To be very clear, what I am about to say is meant as “I wish you could see what I do” as opposed to any ridiculous idea that I do much of anything here outside of gather coffee and food orders to keep you going. Further, that to pretend as if anything we do here is work that saves lives or immediately impacts our world at large and all of it’s issues would be a grave misunderstanding of the privilege and honor I feel in both working alongside you all or the humble efforts we contribute to on the daily in providing some semblance of comfort to those escaping said scaries at the end of a day.

All that said, I really do wish you could see what I have the honor of seeing in a day. This email finds you 8 days into the month of March because it’s hard sometimes to bear the weight of it – I need a minute to feel as if there’s anything – ANYTHING – I can type that will in some way contextualize the massive efforts and hard-won battles we’ve seen thus far.

We as a team are currently firing on all fronts. Cinecode tripled in under a month, tapping back in Kourosh, adding Kevin and Roger to development and shot creation, bringing back Lasso at full speed and another show, AMBOCH, with some of the most challenging sequences we’ve done to date. Team Dailies/GeoPost/NightOps doubling in a month to facilitate a 23yr record high EIGHT SHOWS – this is a team I sit with at 1am while Streeter, Erin and now even Thomas battle against the clock, the internet, and clients that simply do not understand what this does for their respective shows on a daily/nightly/round-the-clock basis, but by God does it get done. Color and Online growing, expanding and efficiency crunching in ways they haven’t had to consider in nearly 15yrs – to not just maintain and expand, but future cast. VFX and my holy God, VFX Editorial scaling and growing in ways I don’t think any of us saw coming even one year ago, let alone 2yrs ago.

Ramy… I know he’s our fearless leader. I know so many of you see him as why any of us have this home and community with which to be grateful, but I say this – not as his sister or brethren in hand to the plow, but as someone who has the high honor and privilege of seeing ALL of it in a day – as one “operator” to another… thank this man. The work he’s doing, that Amy is doing, that all of you are doing TODAY, is supporting, building and securing the next 25 years of DFT.

A home for the wise, the kind, the craftsman and the dreamer.

We are not here to take on every project – we are here to build and empower the voices that speak to the world we hope to create, to foster space that welcomes those less heard from, and to be a platform through which our voices – yours as individuals, and the deafening roar of the whole – come through.

Some of you moved here to be a part of this team, at this moment. Others left roles where they’d been for years to come help us grow at this juncture. Some of you have been here for many, many years and got delivered us to this place in one piece…

None of that is ever lost on us. Not ever. Not for one second or in the midst of any given decision that falls our way in a day.

Know that.

We are fortunate. As a team, as a people who get to do what we do, and often (but admittedly not always) the people for whom we do this…

Thank you. For the hard work, the kindness, the shared and hard earned wisdom. Thank you.

With Gratitude,

Nancy