NewEnglandFilm.com

Quixote Studios in Allston had their grand opening on November 11th, and a week later the office space at the front was not quite furnished yet, looking a little bit like a broad, blank canvas waiting to be filled. Designed for still and film work, the studios were lined with Insul-Quilt for sound insulation, just as in many facilities, and the walls were tapered at the bottom to form infinity cycs for seamless backgrounds. Two stocked trucks and a warehouse full of equipment were available for rent, and a whole store of expendables was ready to be consumed.

But Jason Nute, the general manager, wanted to impress on people something more abstract. “I want people to come in here and have the sense creative things happen here,” he said. He wanted what he usually saw in studios dedicated to still photography. “They have art deco furniture. They have a gallery feel.” While giving a tour of Quixote he pointed out a large room that opened into the hall. “We’re calling it our commissary-common-area-cafe,” he explained, proudly pointing out the ping-pong table, coffee bar, and flat-screen TV, as well as their first piece of memorabilia, a jersey signed by Shaquille O’Neal.

Nute himself had only joined Quixote early this year, a company that already operates in California providing studios, production equipment, and supplies. Before he teamed up with them, he said, “I personally had lost sight of what it’s like to have these amenities,” referring to the comforts that make a studio seem inviting. But when he visited studios in California, he was invigorated: “It’s like walking into a hotel.” He didn’t think New England’s existing studios could compete. “A lot of commercial film studios are an empty shell of a room,” he said.

Nute partly blamed this lack of warmth — sometimes a literal one — in New England for corporate clients’ preference for doing studio work in New York, as well as the general inconvenience of having to leave central Boston to reach local studios further from the city. As examples, Nute talked about The TJX Companies Inc. (owners of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls) and New Balance, local corporations that would ideally have their work done here, but who have been lost to New York, at least until now. In fact, Quixote had considered establishing a studio in New York instead of Boston. “Everybody told them, ‘You’ve got to go to New York,’” said Nute. But “in New York there’s so much competition for clients,” explained Dee Delara, Vice President of Smashbox Studios, which is part of Quixote. (“Smashbox is a photo brand, and Quixote is a film brand,” she explained.) So Quixote chose Boston.

Nute also emphasized the new space’s convenience, saying, “Until we took over that space, there hasn’t been a studio of that size and that caliber in the heart of Boston.” He mentioned that New Balance had already booked three sessions at Quixote in Allston.

According to others, Boston may not be in such dire straits. James Hirsch is the co-owner of High Output, Inc., another company providing studios primarily for still photography and commercial film production. It used to occupy the Harvard-owned building Quixote now uses. Hirsch says that High Output had moved to better facilities in Canton, about a 30-minute drive from Boston City Hall, according to Google maps. “They’re much larger, more complete studios than our old ones,” Hirsch said of High Output’s 13-acre compound. He did not think it would be possible to replicate that closer to the city center, and he characterized as “extremely limited” the parking and facilities at Quixote in Allston. In Canton, “We haven’t found location to be a detriment,” he said.

Hirsch also disagreed with the idea that clients go to New York for a better experience. “People go to New York for lots of reasons. They certainly don’t go to New York for an upscale experience,” he said. “I’ve been to about 15 studios in New York, and in general they don’t offer as many client amenities as we do here.”

Clients will have to determine for themselves, then, whether Quixote offers superior atmosphere and location, or whether larger studios outside of town already do.