Deluxe Film Processing Plant In Hollywood To Close, Shed 100 Jobs

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Hollywood will witness the end of an era Friday as a decades-old film processing lab says goodbye to celluloid.

KNX 1070's Margaret Carrero reports as many as 100 employees could be out of a job when Deluxe Laboratories finally closes its doors.

Deluxe, which has been processing films for nearly a century, will shut down its facility on 5433 Fernwood Avenue in Hollywood in what analysts say is the latest sign of the rise of digital technology as the entertainment industry standard.

In a letter to customers, Deluxe COO Warren Stein wrote,"Our processing volumes have declined sharply, and as a result, the laboratory has incurred significant financial losses," the Los Angeles Times reported.

Company officials have not yet decided the fate of the physical plant in Hollywood, according to Variety.

Analysts say over 95 percent of North American movie screens currently use digital technology, which has forced studios to trim their film print outputs to less than 100 for the entire Southern California market.

But while film is clearly on its way out, Robert Thompson, professor of media studies at Syracuse University, said he likens the transition to the shift in music distribution from vinyl to digital.

"A lot of musicians will still do a limited release in vinyl, and I think that's going to be the case with film," Thompson said. "It's going to become kind of a specialty."

Following the closures of the Hollywood lab and another facility in London, the only remaining Deluxe film processing facility will be located in New York, The Times reported.