Skyline Productions, which normally brings the weekly TV Mass from Phoenix’s cathedral into thousands of Arizona homes, instead welcomed viewers and supporters to its new abode.
The July 26 open house at its new facility, 4914 E. McDowell Road in the Arcadia Corporate Business Park, was a chance to get behind the scenes of Skyline’s studio, post production area and production truck.
It’s the latter that is likely most familiar to Ss. Simon and Jude parishioners. The production truck is the hub that has brought more than 400 Sunday Masses live into Catholic homes via television. It’s aired on KAZTV 7/Cable 13 and streamed live online. More than 65,000 across Arizona plus viewers in 900 cities across 100 countries regularly tune in.
The Catholic-owned company is also responsible for “Catholics Matter,” a magazine style program where Fr. Rob Clements discusses with a guest topics and issues affecting the Church and diocese. It airs following the TV Mass, time permitting. The studio where it’s taped, which also features a 30-foot green screen and white, 25-foot curved wall to suggest unlimited space, was a key stop during the open house.
The rest of the facility features an upscale cafe-style reception area, offices and editing bay. Large canvases documenting projects on-location decorate the back walls with older models of film and video equipment filling the shelves.
Skyline Productions moved its headquarters from near downtown Mesa to east Phoenix earlier this year. Joe Reynolds, owner and creative director for both Skyline Productions and Saint Kolbe Productions — a nonprofit that produces content for Faith and Life Television, an Internet television station — said the move only added about 500 additional square feet but offered an improved layout.
“It’s the little things, honestly, for us,” Reynolds said.
They were able to make the whole studio offer high definition quality, a $100,000 upgrade. The production truck used for the TV Mass went HD last fall.
“It’s made a huge difference just in the quality of the Mass,” Reynolds said.
That gave skyline a chance to update the graphics that open and close the liturgy and offer better quality for replays online, he said. The location was better too, catering to clients in other parts of the Valley and out-of-state clients.
Oregon Catholic Press, for example, works with Skyline four times a year to create “The Commons,” a video podcast featuring interviews with the latest Catholic artists for OCP’s SpiritandSong.com. They’re headed to Phoenix this month for the latest recording.
The new space also offers a larger lot to store the production truck. That eases logistics when loading and unloading equipment into the truck every week for the live TV Mass that also airs online.
“More and more people are wanting to do live webcasts,” Reynolds said.
Corporations, especially are inquiring about live stream capabilities. Skyline has received a lot of requests to offer live web streaming out of the studio. The 21-year-old company is also responsible for the “Footprints of God” DVD series and other pilgrimage documentaries, the City of Phoenix and a recent admissions video for Seton Catholic Preparatory in Chandler.
