In the UK, you can hardly turn on the telly without spotting something that came out of Tiger Aspect or Tigress Productions. The sister companies produce virtually every genre of television program — comedies, dramas, cartoons, educational programs, and documentaries. They’ve also launched an American branch, aptly named Tiger/Tigress Productions, in Bethesda, Maryland. Since 2001, the company has churned out more than 190 hours of programming for the U.S. market. Tiger/Tigress shows have aired on the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, National Geographic Channels, PBS, History Channel, Bravo, Food Network, and many more.

In 2005, Tiger/Tigress switched to Mac. Now the U.S. office in Bethesda uses Final Cut Studio on Power Mac G5s to edit standard and high-definition footage for U.S. productions. “The company made the decision to switch to Final Cut based largely on price,” says Tiger/Tigress supervising editor Robert Zakin. “You simply get more bang for the buck with Final Cut. It just makes a lot more sense. And it has definitely proven to be the right decision. Things run very smoothly here.”

“I got a very brief verbal chat about the way Final Cut thinks and I just started. On the second day a light bulb just sort of went off and suddenly I was editing without any problems.”

Coming to America

Los Angeles may be the Mecca of moviemaking, but the East Coast is king when it comes to television documentaries. That’s why Tiger/Tigress set up shop in Bethesda, Maryland. The city is a stone’s throw from the Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel headquarters, a short flight from the History Channel, Bravo, Court TV, and a host of other networks that air Tiger/Tigress Productions programs. “We are very centrally located here,” says Zakin. “It’s a great place to be for the kind of programs that we make and the local talent pool is really great.”

Zakin has been cutting documentaries and short films for more than 20 years. He joined Tiger/Tigress in 2005 and helped the shop set up its all-Mac editing suites. He worked closely with Chesapeake Systems to set up several Power Mac G5 editing suites equipped with KONA video cards. The company also installed nearly 30 terabytes of Xserve RAID storage, which is managed with Xsan. Setting up the system was simple and soon they were editing digital video footage for the first time with Final Cut Pro.

“The first week of editing is terrifying no matter how long you’ve been doing it,” says Zakin, “and I hadn’t worked with Final Cut at all. I got a very brief verbal chat about the way Final Cut thinks and I just started. On the second day a light bulb just sort of went off and suddenly I was editing without any problems.”

The veteran editor quickly customized his keyboard to streamline his workflow. “Being able to customize the keyboard made a huge difference to me,” he says. “I’ve always had a custom keyboard setup, no matter which system I edit on. You get so used to those keys and what they do for you that it’s a tremendous benefit to have the same setup wherever you edit.”

Next Page: The Flexibility of Final Cut Studio