The Post New York Alliance (PNYA) is an association of film and television post production facilities, labor unions and individuals operating in New York. Its members coalesce around the belief that a unified industry presents the post production community better opportunity to develop and promote public policy that benefits the film and television industry as a whole. Here, PNYA chair Yana Collins Lehman and board member Kim Spikes reflect on 2020.
Photo (L-R): Yana Collins Lehman and Kim Spikes
Kim Spikes: “It’s been a challenging year, but the Post New York Alliance has emerged stronger. When the pandemic struck, the board met weekly to create a platform for our community, including our weekly panel discussions, Post Break, to keep our members informed and maintain a sense of community. It gave people who were working from home a place to gather, to communicate, to contribute, and to find out what others were doing and how they were faring. It was nice to have all the facilities and larger PNYA community bond together and help each other out.”
Yana Collins Lehman: “PNYA has been very inclusive. Whether you are a New Yorker or not, we’ve welcomed you into the conversation. And, it’s been good for the industry because, now we are able to let the wider world know that New York remained open and operational during the ‘shut down.’ New York shifted to remote workflows overnight, and stayed safe. Now that productions are starting to shoot again, New York post facilities and post talent are ready to complete them.”
Kim Spikes: “New York’s post community has been incredibly resilient. Companies found ways to go remote and do whatever else was necessary to meet the challenge of the pandemic. At Sim, New York, we had to pivot the entire building in four days. Initially, we wondered how that was possible, but when you have to do something, you get it done. And it turned out that going remote has presented a lot of new opportunities. We support a range of hybrid workflows depending on the clients’ needs and comfort levels. Some prefer to come into the facility to work, while others are 100 percent remote.”
Yana Collins Lehman: “The entertainment industry as a whole has had to adapt to the restrictions placed on our way of doing business. My company, Trevanna Post, provides post production accounting services. This shut down taught us that we don’t necessarily need to be in our midtown office to do our jobs. We do miss each other and want to be together, but working from home has increased our personal flexibility. Our working parents can spend more time with their kids and don’t have to commute. I think making permanent some of these changes will help us attract diverse talent who value flexibility.”
Kim Spikes: “We expect the rebound from this, when it comes, will happen fast. So, we are preparing and planning for that moment. We will be ready. This is a great city and the post community is strong.”
Yana Collins Lehman: “I feel strongly that companies that stick it out will find better times ahead. I expect a massive boom by the fourth quarter of 2021. The Post Alliance is committed to building workforce pipelines of emerging talent into the post production industry, because we are going to need talent to do the amount of work that’s coming. I am very optimistic. New York will be busier than it’s ever been.”
Yana Collins Lehman is the chair of the Post New York Alliance, as well as president & COO, Trevanna Post, Inc.
Kim Spikes is a PNY board member, and partner/vice president of Post, Sim, New York.