With all the takeovers, mergers, bankruptcies and reorgs that have marked the Canadian post-production scene of late, few developments come as a surprise. One exception might be the news that Andy Sykes, VP sales and marketing at Toronto’s Toybox, had jumped ship to main rival Deluxe. The fact that Sykes was a cofounder and VP of Toybox parent company Command Post & Transfer, which Technicolor recently purchased, makes the move especially unexpected.

As of Sept. 1, Sykes, also a board member of production lobby group FilmOntario, quietly moved into his new office at Deluxe, located literally around the corner from Technicolor. Sykes, who in 1986 helped to launch Command, which went on to include the Toybox and alphacine facilities in Toronto and Vancouver, will serve as VP business development at Deluxe, a subsidiary of the U.K.’s Rank Group.

‘I was fortunate that I was able to start a company in 1986 and pass it along in the hands of Technicolor,’ Sykes says. ‘I’ve got a great new opportunity here at Deluxe’s business development, and it’s something I’ve always loved to do.’

Of Sykes’ departure, a spokesperson for Technicolor would only comment, ‘We wish him well.’

At the top of Sykes’ agenda at Deluxe will be ensuring that it is up and running on digital intermediates, the ability to perform film mastering in the digital domain before outputting back to film. In picking up Sykes, Deluxe gets an early booster of the DI process from his Command days, and it also recently acquired Hollywood digital lab EFILM, which local Deluxe brass recently visited. The shop looks to further entice Toronto’s major guest film productions with the consolidation of its extensive media management capabilities (originally housed in Don Mills, ON) under the same roof as its downtown sound and picture facility.

Two of the first productions that will test Deluxe’s DI capabilities are the George Romero zombie flick Land of the Dead and David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence.

As part of its reorganization, Deluxe recently let go of the majority of its remaining full-time sound-mixing staff. In keeping with a trend that began with amendments to the standard agreement between the Directors Guild of Canada and the CFTPA, Deluxe will deal with sound mixers in a freelance capacity going forward.

To many in the industry, Sykes had been the face of Command, which fell into a financial hole last year when the decline in local production, exacerbated by the SARS scare, coincided with a costly facility expansion. Technicolor finalized its acquisition of the firm this summer.

Sykes remained within the Technicolor ranks after the global post giant, owned by France’s Thomson, had taken over. But, after working within the new configuration for several months, he found it preferable to move on. One can imagine the difficulty in transitioning from being a partner in a firm to an employee. But Sykes says he is not bitter.

‘I left that place with a lot of great memories,’ he says. ‘I’m proud of what has happened over there, and it’s a very strong company with a lot of really good people.’

-www.bydeluxe.com