Zoom Culture Ends Production

The three-year run of Chapel Hill's Zoom Culture ended Tuesday when the media production company officially ceased operations.

Zoom Culture's CEO Kip Frey said the company's shows were not profitable, leading to the company's end of operations Tuesday.

"What we were putting out wasn't coming back in," said producer Allen Buck, adding that the company used up $16 million in 2 1/2 years.

Frey sent an e-mail about Zoom Culture's closing to all employees about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, which was followed by a staff meeting at 10 a.m., said Adam Touw, technology and support manager.

Employees were shocked by the announcement because Frey's replacement of Marty Lafferty as CEO on Dec 20 offered Zoom Culture renewed faith, reorganization and refocused efforts, Touw said.

Founded online from a two-bedroom apartment in 1999, the company had a significant number of UNC alumni on its initial staff.

It set up nationwide offices in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

Zoom Culture was aimed toward a young demographic, its professional production teams working to train and give voice to a new generation of filmmakers.

This network of freelance film directors provided easily and quickly attained material for programming and was a strategy unique to Zoom Culture, said program creator and supervising producer Sue Herzog.

The company's first success, "Hip-Hop Nation," created by Herzog, set out to capture the hip-hop culture and the life of its artists.

The focus on underground artists by "Hip-Hop Nation" developed to include appearances by artists such as Ice Cube and Nelly as the show was picked up nationwide.

Other reality-based projects developed by the company included "Spring Break," a documentary film of spring break behavior, and "Playground Earth," which aired on Fox International and featured outdoor extreme sports.

Zoom Culture also produced "Marshalls' Women in Comedy," a program hosted by Joy Behar of "The View" that looked at female comedians such as Caroline Rhea, Fran Drescher and Victoria Jackson.

The show was Zoom Culture's first and only national prime-time production, airing last Thanksgiving. It also was the last production by Zoom Culture that was aired.

"There were so many talented young people in that company that never got their chance to shine," Herzog said about the company's downfall despite its initial successes.

"It's saddest to me that I saw it rise all the way up then fall all the way down."

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.