Back in 1986, Ladi Horak, a film editor who cut CTV's Live It Up!, opened the doors to Toronto's CreativePOST in a 580-square-foot rented space in downtown Toronto.

His goal at the time was to provide frame-accurate offline editing using the then-revolutionary CMX 330A editing system and two JVC 850 3/4" VTRs. Even then, Horak had a keen understanding of how cutting-edge post technology could benefit customers.

"Back then, people said that offline video editing was fine for a rough cut, but that was all," Horak explains. "That's because non-time-code video editing was always a few frames off... But the CMX allowed me to do fine-cuts-only editing in offline mode, with the edit decisions being saved to an eight-inch floppy disk for later online work. I could assemble a half-hour show in six hours. This saved my customers substantial time and money."

This kind of attention to clients' needs has served Horak and CreativePOST well over the past 20 years.

Today, the firm occupies larger quarters in Toronto and at an Ottawa facility called Creative Digital Media. Between the two locations, the company occupies 20,000 square feet. And beyond analog standard-definition editing and dubbing, CreativePOST today provides multimedia services including web design, video encoding, web-based video delivery, and interactive CD programming.

Also part of CreativePOST's Toronto headquarters is The Studio Upstairs, specializing in offline and online HD post, VFX, and broadcast design. Upstairs has six online HD suites and a Dolby E encoding/screening theater, and an equipment arsenal comprising of Quantel iQ and Pablo, Discreet Inferno, Flame and Smoke, and a range of Avid nonlinear editing and finishing systems, including Symphony HD.

Horak is a survivor in a post-production community that has seen meteoric growth and then contraction, and, for some shops, takeover or collapse. He initially pleads ignorance as to why CreativePOST has been one of the lucky ones.

"I wish I knew," he quips. "A hundred and fifty companies have gone belly-up beside me during the last two decades, while we are still in business."

Toronto's DocuTainment Plus Productions (Ice Storm: The Salé and Pelletier Affair, The Last Voyage of the Empress), a CreativePOST client since 2000, suggests some reasons for the shop's longevity.

"They offer a fair price and great customer service," says Joe Woodward, DocuTainment's executive in charge of production. "They're like a one-stop shop. I take my raw video to CreativePOST, and they take care of all my editing for me."

Horak has a real sense of vision, adds DocuTainment executive producer Garry Blye. "[He] stays on top of technological trends and keeps CreativePOST's facilities at the cutting edge."

Gear aside, Horak brings it back to the human element.

"I've been told a few times by clients that when they call CreativePOST, there's always someone available to pick up the phone and help them out, rather than leaving them stuck in voice mail," Horak says.