Pacific Title & Art Studio to be liquidated
Pacific Title & Art Studio, the 90-year-old Hollywood post-production house, has gone into receivership and will be liquidated.
BY DAVID S. COHEN -- , 6/8/2009 8:36:02 PM
Pacific Title & Art Studio, the 90-year-old Hollywood post-production house, has gone into receivership and will be liquidated.
According to an email Pacific Title prexy-CEO David McCarthy sent to employees, efforts to obtain new financing for the company have failed.
Pac Title will complete all current projects before the end of June.
"We will be contacting our customers shortly to explain what our intent is and to work with them to either complete their pending projects or to cease activity on the projects and transfer the elements to other facilities or return customer materials as appropriate," he wrote.
McCarthy's missive held out some hope that a buyer may emerge that will leave the company intact but told all employees, "You should immediately consider yourself laid off."
The company received a $3 million cash infusion in 2008, but McCarthy said the industry slowdown caused by the turmoil surrounding SAG, "tax incentives in other locales and general economic conditions have all combined to create an excessively harsh industry situation that Pac Title could not escape."
The company has been dogged by rumors of its impending failure for weeks, after missing payroll more than once and furloughing a number of employees last week.
Pac Title was founded in 1919 by Warner Bros. animation artist Leon Schlesinger and counts among its credits "The Jazz Singer," "Gone With the Wind" and "Ben Hur."
Recent credits include "Terminator Salvation," "Fast and Furious," "Watchmen" and "Gran Torino."
In recent years it had moved into digital post, including visual effects and restoration. It was bought by private equity funds Celerity Partners and Ticonderoga Capital, which felt the company was well positioned to take digital work that would be outsourced by the major studios.
But the company ran into hard times after the new owners dismissed topper Phillip Feiner in 2007. In August of that year he sued for wrongful termination and breach of contract.
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