Check out
 |
| A Dragon puppet that was redesigned and reconstructed in the IMS Puppet Shop |
I have posted some thoughts about the expansion of IMS and will continue the discussions on that site. Keep in mind that I also have a blog called "IMS Producing Partners", which is a membership site for our investors and vested business partners, requiring permission to view because it contains classified material.
As it turns out, the opportunity to expand is before me and doing so seems likely. Such an expansion, will be in regard to opening up opportunities to produce the Broadway Musical, Dramatic and Cinema (which includes Episodic Television) versions of "The Gnomes of New Hope" (including The Gnomic Tales), "Nunc Licet", and " Am Alpha & Omega". Of course, these are only three of the numerous other projects that are "on-the-bench".
One of the projects in the studio is to set-up the green screen stage 20'w x 16'd, with upstage and wing space that closely matches (the working space of) The Bucks County Playhouse (and other small theatre houses). I have now concluded to add a fifty seat "test audience" gallery. With the expansion opportunity comes two possibilities. Of course these are contingent upon renovations to the building, but my thinking is to install a sound studio, because we will need to be recording a pit orchestra for the gnomes and to record the songs in a studio anyway. I already have an array of recording equipment and I am running Digital Performer 3 thru 9, along with Mach 5 and Reason, so that will serve for all mixing and digital orchestrations quite well. We only need the right sound proof environment, which is really a minor aspect of that scenario. I do have an excellent design for the recording studio, which will also serve as a rehearsal space and will basically match the size of the (green screen) stage (less the wing/upstage space. So that is basically in the drafting stage of design/budgeting.
Another opportunity is to set-up a printing operation to meet the needs of the Illustrated Storybooks and that would give us better and more cost effective on-demand capabilities. The real issue there is that in order to bring the price down, when using a service vendor, the production quantities need to be high. Those high quantities require high outlay. For now we seek on-demand capabilities, which of course, we do have with service vendors, but using outside sources bring a plethora of issue (that can become problems). I do believe installing a printing operation is a key element to being effective. This is not only for the books sold to the public, allowing printing quantities on-demand, but also internal operations requires publishing and distributing scrips and musical scores, not to mention management documents. So that would be a practical expansion of IMS Publishing, a division of Image of the Mind Studios.
In addition to those opportunities, such an expansion will give us more office space, where we can improve our Production Management, A/V Editing Suite and Photo Stock Library capabilities, set-up the Animation Studio, increase our metal working capabilities with a Prototype Shop and move our Puppetry and Animatronics operation into a new space and kick it up into a higher gear.
It's a challenge and a risk, but it's worth it. Obviously the cash flow needs to increase. I expect, in one degree, to do that thru licensing. Keep that in mind if you are part of an organization that participates in producing and utilizes Licensing.
I am certainly interested in speaking with anybody who would like to participate and add talent to what I have described here. But I will add that the people who do come to contribute, need to be self-starters, who want to be committed to Image of the Mind Studios as an operation, with an eye on the long term. I do not want any "flash in the pan" situations to occur. That is too distracting and counterproductive. I've seen far too many wifty, non-committal, people who don't know what they want, in my years as a Theatre and Film Artist. I would be looking to involve dedicated, talented people who do know what they want and how to get it and how to apply that for the benefit of IMS as an organization, not just their own advancement.
IMS is a growth opportunity, not a stepping stone.
The IMS Virtual Studio will serve as the hub for other posts in this regard.
AG 🎭 🎬 🎼 🎤 📷 📺
