Kanjee & Barrett acquire Picture Shop and reinstate Farm branding

Granary Media Holdings Ltd has acquired Picture Shop, Streamland Media’s post-production operations in London and Cardiff.

Granary Media principals Simon Kanjee and David Barrett will oversee the operations of the Lexington Street and Cardiff (both formerly Technicolor) and Newman Street (formerly The Farm) facilities.

All key creatives and production staff will be transferred as part of the transaction.

Last year, Kanjee and Barrett acquired Grand Central Sound Studios Limited, through a company called Grand Central Holdings Limited.

As part of the agreement to purchase Picture Shop, Granary Media will rebrand both facilities.

The Lexington Street operations will transition to Grand Central at 51-53 Great Marlborough Street, with the merger forming Grand Central Post Ltd.

Intrestingly, as part of the acquisition, Granary Media has picked up the rights to The Farm’s legacy branding, which will return to the Newman Street facility as The Farm Post Ltd.

The Picture Shop brand will continue in the UK with facilities at Pinewood Studios, post-production services for scripted and unscripted in Manchester and Bristol, and managed service contracts for UK broadcasters.

Kanjee says: “We are proud to have some of the best talent with a history of delivering award-winning projects that will drive this new chapter. This acquisition allows us to offer clients access to a diverse range of expertise, services, and facilities, all tailored to meet the needs of the industry.

“The Farm was always the most iconic and aspirational brand in TV post. We are honoured and excited to breathe life back into the brand and will work hard to return The Farm to the highest levels of creativity and service that made it the best in class for so many years.”

Barrett adds: “When we sat down to look at the space requirements, it was a perfect fit with what spare space and capacity we had at Grand Central. We will be offering full high-end finishing in picture and sound across long form content, whilst continuing to create short form commercial sound for the highly esteemed and long-established clients of Grand Central.”

Despite the business operating under two brand names, Barrett and Kanjee say they are “committed to creating a unified creative collaboration”.

Barret said: “We want to protect the legacy of these two iconic brands. Both Grand Central and The Farm are long established industry leading brands which are still highly recognised in their respective marketplaces.”

Kanjee adds: “From day one, we will unify operations across both brands, leveraging our incredible talent pool who can work across genres and will be able to work across buildings to maximise resources. They will be able to work on the largest or smallest production, as well as continue to pioneer remote editing.”