The Syndicate is a ‘minimalist post-production company’ that believes in maximising budgets by putting the money in the right place. It took a pandemic to prove to one of our country’s top storytellers, Nic Goodwin, that what he had been suspecting for years was in fact true; there must be more efficient and creative ways of doing post-production. In fact, there must be ways that don’t even require wearing pants. We met with Nic (over Zoom of course, because real-life meetings are so March 2020) to find out more.

Doing more for less

Nic had spent many years theorising about company models and how to provide value for clients in increasingly difficult economic times. But less is now even lesser. A countrywide lockdown drove Nic to formalise a system where the full post process could still be provided, in a flexible, agile way and at the right price. That’s when he decided to officially open the virtual doors of his new post-production company, The Syndicate, and offer a range of creative workflows and freelance talent to the industry.

Choose creative value

Nic: After chatting to many producers and directors over the years, I learned that there was a real need to streamline the post-production quoting structures and increase value. The desire to get more of the budget on screen informed my decision to create a minimalised offering. If the budget can find its way to the talent and craft involved as opposed to the admin and frills that surround it, it means that the work won’t suffer.

Use the budgets where it matters the most

Nic: Everyone at The Syndicate is freelance. The agency or production company’s point of contact is a freelance producer and they will manage the entire post process from start to finish. The Syndicate does not have brick and mortar offices or edit suites. With virtually no fixed overheads, we can get quotes as lean as possible and make budgets work harder where it really matters – collaborating with the best post artists in South Africa. And it works! The feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive and we’ve hit the ground running. In our first month of business, we’ve been crafting quotes for production companies and agencies. We’ve been fortunate to work on some really exciting TVCs, content pieces and pilots for two Netflix documentary series. Each job has been a custom-designed workflow and has worked beautifully, which is to be expected with talented post artists and oversight from an experienced producer.

Create your own post journey

Nic: Finally, the post-production industry has options! We can custom design workflows to suit any budget and creative requirements. Each job is designed according to our clients’ needs by combining our 3 approaches to post-production: