As the area’s film industry continues to grow, one production company is spending $3.8 million to nearly double its facility to reel in more clients and larger projects. By early next year Digital Video Arts, a full-service Jacksonville production and postproduction business, will operate in a new 15,000-square-foot facility off Belfort Road, down the road from its current 8,500-square-foot building. The amenities planned for the new building will allow DVA to compete for projects at a level most area production companies cannot.

In addition to more audio booths, two sound booths and six editing suites, DVA will have its first 1,200-square-foot studio for in-house shooting. In the past, DVA would film its projects at a studio in either a television station or another production company and then transfer it back to DVA’s office for postproduction.

Though it is common for television stations to have in-house studios for live production, it is not so common for local audiovisual production businesses. The new studio, along with a full prep kitchen, a green room and a theater-designed screening room, will allow DVA to upgrade project quality with existing clients and gain new clients. The studio can also be leased to other parties for shooting projects on-site.

The screening room will seat 25 people so DVA’s clients can view a project in a theater-styled room instead of in an editing suite, said Clark Fivek, vice president, director of production for DVA. Fivek plans to use the hallway that splits production rooms from postproduction rooms as an art gallery. DVA will host events such as wine tastings to support the community and networking. “We do a lot of creative stuff and there is a large creative community here,” he said. “We want to be more a part of it.”

The production area will be designed primarily around food preparation because DVA has a full-time artist to design the food for shooting and clients, such as Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: WINN), that require a facility to shoot food commercials. “We’ll be able to craft things better,” Fivek said.

Only a few full-service production facilities in Jacksonville have stages on-site for live or taped productions, said Todd Roobin, head of the city’s Office of Film & Television, a division of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission. “DVA’s new facility shows a sign of growth for the company, which is a very positive outlook for Jacksonville.”

Digital Video Arts’ revenue increased 15 percent from $3.02 million in 2005 to $3.46 million last year, Fivek said. The company has 18 employees and plans to hire more production professionals to support the larger facility.

Of the stations and production companies that do have studios, many, such as WJCT, The CW17 and Jacksonville Production Studio, gain additional business by leasing them to private parties for other productions.

The CW17 recently began leasing out its 2,400-square-foot studio on the Southside after a change in management. “Our new general manager’s philosophy is that we have this asset, the studio, and we need to use it to the ability that we can,” said David Hall, production supervisor.
Danny Quitter, producer/director at The CW17, said production groups like to film in a studio because any scene can be created through green screens and the environment can be controlled. “There’s no distraction from windows and you don’t need to shut an operation down.”

One of the largest full-service production facilities in the area and the state is at PGA Tour Productions, which has a 32,000-square-foot building and a 1,024-square-foot studio with live television and audio control rooms. PGA Tour Productions airs up to 460 hours of live golf on television a year and broadcasts it to more than 144 countries, said Chuck Scoggins, vice president, operations.

“We primarily support domestic and international television and cable partners,” he said. “However, we certainly have the staff and the resources to compete with anyone on a production or postproduction level.”