Copy shop won’t reveal its secrets
Laura Sturza
Copy Central manager Mario Mancilla wondered whether he would be
able to reveal enough to the Leader for readers to learn about his
shop’s work for the studios, which are known for fiercely guarding
their intellectual property.
“Discretion and confidentiality are a huge part of this business,”
Mancilla said, careful to not specify the names of his industry
clients.
Though most studios won’t let a script be handled by an outside
company, when there is a last-minute crisis, “they’ll send somebody
out to sit with the project,” Mancilla said.
Nearly 70% of Copy Central’s work is industry related, Mancil- la
said. When the shop opened in 1989, Burbank resident and owner Jim
Darcey targeted the show-business industry.
Building rapport with those major clients has meant staying
technologically savvy, Mancilla said.
“Half or more of our work comes in electronically,” Mancilla said.
Jobs that come across the shop’s counter include I.D. badges,
large bound documents and print work for props on a set, such as
restaurant menus, signs for a London subway station or labels to go
on crates of exotic tea.
Toluca Lake resident Thomas Walsh is a freelance film- production
designer who has worked with Warner Bros. and the Walt Disney Co. He
has brought work to the shop at 2300 W. Olive Ave. for five years.
Walsh’ printing projects include copies of photos used for
storyboards and paper materials for on-screen set pieces.
“One of [the shop’s] greatest virtues ... is that they’re small
enough so that they can be very personal to their clients,” Walsh
said. “You’re always dealing with deadlines and they have a very good
attitude about that.”
Because clients can require emergency print jobs, Mancilla is
available by pager 24 hours a day. A recent midnight call had him and
other workers compiling 17,000 color copies into bound folders for a
studio meeting the next morning.
“We’re wranglers,” Mancilla said. “Somebody has a problem, they
bring it to us, we wrestle it to the ground.”
Along with larger clients, the shop sees “a lot of independent
people who are doing proposals for a pitch,” Mancilla said.