Viacom to Open State of the Art Production Studio in Miami
Studio Will Serve As Multiplatform Production Hub
October 05, 2015 01:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time
NEW YORK & MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) announced today that it will open a two-stage, 88,000 square foot, state-of-the-art production facility in Miami, Florida. The new studio, which was built by the Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) as a public-private partnership with EUE/Screen Gems Studios, will serve as a production hub for Viacom's global entertainment brands including Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central.
View of the Viacom International Studio in Miami, Florida (Photo: Business Wire)
"We are creating more content than ever before across all of our brands at Viacom," said Robert Bakish, President and CEO of Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN). "The Viacom International Studio in Miami will offer a turnkey facility where we can create even more original, high quality content to meet the increasing demand for long-and-short-form content on all of our global platforms."
"We have had terrific success with the recent live action productions we have coming from Miami, and we are very excited to be committed to doing more," said Cyma Zarghami, President, Viacom Kids and Family Group. "We are constantly looking for new creative ideas and content formats that allow us to tell stories in a completely different way, and this facility will certainly forward that effort."
"Viacom has demonstrated again and again that hits come from all over the world," said Pierluigi Gazzolo, President, VIMN Americas and Executive Vice President, Nickelodeon International. "With an established track record of multi-lingual hits including Every Witch Way and Talia in the Kitchen being produced in Miami for multiple audiences simultaneously, in global collaboration with the US and local Latin American teams, we're excited to have the opportunity to further expand our production capabilities in the market."
Located in central Miami, the studio location offers access to a highly skilled, multi-lingual talent pool essential to creating global productions in multiple languages. The facilities will include two modern sound stages equipped to create a variety of content simultaneously, from daily scripted series, music specials and game shows to short form content for mobile, digital and on-air.
"We welcome Viacom as a long-term partner at our new Miami studios," said Chris Cooney, Chief Operating Officer of EUE/Screen Gems Studios. "Our company has worked closely with Viacom to develop a facility worthy of a dynamic content producer. Today, we celebrate our relationship with Viacom, and we applaud our partners at the Omni CRA, whose vision and efforts have made this building possible."
VIMN Americas' Miami headquarters is responsible for driving Viacom's businesses across Latin America and Canada and is the production hub for VIMN Americas production unit which creates content for Viacom International's brand portfolio including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and Paramount Channel. Within the past five years, VIMN Americas has increased its production output in Miami three fold. Viacom global hits produced in Miami include Nickelodeon's Every Witch Way, now in its fourth season, and its newest English-language production Talia in the Kitchen, a spin-off of the Spanish-language Toni, La Chef initially produced for Latin America, and WITS Academy, a spin-off of Every Witch Way, which premieres on Nickelodeon in the US on Monday, October 5th.
The building offers 88,000 square feet of production space, featuring:
* Two 15,000-square-foot sound stages with ceiling clearance 40 feet to the grid
* Lighting dimmer systems with cabled and powered lighting grids
* Lighting, electric and grip on site
* 12 post-production rooms
* 16 dressing rooms, including six star dressing rooms, plus two make-up rooms
* Two green rooms
* Technical equipment, prop, and set storage
* Designated spaces for the art department
* Production offices
* Conference and break rooms
* Commissary seating for up to 200
* Audience holding areas
* Mill shop, warehouse space
* Wardrobe rooms with washers and dryers
EUE/Screen Gems has entered into a long-term lease with Miami's Omni CRA to operate the new facility. Viacom has worked with EUE/Screen Gems to host its Atlanta offices and shows for BET Networks.
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling television programs, motion pictures, short-form video, apps, games, consumer products, social media and other entertainment content for audiences in more than 165 countries and territories. Viacom's media networks, including Nickelodeon, CMT, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Nicktoons, TV Land, Nick at Nite, MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, SPIKE, Logo, BET, CENTRIC, Channel 5 (UK), Tr3s, Paramount Channel and VIVA, reach a cumulative 3.2 billion television subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment.
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Original Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency Press Release via Business Wire:
Omni CRA Opens EUE/Screen Gems Studio at Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Studio to serve as production hub for Viacom
October 05, 2015 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time
MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency, in conjunction with EUE/Screen Gems Studios, held the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for Florida's newest film and television studio – the EUE/Screen Gems Studio Miami, at 50 N.W. 14th Street. At the event, it was announced that Viacom will occupy the entire studio, which will serve as a production hub for Viacom and Viacom International Media Networks' (VIMN) global entertainment brands, including Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central.
"With the announcement of the arrival of Viacom to the Omni area, the nation's sixth largest broadcasting and cable company, the City of Miami is sending a strong signal to the film and television industry that we are open for business. Building on strength of the Miami brand and leveraging our immensely popular location as a top destination for business and pleasure, the film studio will attract new opportunities and employ hundreds locally," said Marc D. Sarnoff, City of Miami Commissioner and Chairman of the OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency. "Talent that has been raised in Miami can now stay in Miami. The establishment of the EUE/Screen Gems Studio will further develop Miami's creative industry, one of the fastest growing and most exciting sectors of South Florida's economy," said Sarnoff.
The Omni CRA bought the land and the building in 2011. Since construction began in 2014, hundreds of construction jobs have been created. EUE/Screen Gems Studios will lease the facility for 10 years with an option to renew for nine years. The annual lease payment will be $100,000 plus an 11 percent gross revenue share. Few, if any, CRAs in the State of Florida have capitalized on public private-partnerships to create a source of revenue, apart from tax increment financing (TIF), to invest back into the community.
"Today, we have taken another major step toward revitalizing the Omni neighborhood within the City of Miami. We have transformed a dilapidated building into a thriving economic engine that is creating hundreds of good-paying jobs, increasing economic development within the Omni area and revitalizing Miami's film and television industry," said Pieter Bockweg, executive director of the Omni CRA. "Together, the Viacom announcement and the launch of the film and television studio provide another major commercial component necessary to make the Omni a thriving entertainment district, where people can live, work and play."
The new studio, with two fully operational film sound stages of 15,000 square feet each, a 50-foot roof, 40-foot grid height, and approximately 15,000 square feet of offices, editing suites, talent support space, and accessory rooms, will serve productions of all sizes, including major movies, television series and independent films.
"We are grateful for the vision and investment from Omni CRA to build a top-tier studio and post-production facility here in Miami," said Chris Cooney, chief operating officer of EUE/Screen Gems. "This is a groundbreaking partnership for us and for Viacom, designed to capitalize on the best of Miami—its terrific talent pool and Viacom's expertise in production. EUE/Screen Gems Studios brings a high level of service skills to facilitate their production. The City of Miami and specifically the Omni CRA is able to kick start an exciting redevelopment of the district as a hub for the creative arts."
In addition to the studio, the Omni CRA has spearheaded numerous other economic development and quality-of-life enhancement projects, including the financing of the Port Tunnel, the multi-million dollar investments in Margaret Pace Park and Museum Park, as well as the establishment of the Omni CRA police force.
About the Miami Omni CRA
The Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency was created to preserve and enhance the tax base of the Omni Redevelopment Area. The CRA is successfully accomplishing this goal by removing longstanding slum and blight conditions, and where feasible, by funding rehabilitative activities, upgrades to infrastructure, facade improvements, and job training and economic development programs. The CRA's mission is to improve the quality of life for residents and stakeholders within the redevelopment areas through activities and programs that create new job opportunities, substantially improve the quality of the housing stock, and improve the physical appearance of the redevelopment area.
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Official EUE/Screen Gems Studios Press Release via PR Newswire:
EUE/Screen Gems Studios Opens New Miami Studio in Partnership with Viacom International Studios
The new studio, which was built by the Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) as a public-private partnership with EUE/Screen Gems Studios will serve as a production hub for Viacom.
12:00 ET from EUE/Screen Gems Studios
NEW YORK and MIAMI, Oct. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, EUE/Screen Gems Studios announced the opening of their third studio complex in the United States, a two-stage, 88,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art production facility in Miami, Florida. The new studio was built by the Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) as a public-private partnership with EUE/Screen Gems Studios. Chris Cooney, COO of EUE/Screen Gems Studios and Pierluigi Gazzolo, President, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Americas and Executive Vice President, Nickelodeon International said Viacom will launch a multiplatform hub at the new studios for Viacom and VIMN global entertainment brands including Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central.
EUE/Screen Gems Studios Miami was built by the Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) as a public-private partnership and will serve as a production hub for Viacom.
Since March 2014, EUE/Screen Gems Studios has worked with the Miami Omni CRA to transform a dilapidated building into state-of-the-art studios that will anchor revitalization of the Omni neighborhood in central Miami.
EUE/Screen Gems Studios Miami was built by the Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) as a public-private partnership and will serve as a production hub for Viacom.
"We are grateful for the vision and investment from Omni CRA to build a top-tier studio and post-production facility here in Miami," said Chris Cooney, Chief Operating Officer of EUE/Screen Gems Studios. "This is a groundbreaking partnership for us and for Viacom, designed to capitalize on the best of Miami—it's terrific talent pool and Viacom's expertise in production. EUE/Screen Gems Studios brings a high level of service skills to facilitate their production. The City of Miami and specifically the Omni CRA is able to kick start an exciting redevelopment of the district as a hub for the creative arts."
With Nickelodeon's multilingual hits including Every Witch Way and [Talia] in the Kitchen produced in Miami in collaboration with the US and local Latin American teams, Viacom wanted to expand production capabilities in Miami. The studio location offers access to a highly skilled, multi-lingual talent pool necessary for creating global productions in multiple languages. Viacom will begin production at the studios in November.
The facilities include two 15,000-sq-ft sound stages with 40 feet to the grid and 88,000 square feet of production space that has been outfitted to create a variety of content simultaneously, from daily scripted series, music specials and game shows to short form content for mobile, digital and on-air platforms.
Economic revitalization and the creation of hundreds of well-paying jobs were key focuses for Pieter Bockweg, executive director of the Omni CRA. "Together, the Viacom announcement and the launch of the film and television studio, provide another major commercial component necessary to make the Omni a thriving entertainment district, where people can live, work and play."
"Building on the strength of the Miami brand and leveraging our popular location as a top destination for business and pleasure, the film studio will attract new opportunities and employ hundreds locally. The establishment of the Viacom International Studios in Partnership with EUE/Screen Gems Studios will develop Miami's creative industry, one of the fastest growing and most exciting sectors of south Florida's economy," said Marc D. Sarnoff, City of Miami Commissioner and Chairman of the OMNI CRA.
About EUE/Screen Gems: Headquartered in New York City and owned by the Cooney family, EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, N.C. opened in 1996 and has hosted more than 400 productions, including "Iron Man 3" and recently, "Under the Dome" (CBS) and "Sleepy Hollow" (Fox Television). Productions hosted by the Atlanta studios include more than 25 films and television series, including "Satisfaction" (NBC Universal for USA Network), "Devious Maids" (ABC for Lifetime), and "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay" – Parts 1 and 2 (Lionsgate). EUE/Sokolow creates original content in New York City and Los Angeles.
For more information, visit euescreengemsstudios.com and studios.euescreengems.com/Miami.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151005/273743
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151005/273742LOGO
SOURCE EUE/Screen Gems Studios
Related Links
http://www.euescreengemsstudios.com
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