Alex Halpern founded Post FactoryNY in 1996 with one Avid in a friend's borrowed apartment. By day he rented the Avid to other filmmakers, and by night edited his film Nine Good Teeth. Initially his plan was to complete the film and sell the Avid within a year. During that first year, however, Alex realized that New York's film community needed a new kind post-production company - one with the flexibility and technology to serve the needs of all filmmakers, from the smallest indies to the biggest studio movies. Thus Post FactoryNY was born.
In 1999, Post FactoryNY formed a relationship with The Whitehouse Post, one of London's premiere editorial companies. That summer, entrepreneur Jim O'Hagen joined Post FactoryNY and successfully helped introduce The Whitehouse to New York's advertising community.
In 2002, Post FactoryNY expanded to its present SoHo location. There, Jim and Alex have created a relaxed work environment that provides top tier tech support, friendly service, and the best views in downtown New York City. Clients often say that Post FactoryNY feels more like a home than a post-production facility.
Post FactoryNY's credits include big budget studio films, small independent productions, documentaries, television shows and commercials. Post FactoryNY is also one of the founding members of the Post New York Alliance.
CEO and filmmaker Alex Halpern founded Post FactoryNY in 1996, during the post-production of his award-winning feature documentary Nine Good Teeth. The film, which premiered on HBO and the BBC in 2002, explores stories of love, scandal and betrayal within a Sicilian-American family.
In 2008, Alex and his producing partner, Jim O'Hagen, collaborated on a series of short documentary films promoting the work of the ICDDR,B., a prestigious research hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and works towards understanding and addressing some of the world's most vital health concerns.
Prior to founding Post FactoryNY, Alex directed music videos, commercials and television. His stop-motion video for Tripping Daisy's hit song, "Blown Away," was the first music video to feature a live performance by a puppet band. He also co-directed and starred in "Cherub", for Butthole Surfers, which featured him streaking naked through Grand Central Station.
Most recently Alex completed work on a short film Tommy's Pumpkin and is working on a script for a feature film he intends to shoot in fall 2011.
Jim's early days were spent on the West Coast, working in San Francisco at Zoetrope Studios and later in Los Angeles as an actor in television and films. After many roles over many years, Jim decided he needed a break from the drama of the film industry, so he moved to New York and opened a restaurant. Jim's restaurant, Nadine's, was a lot of things - extremely popular, trendy and very busy. Relaxing, however, it was not.
After ten hard and happy years in the restaurant business Jim realized that the film business wasn't so bad after all. In 1999 he teamed up with Alex and now spends his days helping old and new friends realize their creative visions at Post FactoryNY.
In addition to Jim's many roles at Post FactoryNY he recently produced a series of short films directed by partner Alex Halpern for the ICDDR,B, a research hospital in Bangladesh.
Kim Spikes career started in the wildly extravagant fashion industry working for fashion designer and icon, Betsey Johnson. After seven years of developing the best tattoo armored sales teams in the south, it was time for Kim to hang up her pink stilettos. Kim moved from fashion to visual effects and became the Director of Sales and Marketing for Janimation. While there, she geeked out and created the video games division, while she continued to develop and manage sales for feature film and advertising. In 2007, the East Coast was calling and it was time for Kim to grab New York City by the apples. As Director of Channel Marketing for Take-Two Interactive, the parent company to Rockstar Games, she helped launch the largest grossing entertainment property to date: Grand Theft Auto IV. Nowadays, Kim oversees the hottest post-production property on the east coast as Executive Producer for none other than Post FactoryNY.
Meet Diane, our newest member of Post FactoryNY, who has joined us as Controller / Business Manager. Diane started her career in the fashion world but found her way quickly into the land of post production, where she's spent the past 18 years on the finance side at the Tapehouse Companies, Postworks, Broadway Video and most recently, Goldcrest Post Production. Diane's a creative at heart but numbers are her thing - so she's thrilled to be part of the Post FactoryNY family.
Caryn began her career as a jewelry designer owning and operating Mayhem, a shop in the East Village for 9 years. Working with various artists and designers from LA to NY, Caryn quickly became familiar with the unique challenges of running a business in a creative field. In 1997, Caryn began her active role within Post FactoryNY, when the entire company consisted of one Avid in a single room. Her role has since changed during the many incarnations and locations of Post FactoryNY over the past decade. When she isn't adding up the numbers, her time is dedicated to damage control and sibling mediation for her two sons, as well as coping with temperamental technology at home. These skills have proved invaluable to her at Post FactoryNY as well.
Chris began his career at MSNBC before moving to E! Entertainment Television, where he worked with the Director of New York Production to open the NY production office. He worked on several series, including The E! True Hollywood Story and Wild On, for which he produced segments in Argentina, Brazil, Trinidad and all over the United States. He has also worked as a producer on the Howard Stern On Demand show.
A lifelong musician, he has also produced music, sound effects and voice-overs for television shows, commercials, and videogames.
He now gets to combine his passions at Post FactoryNY and BANG Music. On behalf of BANG, he runs Post FactoryNY's audio/music suite. He is also the director of business development and a producer at Post FactoryNY.
Patrick began his career at a small public access television station in Buffalo, New York. Tired of the cold, long winters, Patrick moved back to his home town of New York City. There he worked as a Avid and Final Cut technician on a myriad of productions for MTV, Home and Garden Television and AMC. In 2009, Patrick brought his technical expertise to Post FactoryNY were he has continued to build and support the systems where the real magic happens, and to make sure that, out of all the things to worry about in post, a faulty edit system won't be one of them.