Startup goes blockbuster

RotoFactory is part of a cluster of production companies, animation studios and special effects shops around the Bay Area, which is quickly gaining a reputation as Hollywood North.

The startup is growing as Hollywood outsources its digital editing work, said Eric Christensen, RotoFactory's founder and CEO. While studios send many jobs to China and India, they're now turning to U.S. shops like RotoFactory because they do quick, quality work, Christensen said.

"We do the shot once and we do it right," said Christensen, 39, a digital artist and six-year veteran of George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic.

RotoFactory also gets jobs from other visual effects studios in the United States.

"There aren't enough companies in L.A. to handle all the work," said Marty Shindler, a former studio executive who now is an entertainment business consultant. "That creates a really good opportunity for companies like RotoFactory that have a good stable of people, do good work and can deliver on time and on budget."

Christensen opened RotoFactory in a southwest Santa Rosa business park in 2006. It provides rotoscope and digital paint production for feature films, TV shows, commercials and video games.

Rotoscoping lets filmmakers digitally isolate characters or objects from their surroundings in a frame of film. They can be placed in new backgrounds that have been photographed separately or created on a computer.

Digital paint artists use software to create or change colors, textures, shadows or reflections in a frame of film or video. They can erase unwanted items in the background of a shot, including wires, trees, poles and film crews.

Rotoscoping and digital painting are done after a film shoot, so filmmakers can clean up or enhance the footage.

In the past year, RotoFactory worked on "Enchanted," "College Road Trip," "The Kite Runner," "Rush Hour 3," "The Spiderwick Chronicles," "The Mist" and "Jumper," among others.

More recently, the business did visual effects for "The Love Guru" and "Get Smart," both slated for release next month.

The self-funded startup now is seeking $1.5 million from investors to expand into 3-D effects, Christensen said. It also wants to set up a business office in Los Angeles.

The company struggled to get established during its first two years, he said. RotoFactory scrambled for jobs during the 100-day Writers Guild of America strike, which halted work on film projects and cost the industry an estimated $2.5 billion.

"We took a hit with the writer's strike," said Christensen.

Still, RotoFactory made a profit in 2007 on sales in the high six figures, he said. The privately-held company does not disclose revenues or earnings.

Last year's "Rush Hour 3" marked the first time RotoFactory worked directly for a major studio and got a listing in the film credits. Now it's working directly with four studios, New Line, Paramount, Universal and Warner Brothers, Christensen said.

The company developed software that lets studios and other clients check the progress of RotoFactory's digital editing. The proprietary software has helped RotoFactory build business, Christensen said.

"It puts us into the room next door," he said.

The startup employs between a dozen and 30 digital artists, depending on the project.

Christensen went to Santa Rosa's Cardinal Newman High School and earned a film degree at San Francisco State University. As a digital artist at Industrial Light & Magic, he worked on "Mission Impossible III," "War of the Worlds," "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," among other films.

He decided to open his own visual effects business after ILM moved his division to San Francisco, stretching his daily commute from Santa Rosa.

Christensen is intent on keeping RotoFactory in Santa Rosa.

"I don't want to move to L.A," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com.