Manifesto

This collection of thoughts, practices, and principles are what built Transform and continues to guide us. We are passionate about the business and craft of post-production, and we wear our beliefs about it proudly.
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A large majority of these are inspired, directly or indirectly, by 37signals, Ray Dalio’s Principles, and our work with Departure.us - to them we are very grateful.
Craft
  1. Doing good work for its own sake
    We approach post-production from a craftsman’s perspective. Our motivation is inherent in the work, our art is in the balance of resources, stakeholders, and quality, and our expression is in doing it well.
  2. Finish Strong
    So much time, energy, and money goes into a production, we owe it to the project to give the same amount of care and attention to Finishing - the process from picture lock to delivery. Our Post-Sup is directly involved in the finish on every project, and our workflows are built to maximize flexibility.
  3. V1 NOT Rough Cut
    It is always our preference for the first thing our clients see to be polished. This gives the editor/colorist/etc the best opportunity to present their creative take on the work. Oftentimes rough-cuts end up being counter productive and instill doubt in the work. Polished V1s take more time up front but pay off over the course of the project.
  4. Crew Independence
    The web of exclusivity agreements, loan outs, regions, etc is convoluted and inefficient. We hire independent crew for each project providing more choice for our clients and greater freedom and flexibility for the crew.
  5. Don't bake it down
    Don't render out an effect or a creative decision until you absolutely have to or are delivering the final products. You'll spend more time upfront conforming, organizing, exporting, etc, but having the ability to change a creative decision any point at full quality is almost always worth the tradeoff.
Value
  1. Profit Motive
    The Film industry is especially good at losing money. Growth is electric, but profits are elusive. We take an econ-101 approach: Make more than you spend. It’s the responsible way to be reliable and take care of customers, employees, and crew over the long haul.
  2. Money On Screen
    We like to ask ourselves “Will this make the project better?” We’d rather spend budget on time with artists and not margin to cover overhead.
  3. Blind Bidding
    Bidding should be a cooperative process not a battle to be won. If we know what a client’s budget is we can make all the nuanced trade-off decisions to suit the specific project. Blind bids lead to more inefficiencies and miscommunication.
  4. Large Luxury Facilities
    At best they are a good sales tool, but more often than not they mean that the business must demand a large margin to support that overhead. With the tech that exists today, the central office is not necessary and we would rather pass those savings on to our customers, or spend the money in ways that translate to the screen.
  5. Small Team
    You can do big things with small teams, but it’s hard to do small things with big teams. And small is often plenty…. -37signals
Life
  1. North of Fair
    A lot of our work comes down to negotiating and operating in gray areas. When things aren’t black and white we look for solutions that are “north of fair”. In our experience most respond in-kind and we gain something even more special than money - mutual caring, respect, and commitment.
    See Ray Dalio's Principles
  2. On Coolness
    We chose film & post-production for the love of the craft. We try not to get too caught up in matters of image, branding, and coolness. Our interest in working with people stems from who they are and not what they like. We’re all cool in our own ways.
  3. After 6pm
    You may not hear from us. If it’s an emergency, we will handle it. But, odds are, whatever you’re emailing us about as we’re having dinner with our families can be easily addressed at 8:30am the next morning. If you’re worried about waiting until the next morning
  4. Supporting Families
    We love what we do and care about who we work with, but we don’t call our company a “family”. When a business calls itself a family what that means is they expect sacrifice. Sacrificing for your “work family” usually means staying late, joining calls on vacation, etc. Work is meant to support families, not be one, so we protect our lives outside of work.
  5. Burnout
    We avoid it at all costs. Non-stop whatever-it-takes work burns people out in the long run and doesn’t even produce great work in the short term.