Post Haste Sound (Los Angeles, CA)
Stargate (Pasadena, CA)
Soundtrack (New York, NY)
KBN EFX (Chatsworth, CA)
Post-production, special effects, and video and sound editing team for House of Cards
Modern VideoFilm (Burbank, CA)
Encore (Los Angeles, CA)
Skywalker Sound (Marin, CA)
A52 (Santa Monica, CA)
Post-production, special effects, and video and sound editing team for Divergent
Benchmark Sound Services (Los Angeles, CA)
EFilm (Los Angeles, CA)
Interscope (Santa Monica, CA)
Panavision (Woodland Hills, CA)
Paragon Studios (Franklin, TN)
Post Factory (New York, NY)
Scarlett Letters (Los Angeles, CA)
So the filming leaves California but much of the creative process does not. The post-production takes longer than the actual production.
Last edited by BajanYankee; 10-15-2015 at 07:53 AM..
I think a good case could be made for Atlanta. I also think a good case could be made for the Bay Area. If you look at the credits for many movies, and not just where the filming occurred, you see several Bay Area companies listed. There are many stages of film production but everyone seems to be focused on the most obvious one (the filming). There are also a lot of video game designers in the Bay Area as well as a few in Seattle.
Los Angeles - 95
New York - 67
London - 48
Toronto - 26
Sydney - 25
Melbourne - 14
Auckland - 12
San Francisco - 10
Buenos Aires - 8
Chicago - 8
Paris - 8
Vancouver - 7
Dallas - 5
Detroit - 5
Minneapolis - 4
Seattle - 1
Montreal - 1
Audio post-production companies by city
New York - 50
Los Angeles - 39
London - 32
Sydney - 22
Melbourne - 18
Toronto - 9
Chicago - 8
Paris - 8
San Francisco - 5
Montreal - 4
Vancouver - 4
Dallas - 2
Miami - 2
Perth - 2
Post-production facilities/houses within 100 miles of core city
Los Angeles - 64
New York - 20
Toronto - 5
Chicago - 4
Dallas - 4
San Francisco - 4
Miami - 3
New Orleans - 3
Vancouver - 3
Washington - 3
Atlanta - 2
Philadelphia* - 2
Boston - 1
Houston - 1
Montreal - 1
Seattle - 1
The OP asked about "mass media" and then particularly included "film production, broadcasting, public relations, radio, acting, composers and songwriters, musical theatre, music recording and modeling."
With that in mind, I think Atlanta is the clear answer. The reason is because it has a strong presence across several types of media. It was an early leader in cable tv with CNN, TBS, TNT, Headline News, Cartoon Network, etc. Sure, some of those operations have moved to New York or DC, but we are already assuming New York is one of the top two media centers and Atlanta still has a very strong presence. Atlanta is also a top center for music, especially hip-hop. Lots of artists and producers call Atlanta home. Atlanta and Georgia are also a top five player in film and TV productions. Yes, that is spurred in large part by the tax credits, but the fact is they are there now. Several other cities might be Atlanta's equal (or possibly better) in one of those areas, but I think outside the big 2 (LA and NY) Atlanta is the most diversified and also has the highest concentration.
Thoughts on a few other cities:
San Francisco/Bay Area: strong presence in film and effects. The OP didn't mention social media as part of mass media. If that were included then SF would have a real argument for #3 as the Bay Area has facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.
DC: If this were about news only then DC would be my pick for #3. Lots of news, especially political news comes from the District, but it doesn't have nearly the presence in the other fields.
Miami: a pretty strong argument, and obviously has a lot of production and broadcast in Spanish. Especially well known is Telemundo which operates out of a Miami suburb.
New Orleans: A real competitor with Atlanta in film and TV productions (fans of these two cities are always arguing about who is Hollywood South). New Orleans also has a great traditon of musical performance (one of the top 5 music scenes in the US imo, but less so on the production end)
Nashville: Would be the #3 spot if we were only discussing music, but is lacking in the other areas.
Chicago: a huge market, but not as well known for production of content
We really consume a lot of media and it is generated in a number of places, despite all of the mergers and consolidation.
^^^^ great job Banjanyankee for being so thorough.
Thanks. I got the idea for this thread after meeting someone who did post-production. It got me thinking about the places where this type of work occurs. We tend to think of the "Lights, Camera, Action!" part of the equation and often forget about the people working around the clock in office buildings putting the finishing touches on movies, songs, commercials, magazines, etc.
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