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The Hollywood Post Alliance Awards Committee announced that postproduction industry veteran Ron Burdett will receive the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the HPA Awards on November 6th, 2008. Burdett has been known as a tireless leader in the post production community for over 30 years. Leon Silverman, President of HPA noted, “Ron Burdett has epitomized the entrepreneurial spirit of innovation and forward thinking that helped to define our modern post production industry. His leadership skills in helping to create a vibrant post production community as well as his contributions to technical excellence and creativity cannot be overstated.”

Burdett, who was a founding member of the HPA, played a leading role in the creation and growth of its predecessor organization, The International Teleproduction Society (ITS). In addition to serving as President of the Southern California Chapter of the ITS, Burdett became the President of the international organization at a critical time in the industry. As ITS President, he helped to create world-wide awareness of the issues of post production and helped to drive an agenda that focused on the business, creative and technological issues of our industry.

For over 25 years, Burdett headed up the famed post production facility, Sunset Digital. Working tirelessly to build a company with a team of talented collaborators, Sunset became known as a technically expert and creatively powerful company, with contributions to a number of Academy Award and Emmy winning projects. Known for the relationships fostered with filmmakers and executives alike, Sunset built a loyal following. Sunset was a pioneer in the development of film mastering and restoration, as well as playing a leading and early role in the authoring and encoding of DVD’s, eventually creating DVD’s for hundreds of theatrical releases. A number of defining post production developments took place at Sunset, including new digital restoration tools and techniques, mastering for digital cinema and in fact the model of cinematographer/director focused digital film mastering, which led directly to today’s creative digital intermediate workflows.

Launched in 2006, the HPA Awards highlight the contributions of the talented men and women of the post production industry who are a pivotal part of the creative process of hit shows, spots and movies. Emory Cohen and Fred Rheinstein, Burdett’s colleagues in a constantly changing post production industry in Los Angeles, are previous years’ honorees.

The 2008 HPA Awards will recognize excellence in categories including color grading, editing, audio post production and compositing. The HPA will also bestow the first Charles S. Swartz Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Post Production on Dean Elizabeth Daley of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and the much-anticipated Engineering Excellence Award. Nominees in the creative categories will be announced soon. Tickets for the HPA Awards Gala Ceremony are on sale now. For information about the HPA Awards and to purchase tickets, visit www.hpaawards.net or call 213.614.0860.