Property Acquisition;
IMS is currently located in Southampton, Pennsylvania, but has also had Studios consisting of shop space, studio/offices in Solebury/New Hope, Doylestown, Dublin, PA, Boston, MA and both Beverly Hills & Hollywood, CA.
The current operations are as reduced as possible, but are in great need of expansion.
An opportunity to expand the studio facilities into an additional 5K, or 10K, square feet has arisen. The window for this opportunity is extremely limited and I will need to capitalize such an expansion to the tune of 50K minimum. That number does not leave me any working capital, it is simply the required amount for acquisition of the space. More details will be provided when I do the budget.
But there is also another opportunity which is under review.
Southampton does not have very much open space available. The township is considered built out. However there are a number parcels available. One is located in one of the industrial districts, is raw land and would accommodate an reasonably sized studio compound, but is limited to the two or three acres and does not have room for expansion. There are also a few industrial buildings available, none of which are optimal.
I recently examined a parcel with an industrial building, a house, and additional land. I was surprised to find that this parcel could serve well as a studio compound, but more interesting than that is the fact that there is an adjacent parcel of ten acres which is also available, effectively making nearly twenty acres avaialble. This is under review, but will require substantial financing. Resources that I do not currently have available to me. Hence this posting is set down for the purpose of encouraging those resources to become available, as well as locating a Financial Manger/CFO for IMS.
The long term goal of a
Theatrical Development Centre could well be implemented at this location, even though to do so would be locating it in a densely populated area.
History;
Years ago IMS had a scene shop, offices, and a rental stage set up in 2500 sq ft of the rear building of where my current offices are. My intention at the time, was to create a rental stage for photography, film, television and a rehearsal space for musicians. I was well on my way to having the lighting installed and I was doing advertising, modeling photography, and creating display sign-age while I was setting up the facility.
I had numerous requests to use the space for "slams" which I refused and I had come to the conclusion that I did not want to operate the facility during late night hours, which would have been required for the rehearsal space. So I eliminated that potential source of income. My further intention was to set up a peanut gallery so that try-outs could happen and there would be an audience for television programs. I was beginning to build a control booth for the stage area when another opportunity came up.
I had this shop set-up for around nine months, when, at their request, The New Hope Arts Commission asked me to become their Technical Director and help them to survive a major shift in the management of the organization. I took the position, but unfortunately discovered, too late that it did not pay sufficiently, nor in a timely manner, and did not allow me enough time to maintain or further develop the stage facility I was building.
In addition to these factors, I was using half of the building on a sub-let which was not working out, since I was paying too much for the space and the "landlord", who was the other business in the building, was not compatible with what I was doing and causing me grief. I also had issues with the Fire Marshall, who was telling me that I had to install a sprinkler system and install additional fire exits. The cost of operation became too much for me to handle and so I closed down the shop.
Current Status;
As it turns out, our family owns the building and our current tenant is moving out. That leaves 10K sq ft open and available as of January of 2011. Since IMS is intending on producing "The Gnomes of New Hope" as a television special, a marionette show, and a Broadway musical, this is an excellent opportunity to set-up that operation in a most convenient situation. My trucks and current office are locate at the same address and one of my jobs is to oversee the maintenance on these buildings.
So it is that bringing my supplies out of storage, setting up the scenery shop for construction of the sets for The Gnomes, building the marionettes, manufacturing numerous ancillary products for this show, expanding the offices, setting up the animation studio, expanding editing rooms, and employing production personnel to implement this and other projects is a good thing to be doing right now.
In order to do this, the effort will need to be financed and a CFO will need to be located. A long time goal I have had for IMS is to restructure the operation with a more defined and functional corporate ladder. This will need to be the case if the management of the "Gnomes of New Hope" is to remain in-house and reach it's full potential in the marketplace.
In addition to "The Gnomes...", there are numerous other theatrical & cinema projects in pre-production or on the shelf, but there are also a number of product lines that have passed thru the prototype stages and linger on being ready for market. Issues with space for inventory, manufacturing and assembly, as well as sufficient working space to implement packaging and guarantee fulfillment, have caused the delay in attempting to market these products. Expansion would open up the income potential for these projects as well.
Further discussion on this subject will ensue.
