Macprofessionals: Taking the film industry digital

By Stacey DuFord

The Macprofessionals building in Novi is the calm eye of the storm that is the film industry hitting Michigan.  The 20,000 square foot facility, which the company is quickly outgrowing after just two years, is stylish, efficient, and filled with really smart people who want to help build the infrastructure needed to keep the burgeoning film and broadcast industry in Michigan.

“Relationships come together and make industry much stronger,” says Training Director Jon Rutherford, one of the company’s earliest employees.  “Michigan has a great brain trust.  We want to keep it here.”

Macprofessionals, started in 2000 by owner Lisa Glush, is all about relationships.  The company is focused on serving and supporting the Apple Macintosh platform needs of its impressive client list (Chicago Public Schools, NBC Universal, and Scripps Howard Broadcasting are just a few) and in 2008 was awarded the Apple Platform of the Year award.  In 2009 it was named one of Michigan’s Top 50 Companies to Watch by the Edward Lowe Foundation – a designation awarded to companies who are showing significant growth despite the recession.  Providing expertise in nine distinct divisions from education to professional services, Macprofessionals has garnered awards from Apple and the other companies and vendors it serves by focusing on the relationships.  “We set a very high bar for ourselves,” says Rutherford, an Apple certified trainer who has worked in visual communications for 25 years.  “We take the professional part of our name quite seriously.”

Macprofessionals employees have moved into the company from diverse backgrounds that help reinforce those important relationships with the clients.  Cindy Hopkins with the education division used to work with the West Bloomfield Schools.  Rutherford spent over 12 years as a designer at GM.  Macprofessionals works to solve their clients’ problems before the client even realizes they have them.  “We don’t tell people it’s not going to be crazy,” says Dean Norton, Director of the Tech Department.  “We just tell them we’ll be there with them.”  Technicians frequently visit client’s sites to provide any needed support or training and can also manage projects remotely.  Applying their vast experience across all divisions they can eliminate the unexpected for their clients.

But what does that have to do with Michigan’s film industry?

In the early 2000s Glush saw the video and broadcast industry moving to digital and started focusing a good part of her company on the data management aspect of digital; working with equipment rental companies and sending employees to the west coast to provide digital asset management solutions, training, and support.  Moving images from film to digital reduced cost, but often slowed down the process as large amounts of data had to be downloaded then stored.  Macprofessionals worked with their clients to provide a faster, safer way to move and save the digital images.  For major production studios Macprofessionals provides The Vault, a stand-alone mobile storage facility designed to work with RED cameras.  High resolution footage is quickly removed, saved, and backed-up on The Vault so the hard drive can be returned to the camera and the crew can get back to work.  The emphasis is on speed and protection with images backed up in at least three different places and more info about each file can be added from a remote source like a laptop or even the director’s iPhone.  A Data Management Technician (DMT) and training are provided as well.  “We’ve been doing it all over the country for years,” says Rutherford.  “People here don’t know what they need yet.  We know what they need.”   The next step in this technology – digital fingerprinting – will make it nearly impossible for footage to be pirated as data will be tracked throughout every step in the filmmaking process.  (At the very least, Christian Bale would know the exact moment his leaked tirades found their way onto YouTube.)

Their experience working with community colleges and universities in the education division has naturally led to working with them to meet the need for the talent the state’s growing new industry will require.  Macprofessionals has the training and equipment necessary to create mobile production classrooms and also offers classes on site.  A Final Cut Pro class in the state-of-the-art training room at the Novi facility runs from 9-5 for three days and provides the training and testing required to start working in broadcast or one of the new production studios going up in Allen Park and Pontiac.  Live remote interactive training is also offered as of May 2009 and Macprofessionals technicians also provide training and answer questions on the Creative COW (Communities of the World) web site.  While Final Cut Pro (FCP) is not the only editing program utilized in the film industry, Rutherford sees a move towards tapeless workflows, and FCP “fits right into the needs of this.  We’re also seeing a larger demand for people who can handle the data management side in the film industry.”

This training is for everyone; from amateurs to pros.  “We start everyone at the

same level,” says Rutherford.  “Though basic computer familiarity is certainly helpful, we think anyone who is motivated can learn. And we’re going to continue to see a need for these skills as the [film] industry in Michigan continues to evolve and mature.”

Macprofessionals

25775 Meadowbrook Road

Novi, MI 48375

248.893.0738

Jon Rutherford, Director of Training

Mike Szumlinksi, Corporate Sales Manager

Nancy Kelly, Education Manager

Charlie Grover, Lead Trainer

Dean Haratsaris, White Board Instruction

Steven Mozurewich, Technician

Lisa Glush, Owner

Dean Norton, Director of Tech Department

Share Link: