Newfoundland-based Best Boy Entertainment announced Monday that the company is opening a new film and television production studio, with a grand opening set for Wednesday, Jan. 18.

The film and television production company expanded last February, adding an international TV distribution company and interactive content hub.

Ed J. Martin, Best Boy Entertainment producer and VP operations, says it’s always been part of Best Boy’s business approach to keep everything in-house – and with the company’s recent expansion, the next logical step was to build a production studio to house existing projects, and make room for more.

“It was really born out of necessity,” says Martin. “We were doing bigger and bigger productions that required building sets and green screen capability.”

“We were using smaller spaces around town, and we thought, ‘We’re doing a lot of stuff.’ Just based on our own productions alone, we felt it was a financially viable thing to take on,” he explains, adding that the hope is that the film and TV community in nearby Mount Pearl will look to using the studio for projects as well.

The new studio increases Best Boy’s capacity to take on different types of projects “immensely,” Martin says and notes that Best Boy will take two of its current productions, Mickey’s Farm, which is shot in front of a green screen, and Pet ER, to the studio.

The 6000 square-foot building will have a 90 x 14 green screen, 35 x 40 foot grid, dimming system, lighting board and will be fully sound-proofed. Martin adds that Best Boy will also purchase motion-capture equipment and software, which will serve not only the company’s film and television production division, but the company’s interactive and gaming division, too.

He says the studio will be adding jobs – it employs 33 full-time staff currently – and says the first order of business is hiring a studio manager.

“Then there’s the secondary jobs that [the studio] creates, and that increase the capacity of the organization to take on more projects,” he says, noting they’ll add four people to the studio’s general management team over the next few months as well. “We’ve grown quite quickly.”

 Photo: Pet ER / Best Boy Entertainment