Louisiana Media Services (LMS) & Louisiana Media Productions (LaMP)

http://www.lampbr.com/

Jordan Kessler and his film industry partners all moved themselves and families from Los Angeles to the Baton Rouge area to start Louisiana Media Services - a post-production company – in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. From there, the company blossomed in unheard-of fashion, developing a business expansion model and an employment structure unique in the industry.

Kessler had worked in Louisiana already, doing production for NuImage, and was able to bring several of his Los Angeles vendors to Louisiana to form LMS. As post-production work grew, their clients began asking them to do entire productions as well and LaMP was formed in 2006. The company is now working on its sixth production in a year. This evolution has been so successful that the partners are developing a casting company to feed the production projects.

"There is the chance for people with big, innovative ideas to create something so much more quickly here. Louisiana is a great launching pad. The post-Katrina environment is very conducive to doing business," says Jordan Kessler, NEED TITLE, Louisiana Media Services and Louisiana Media Productions.

The majority of the company's employees are Louisiana residents, many lured home after spending years as ex-patriots. Now there is consistent work for them in Louisiana thanks to LaMP's unusual employment arrangement. The company hired production crew members as full-time, permanent employees on one-year contracts. This helps preclude typical industry workforce issues of short-term crew members moving on to other companies once a production is completed.

LaMP and LMS are also working with the City of Baton Rouge to train young adults to and feed the workforce pipeline in Louisiana's continuously growing entertainment industry.

Although formed prior to the inception of the motion picture infrastructure incentive program, LMS and LaMP are perfect examples of the successful breeding ground being nurtured by both this and the production incentive program, administered by Louisiana Economic Development.