If you get the top talents in one field working under the same roof toward the same goals, business is bound to follow. Toybox and Manta Digital Sound and Picture, both part of Command Post and Transfer Corporation, have lost three of the country’s top colorists to Canada’s first transfer-only boutique, Notch, which opened in Toronto Oct. 25.

Gary Chuntz and Elaine Ford, formerly with Toybox, and Bill Ferwerda, formerly with Manta DSP, are now principals and part-owners at Notch. According to Chuntz, both rooms at their new facility have been booked solid since day one and will be full well into January.

Chuntz and Ferwerda sat in the Rocket pub at Church and Richmond Streets as long as 11 years ago discussing the possibility of starting their own transfer boutique and both are thrilled to have finally realized a longtime dream. ‘We just walk around with big grins on our faces now,’ Ferwerda says. ‘We’re lucky that we have a strong following in terms of the clients that have come along with us.’

Although rumors of a transfer-only facility have been floating around for some time, it has only been about a year since they seriously started developing Notch, which Chuntz says is not a long time considering the substantial financial investment they needed to raise.

The primary investors in Notch are Toronto post houses AXYZ, Panic and Bob, Crush and School, with minor private investment from The Partners’ Film Company head Don McLean.

‘They had been talking to a number of people besides ourselves to back them in this venture,’ says AXYZ partner John Stollar. ‘They just seem to have a good vision and a solid business plan and they look like a good risk to me.’

As for where this leaves Command Post, partner Andy Sykes says, ‘Our numbers and the financial models we have had over the years have included the Partners’ group of companies in our client base. Now our expectations are that we will not be counting on that business, but there certainly is a lot of work in the marketplace that is not affiliated [with Partners’].’

Stollar says the new transfer facility does not mean his company will become an exclusive client at Notch. ‘To us it is business as usual. We have a booking with [Command Post] as we speak.’

Command Post is responding with some big guns of its own, including a newcomer from Down Under. ‘If anybody thought that the Command Post and Transfer Corporation is out of the commercial market, we’ve just brought in one of the hottest commercial colorists in the world,’ says Mark Thorp, operations manager at Manta DSP.

Eric Whipp of Australia joins Manta DSP in December and, according to Thorp, comes with a long list of clients who say they’ll go anywhere to find him.

‘We’ve always corporately tried to go outside of our geography to bring in new people rather than always raiding from someone else or someone local,’ says Sykes. ‘It’s always good to bring in someone new because it’s a fresh perspective.’

Sykes says he is confident that between Whipp and Walt Biljan, colorist at Toybox, Command Post will generate new business, and he says he is not too concerned about competition from Notch.

The first two jobs Notch completed were an MSN spot through Panic and Bob and a Leons spot through Vaughn Whelan & Partners Advertising.

With 11 permanent staff, the facility combines state-of-the-art equipment with a roster of talent including Gerry Legros as general manager of the shop. Most recently, Legros worked at Calibre Digital Pictures where he was VP production.

Two Cintel C-Reality telecine units handle standard and high-definition using da Vinci color correctors. The facility also features an Edifis two-channel video and audio server, which can store up to five hours of uncompressed video.

-www.compt.com