When I asked Scott Jonas, of Jonas Jensen Studios, why he and his partner chose to move their business into the neighborhood, he gave me the most memorable answer I've ever heard.
"Fremont's phenomenally casual," Scott explained.
He thinks his clients, some of them performers with a certain magnitude of stardom, can comfortably walk, shop and dine here without problems. I agree.
While they finish converting the former Tyrell's dog food factory into the Northwest's only true sound stage, Jonas Jensen already has projects happening in the studios.
As paint dried on the walls, it served as home for the Washington portion of the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Jerry Lewis Telethon, which was broadcast live on KCPQ-TV over Labor Day weekend.
The perfect creative space
Northwest natives, Scott and Mike built up their business in the South End (most recently Auburn) and around the world. Then they decided they needed the city and its infrastructure: easily accessible roads, airports, hotels and restaurants. They wanted a comfortable place where people can step out to relax and refresh between takes.
Scott credits a smart real-estate agent with careful listening and bright thinking that led to the slightly bedraggled and still pungent factory. Scott liked it on first sight. He appreciated the "creative" space and the unbelievable dimensions that allow for flexibility on any kind of project - from small to enormous.
They've worked tirelessly fixing every nook and cranny since moving in. They've kept some details, including reinstalling a set of circular stairs as access to the catwalk.
Another set they stored in the cannery cookers - the "hole," as Scott calls it, beneath Studio A - until they find the perfect place for them.
All in the details
As for the "hole," Scott sees all kinds of possibilities in such an unusual detail.
"The building has some interesting design features," he explained. "You'd really have to go out of your way to want them. You couldn't have designed them from the ground up" in a new building.
And you wouldn't either. Who puts grain silos in an audio-visual recording studio?
These details made it possible to create a broad spectrum of options that attract artists, and management, for an extremely wide variety of projects. They can produce commercials, motivational videos, television shows and movies.
Scott sees a great potential for musical artists, especially those on their first nationwide tour, to record DVDs and videos here. They offer 24 video lines for conferencing, a 65-seat high-definition theater and a re-creation of Pioneer Square on the waiting-room walls.
Studio C provides an intimate setting for interviews and close-up work.
Studio B, where the temporary control room for the telethon setup, will accommodate commercials and television programs. "B" is a large space, but then you enter "A." Think of the largest space you've ever occupied, quadruple it and you've got Studio A. It can take anything - performances, videos and movie sets - as well as offering an enormous cyclorama screen.
Potentially, projects can happen simultaneously in all three studios, an awesome undertaking that gives me a headache to consider coordinating but only energizes Scott.
An influential business
Jonas Jensen Studios have operated for more than 20 years, since 1981, with customers coast to coast and globally. They've got worldwide resources, a solid reputation and clout with a huge network of contacts. They know how to get clients, and they also know the craftsmen - from carpenters to makeup artists - they need to get a show done.
More than that, I'm impressed with the way they've made contacts within the neighborhood. Local businesses like Real Soda and The Production Network already have a presence in the studios, and Jonas Jensen plans to build on it.
In Auburn, the studios averaged business in the seven-digits annually. With the larger facility and the wider potential, Scott estimates tripling their business and their impact within their industry.
With their success, he plans for the neighborhood, and neighborhood businesses, to benefit.
While the Jonas Jensen name carries influence well beyond Fremont's boundaries, Scott wants a local landmark name for the studio - something like "Fremont Studios" that could become a brand, one easily identifiable around the region.
"It's such a winning scenario," he said of Fremont and their relocation, "a marriage made in heaven." It isn't the way I'd say it, but I agree.
Kirby Lindsay skips, jumps and twirls her life away in Fremont. She welcomes your comments at fremont@oz.net.
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