Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment and NYC Department of Small Business Services Announce Post Production Pathways Program to Strengthen City's Media and Entertainment Workforce

The Post New York Alliance, Award-Winning Film Editors, and several large post-production houses including Technicolor Postworks, Harbor Picture Company, and The Molecule pledge ongoing support to deliver job opportunities to New Yorkers

October 20, 2015 - Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) Commissioner Cynthia López and the NYC Department of Small Business Services announced today the Post Production Pathways Program. The Program will support the delivery of post-production education, training, and job opportunities for New Yorkers, in support of the Administration’s Career Pathways strategy.

Post production has grown in New York City over the last few years and post houses are making sizeable infrastructure investments to capture the growth in the film and television industry. The Post Production Pathways Program will help local New Yorkers connect to, and advance in, post-production jobs through three workforce development programs:

1. The Post Production Training Program will engage employers to design and implement a workforce development program for unemployed and underemployed New York City residents to receive training and attain technical positions with post-production businesses;
2. The Assistant Editor Training and Mentorship Program is for unemployed and underemployed New Yorkers interested in pursuing careers in film and digital editing. As post-production businesses continue to invest in infrastructure in the City to capture the growth of the film and television industry, the program will provide on-the-job-training in feature film, television and documentary editing from some of NYC’s most renowned award-winning editors;
3. The Media Employer Training (MET) Program provides support to small businesses in the media and entertainment sectors to train their employees. Qualifying businesses are eligible to receive reimbursement for up to 70% of training costs, including: external training providers, trainee wages, internal instructor wages, books and materials.

"The film and television industry is vital to our City and its continued growth means more jobs," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "Our new program will invest for the future by connecting New Yorkers to the top editors in the field and solidifying our ability to keep post production jobs in the City, where they belong."

"Over the past 20 months, MOME has committed to laying the groundwork needed to provide unemployed and underemployed people with skills and training to help them secure good middle class jobs," said MOME Commissioner Cynthia Lopez. "The Post Production Pathways Program is a vital step towards strengthening the City’s infrastructure and will ensure that more television, film and digital media complete their post-production work in New York City. I want to thank our industry partners and Emmy-award winning editors who are dedicating their time to this project."

"The NYC Department of Small Business Services has been working with a variety of partners in the public and private sectors to advance the Mayor's workforce development commitments to help New Yorkers get the training, skills, and connections they need to secure quality careers, and to provide our City's businesses with qualified talent," said Jackie Mallon, Deputy Commissioner of Workforce Development at the NYC Department of Small Business Services. "We are pleased to work with MOME and the post-production industry to continue to strengthen the City's post-production work, and help New Yorkers get the training and jobs they need to succeed."

"This is the goal of our Career Pathways approach," said Katy Gaul-Stigge, Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Workforce Development, "to fund new 'real-time feedback loops’ to create industry-focused trainings that NYC businesses need to grow NYC talent."

The Post Production Pathways Program will be supported with real-time data from industry, through an Advisory Committee comprised of the post-production companies and award- winning New York-based film editors. Together these, and other partners, will help the Post Production Pathways Program understand employer needs, develop technology training and other education solutions, and deliver quality jobs for New Yorkers and quality talent for New York City’s businesses.

"The Post New York Alliance is thrilled to be part of the Post Production Pathways Program," said Yana Collins Lehman, Chair of the Post New York Alliance (PNYA). "The PNYA has tremendously enjoyed working with Commissioner Lopez, the staff at MOME and the NYC Department of Small Business Services to design a program that will supply our industry with the homegrown talent it needs. NYC has never been busier, and it's very satisfying to be able to keep the students we educate here, rather than losing them to other states, as has been the case in slower times. Creating jobs in Post Production has been the mission of the PNYA since its inception, and this Program will fill the jobs with talent trained very specifically to move seamlessly into our businesses and the wider post-production industry."

"We at Technicolor Postworks are excited to be a part of this important new program," said Rob DeMartin, Chief Operating Officer of Technicolor Postworks. "A more diverse workforce, filled with fresh talent and varied perspectives, is a huge boon to the industry as a whole. We're happy to work with MOME, the NYC Department of Small Business Services and our industry colleagues to help ensure the next generation of post-production professionals have everything they need to succeed right here in NYC."

The Post Production Pathways Program Advisory Committee members (in formation) include:

• Emmy-award Winner Sam Pollard (Spike Lee’s Mo’Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Girl 6, Clockers, Four Little Girls)
• Emmy-award Winner Mary Manhardt (Street Fight, American Teen)
• Academy Award Nominee Jean Tsien (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Scottsboro: An American Tragedy)
• Emmy-award Winner Julie Goldman (God Loves Uganda, Gideon’s Army, Sergio)
• Post New York Alliance, association of film and television post-production facilities and labor unions
• Technicolor Postworks, the largest post-production facility in New York
• Harbor Picture Company, picture and sound editing for feature film, television and commercial projects
• The Molecule, visual effects and motion graphics company for television and feature films

"The Made in New York" Training for Media Employees enabled us to send several of our employees to a wide range of classes at several schools to get skills related to their jobs including user experience design and project management," said Daniel Blank, Bureau Blank Founder. "It is a great program that helped us grow our team and a great way to show our employees that we are investing in their individual career growth. The City makes it easier for the small business owner to do this. Everybody wins."

"I am thrilled to be asked to participate in a program that can hopefully increase diversity in the film and television industry. Something that we constantly need to stay actively engaged in doing," said Editor Sam Pollard.