Press Release from AMC's New Production Facility

[Carolyn1980]

I'm guessing "long-term deal" means at least two years:

ABC Daytime Taps Andrita Media Center for 'All My Children's' New HD Production Facility

Andrita providing new production facilities for ABC's 'All My Children'

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadcast Facilities, Inc. (BFI), owner and operator of Andrita Media Center, the largest independent SD and HD network origination, production, post-production and digital media facility on the West Coast, announced today that, under a long term agreement, Andrita will be providing HD production facilities and services for ABC Daytime's "All My Children." As the new home of "All My Children," Andrita's state-of-the-art production facility will enable the celebrated series to make an immediate transition from Standard-Definition to High-Definition. Included in the long term agreement, Andrita Media Center will provide ABC with Andrita Stage 1 (18,000 square feet), Andrita Stage 2 (10,000 square feet), multi-camera HD production facilities and associated production offices. The production will begin relocating to Andrita in December; will commence producing episodes in January and the first HD episodes of "All My Children" will air in February.

"To be the new production facility for this iconic daytime television classic and to shoot it in HD is an honor," commented Bill Tillson, BFI's President and Chief Operating Officer. "The Andrita Media Center takes great pride in becoming the new home of "All My Children" and we look forward to continuing our relationship with ABC which started with the shooting of "General Hospital: Night Shift 2" at Andrita in 2008."

About Broadcast Facilities, Inc's Andrita Media Center

The Andrita Media Center is a state-of-the-art 106,000 sq. ft. multi-channel HD/SD digital server based network origination, satellite transmission, production and post-production media facility located in Los Angeles, California. Andrita originates a large roster of networks 24/7 including: MGM HD, Hallmark HD Movie Channel, The Tennis Channel HD and SD, Current TV, SiTV, Universal Sports Network, Game Show Network, AFN, the Africa Channel US and UK and three Tai Seng Asian movie Channels to name a few. Andrita's HD/SD production facilities and stages are utilized by multiple high-profile production clients including: MTV, HBO, ABC, CBS and 20th Century Fox Television. Andrita houses a fully integrated tapeless digital post-production environment including 40 Final Cut Pro HD/SD edit stations and three audio suites. In addition to channel origination and transmission services, Andrita provides disaster recovery, transcode/encode digital media creation to all major encode specifications including VOD, digital media manipulation including metadata, and digital file transfers via satellite, fiber, and IP. For more information please visit: www.andrita.com

[Jonathan]

Long term could be longer. I'm sure the deal is with ABC Daytime, not necessarily with All My Children. So if God forbid the show would go off the air, the studio space would be used for replacement programming.

[Kubla Khan]

It's probably a very long lease that the network easily gets out of if the show gets cancelled, like any other lease. LOL.

[bellcurve]

Or a contract with ABC Daytime, not necessarily "All My Children."

[R Sinclair]

Just curious (and slightly annoyed), but will every thread about the production relocation be generously bathed with direct and/or indirect predictions of the demise of All My Children? As a person who actually views this as a positive thing, it gets really old reading "fans" saying how this show is doomed because it's switching studios.

Anyway, these are from the media center's official website.

Stage 1

Stage 2

[sungrey]

It's doomed if La Lucci doesn't make the trek west. You're already losing David Canary among others, and Lucci would be the death blow. It'd be the same if Erika Slezak had left OLTL. Some actors you simply don't get rid of...

That said, let's see what happens here. At least ABC is investing money in its shows.

[R Sinclair]

It's like talking to a bunch of bricks in an obnoxious wall.

[Sylph]

[sheilaforever]

2 years sound like an understatement.

Building all new sets and the whole relocation issue should take at least 5 years to ammortize the costs. Should the show still bring in cash, if only a few pennies, till then, they have to keep it on the air to prevent book value losses.

The studio looks smaller than those of B&B and Y&R at CBS Television City (but I could be wrong) but it's double the size of their current studio, eh?

[bellcurve]

That space looks effing HUGE. Maybe it's the way the angle at which the pictures are being snapped or something...but that space looks big and HD friendly.

Better than stacking sets ontop of sets ontop of sets. At least AMC camera and crew people will have the freedom and liberty of allowing those sets room to breathe, no matter how white and cheap they look.

Oh, and they're shooting in HD too.

[Kubla Khan]

I don't think either Y&R or B&B have 28,000 sqft of studio space.

Frons said that AMC will have 40 % more space than GH, and GH has a pretty nice sized lot.

[R Sinclair]

The out of the eight sound stages, the biggest stage at CBS Television City is 15,000 square feet. Stage 1 at this facility is 18,000.

[bellcurve]

BOOYAH! LOL.

ETA: And I am almost willing to bet that biggest stage either belongs to American Idol/So You Think You Can Dance or Dancing With The Stars.

AMC got an upgrade for sure.

[Jonathan]

Dancing with the Stars is tiny. I've been there.

All My Children can probably build a full Pine Valley Hospital set on their new stage.

[R Sinclair]

Oh, gawd! Bite your tongue. I'm tired of the hospital! It's getting ridiculous. People are showing up there just to hang out. It's unrealistic, even by soap's standards.