Chainsaw opens first European post facility in Romania

California-based film and video production services company Chainsaw has opened its first European post-production facility in Bucharest, Romania. “The success of the movie Cold Mountain and other TV and movie projects raised Romania’s profile as an excellent place to make and produce beautiful films, commercials and TV for far less money,’ Chainsaw founder and president Bill DeRonde said. ‘The costs in Romania are half of what they are in London and a third less than those in Budapest or Prague. Romania has become the new Prague.”

Chainsaw Europe’s vice president of sales, Radu Butufei, told ScreenDaily.com that the company’s interest in Romania was sparked by Miramax’s $80m-plus Cold Mountain, which shot in Transylvania in 2004. ‘Eversince Cold Mountain was here, the market pretty much exploded, so that’swhy they saw the opportunity to invest into this market.’ Butufei said.

The news comes as Francis Ford Coppola announced that he would shoot his first feature in eight years, Youth Without Youth, in Romania. The film is an adaptation of Mircea Eliade’s novella and stars Tim Roth.

Butufei said that Roth had recently dropped in on Chainsaw’s Bucharest facility for an ADR session for the DeLaurentiis production Decameron: Angels & Virgins, directed by David Leland, but could not confirm whether Chainsaw would be involved in the Coppola project. ‘I know that one of the stockholders in Chainsaw met with Francis Ford Coppola, but I cannot tell you at this point whether we are going to be involved with his movie here in Romania or not,’ he said.

Butufei said Chainsaw Europe has completed post work for advertising firms Ogilvy & Mather, Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett, and has drawn post-production work from Los Angeles, London, Moscow and elsewhere. ‘We’re working on several Turkish projects and we’re looking into the Russian market as well,’ Butufei said.

Chainsaw is touting its facility as the only studio in Eastern Europe to offer both state-of-the-art digital post-production facilities for film, television and commercials and a highly-experienced staff that includes both U.S. and European professionals.

Chainsaw Europe will also offer production project management, from hiring and quality control of local crews to the booking of talent, studio space, music and other production needs. The Bucharest studio boasts Romania’s first Avid Symphony on-line editing tool, the newest HD2 Pro Tools audio system, 3-D capability and internet connectivity capable of sending uncompressed video around the world.

Chainsaw Europe is hoping to lure producers and directors by offering complimentary airfares to and from Bucharest, private trainers, a cook, drivers and masseurs.

In Los Angeles, Chainsaw has done the post-production for the last four Academy Awards shows, Fox’s American Idol, MTV Music Awards and the recent Shelter from the Storm.