Rebuilding New York’s Premier Post Facility for Peak Performance
When Goldcrest Post in New York realized its infrastructure couldn’t keep pace with the demands of modern post production, they turned to two trusted collaborators- Steve Rapanaro and Walter Viegas, now part of the Key Code Media team- for a complete system overhaul. The goal: ensure performance, reliability, and scalability for years to come.
Goldcrest Post is a post production powerhouse located in Manhattan’s West Village, known for high-profile feature films, episodic television, and award-winning indie projects.
“We don’t box ourselves into just one type of project,” explains Goldcrest Managing Director, Domenic Rom. “Our mission is to support storytellers, and to do that, we need the best tools available.”
Legacy Tech Bottlenecking Creative Work
As Goldcrest began taking on more projects in 4K and 8K color grading and HDR finishing, often under tighter delivery schedules, their existing infrastructure began to fail.
“The infrastructure was crumbling, playback issues were constant and maintenance was draining our time,” notes Rom. “We needed a change- one that would let us focus on crafting unforgettable stories, not troubleshooting tech.”
Rom reached out to Key Code Media’s Senior Account Manager, Stephen “Rap” Rapanaro, with whom he had collaborated many times over the past 30 years.
“It’s not just about specs and feature sets,” says Rapanaro. “You have to understand the whole ecosystem- the network, the creative pressure, the deadlines. And you have to listen. We’ve known Dom and the Goldcrest team for years, and when they came to us with their storage challenges, we took it personally. Our goal wasn’t just to provide a solution- it was to make sure Goldcrest had the best post production setup in New York City.”
Designing the Solution
Goldcrest Post needed a storage platform that could:
- Handle multiple 4K streams in real time
- Support heavy creative workloads
- Eliminate workflow bottlenecks
Rapanaro recommended OpenDrives and its Atlas data storage and management platform. Working with the OpenDrives team, Steve and Walter helped recreate Goldcrest’s workflow in a test lab- complete with five color bays, real media, and simulated workloads.
“We hired colorists, mimicked five color bays, tested 4K uncompressed playback, broke things and iterated until it worked flawlessly,” shares Sean Lee, CEO of OpenDrives.
“No other storage provider had ever done that for us and the client,” adds Key Code Media’s Senior Director of Post Production Services, Walter Viegas. “By the time it got to Goldcrest, it just worked.”
The Final System
Primary OpenDrives Storage:
- 462TB All-NVMe Flash NAS
- Atlas software delivering up to 25GB/s throughput
- Real-time 4K uncompressed playback across five color bays
Nearline Storage:
- 729TB OpenDrives Optimum Series (HDD-based)
- Up to 5GB/s throughput
- Ideal for large-scale asset libraries and archiving
The Result: High Speed, Low Maintenance, Maximum Creativity
With the new infrastructure in place, Goldcrest Post now operates with full confidence across its 4K and HDR workflows. Playback is smooth, throughput is consistent, and bottlenecks have been eliminated.
“Our mission is to support storytellers,” said Rom. “Now, we have the tools to make that mission easier.”
Ongoing Partnership with Key Code Media
While the original OpenDrives deployment happened before Steve and Walter joined Key Code Media, the relationship came full circle when they brought their expertise to the company. Today, the Key Code Media team provides ongoing services delivering long-term on-site and remote support for Goldcrest’s OpenDrives storage, edit bays, and other post production systems installed over the years.
Why Goldcrest Chose Key Code Media
- 30+ Years of Trusted Collaboration with our New York Team
- Turnkey System Design and Integration
- Deep Post Production Expertise
- Workflow-Specific Testing and Validation
- Continued Support Beyond Deployment