Dezer Properties

News

June 21, 2010

Q: What is the history of Asterisk?
A: Asterisk is an animation company that expertly and creatively intertwines the sciences of film and art. Located at 134 W 26th in Chelsea, it is lead by the director and producer team of Richard O’Connor and Brian O’Connell. Asterisk was founded in 2004 when co-founders Richard and Brian decided to leave the company they were currently working at to start their own business. Their impressive portfolio includes everything from documentaries for well-known broadcasting stations like PBS, short animated clips featured in films such as The Stepford Wives, to commercials for an endless list of companies including Clairol, AOL, Hershey’s, Nickelodeon, Citibank, and Mercedes Benz.

Q: What was your inspiration for entering the world of animation?
A: Brian and Richard’s inspiration for entering this industry was their love of film and art, and especially the nuance between the two; animation.

Q: What services does Asterisk provide?
A: The services provided by Asterisk include animation work for documentaries, cartoons, commercials, and a wide-range of special effects including mixed-media, 2D, and 3D.

Q: What is the biggest challenge in running a company like Asterisk?
A: The main challenge that arises for Asterisk comes from their commitment to producing high quality animation, while at the same time being constrained by the economy that has caused several companies to cut their budget to be a fraction of what it used to be.

Q: How does Asterisk promote its products and services?
A: Asterisk promotes its services mainly through their blog, found at www.asteriskpix.blogspot.com, their website, and through some direct mailings to ad agencies and network broadcasters. They have learned to count on word-of-mouth and personal references as their strongest marketing tactic, which Richard estimates to be around 85% of their business. Asterisk also engages in some B2B marketing in trade magazines.

Q: What is your favorite project that you have worked on at Asterisk?
A: Their most recent accomplishment was 25 minutes of animation done for a PBS documentary titled “The Buddha.” This is a favorite project of Richards because they were able to mix many different animation styles and learn much from the experience. He loves work such as this because it enables you to become “mini-experts” on the topic at hand.

Q: What are you working on right now?
A: In addition to a few ongoing advertising contracts and two science documentaries about to start up, Asterisk is currently working on four short documentaries for the NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) on American painters, a series of segments for PBS’ weekly news magazine “Need To Know”, a documentary about Cambodian rock in the 60’s and 70’s. There is little to no footage left of concerts or musical performances held during this time period, so their task is to recreate these events through animation.

Q: What makes Asterisk stand out from others in the animation industry?
A: What makes Asterisk stand out from others in the animation industry is that all of their work is tactile and handcrafted. Everything is built in an artistic manner and has an incredibly human feel to it.

Q: What does the future hold for Asterisk?
A: Asterisk is looking forward to being able to work on more originally produced content in the future. Their current work can be viewed on their website, www.asteriskpix.com.

Q: Does Asterisk have any current relationships with other Dezer tenants?
A: Asterisk has been in three Dezer buildings at this point, and has had the opportunity to work with a few tenants in the 20 W. 20th building. They look forward to being exposed to many more Dezer tenants through the Dezer marketplace.