Viacom to Open New Miami Production Hub

NEW YORK/MIAMI: Viacom has released plans for a new 88,000-square-foot studio in Miami, intended to serve as a multiplatform production hub for global entertainment brands such as Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central.

The facilities will include two sound stages equipped to handle a variety of content simultaneously, from daily scripted series, music specials and game shows to short-form content for mobile, digital and on-air. The building will also feature 12 post-production rooms; 16 dressing rooms, including six star dressing rooms; two green rooms; commissary seating for up to 200; audience holding areas; and warehouse space, among other services.

The Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) built the facilities as a public-private partnership with EUE/Screen Gems Studio.

“We are creating more content than ever before across all of our brands at Viacom,” said Robert Bakish, the president and CEO of Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN). “The Viacom International Studio in Miami will offer a turnkey facility where we can create even more original, high-quality content to meet the increasing demand for long- and short-form content on all of our global platforms.”

“We have had terrific success with the recent live-action productions we have coming from Miami, and we are very excited to be committed to doing more,” said Cyma Zarghami, the president of Viacom Kids and Family Group. “We are constantly looking for new creative ideas and content formats that allow us to tell stories in a completely different way, and this facility will certainly forward that effort.”

“Viacom has demonstrated again and again that hits come from all over the world,” added Pierluigi Gazzolo, the president of VIMN Americas and executive VP of Nickelodeon International. “With an established track record of multilingual hits including Every Witch Way and Talia in the Kitchen being produced in Miami for multiple audiences simultaneously, in global collaboration with the U.S. and local Latin American teams, we’re excited to have the opportunity to further expand our production capabilities in the market.”