Different lens, same strategy.
Jim Jannard, founder of Foothill Ranch-based sunglasses maker Oakley Inc., is working to grow his latest venture—digital movie cameras—with some aggressive expansion aimed at winning over Hollywood.
His latest move: buying a historic television studio.
Last month, Lake Forest-based Red Digital Cinema Camera Co., which Jannard started in 2005, bought the former Ren-Mar Studios on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood for undisclosed terms.
Brokers estimate the studio sold for $25 million.
The company already owns land in Nevada where it’s pushing plans for a movie studio and camera plant.
The Hollywood studio—now renamed Red Studios Hollywood—has five remodeled stages, TV production facilities, production offices and rehearsal studios.
The studio is an icon that once was home to DesiLu Productions and “I Love Lucy.”
Red Digital is using one of the stages to demonstrate its digital movie camera and for company events, Jannard said in an e-mail.
The media shy Jannard declined to comment further for this story.
Next week, the company is set to hold Red Day to show off its latest high-resolution cameras at the studio.
Jannard, a photography buff, is looking to change the way movies and TV shows are made by selling directors and cinematographers on his cameras, which tout quality comparable to or better than film cameras with lower production costs.
Films shot on Red Digital cameras include Steven Soderbergh’s last five movies and some of Peter Jackson’s recent “The Lovely Bones.” They’re also used on several TV shows such as “Southland.”
But getting directors to switch from film isn’t easy.
The company has sold about 6,000 cameras, Red Digital Chief Executive Ted Schilowitz recently told Variety.
The Red One camera, which debuted in 2006, starts at about $17,500, about the same price it costs to rent a traditional film camera for one month. Next week, Red Digital plans to debut the Epic, at about $40,000, and the Scarlet, which starts at about $5,000.
Jannard, whose wealth is estimated at about $2.5 billion, is believed to be funding the venture himself. His fortune largely comes from Oakley, which was bought by Italy’s Luxottica Group SPA for $2.1 billion in 2007.
Red Studios Hollywood now is serving as a hub for Red Digital’s customer support team, known as the Bomb Squad.
The team is set to provide troubleshooting for productions using Red Digital cameras in the Hollywood and Burbank areas. Before, cameras had to be brought to Lake Forest to be fixed.
Red Digital expects to continue other operations at the studio, including leasing out the lot and sound stages to production companies, independent filmmakers, TV shows, commercials and video game productions.
The studio was founded in 1915 as a backlot for Metro Studios, before the company became part of Los Angeles-based Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
The studio’s name has changed over the years from Motion Pictures Studios in the 1940s, to DesiLu in the early 1950s and DesiLu Cahuenga Studios in the late 1950s.
Until 1998, the studio was the headquarters of Manhattan Beach-based David E. Kelley Productions where TV shows including “Chicago Hope,” “Picket Fences,” “The Practice” and “Ally McBeal” were filmed.
Jannard’s planning a big project on land he has in Las Vegas, where he has a home.
The local planning commission last year granted initial approval for an 80-acre Red Digital campus.
Jannard wants to build a camera factory, sound studio and homes for himself, actors and others from the movie industry.
The project is still in the planning stages.
The Nevada Development Authority helped Jannard find the 80 acres for his proposed campus and is helping the company obtain tax breaks.
The campus, when completed, could create 1,000 to 2,000 jobs.
It’s unclear if Red Digital will move its headquarters from Lake Forest to Nevada once the facility is complete.
