When I first visited Denver in 1993, I came in on a Sunday Frontier Airlines flight which delivered me to the new Denver International Airport. I ended up traveling up to Estes Park (with three very funny set decorators in a limo — a story for another time) for what would be a 6 week stay in Estes Park to shoot Stephen King’s The Shining. Another 6 weeks of production at a converted hanger at the old Stapleton Airport completed my extended stay. The show was pretty good, if I do say so, and it was a tremendous learning experience for a lad from Hollywood, CA starting out in the movie business.
Looking back, it also seems like this was just the beginning for a pretty good stretch for the Mile High City. The Rockies had just built Coors Field and I recall that there was much discussion about whether the ‘thinner atmosphere’ in the Mile High City would aid home run hitters. The air seemed full of possibility.
Flash forwa
rd nearly twenty years, and a lot has changed in Denver, and impressively so. Denver is listed as one of the top 10 cities in the US to “Live and Launch” and there’s a growing energy to the city as businesses and start-ups specializing in new media, social media, VOD, SEO, streaming and other emerging technologies change the flavor of the city. Still a center for microbrewing, the city is developing a reputation…and a good one.
Giant Interactive arrived just in time to ride this burst of energy, opened our first locations here in 2005. From there, the trajectory for us, just as it as been for Denver, has been up, UP, UP.
For a number of years, Giant folk in Denver have been the quiet neighbors…busy, but keeping to ourselves. Initially, the design work which keeping this growing office buzzing originated from the Los Angeles and New York studios, as literally hundreds of DVD menus and interactive games kept our designers and graphic artists engaged.
Now operating out of a renovated space at 27th and Walnut, the Denver staff has grown and evolved. As the home video business has morphed, Blu-ray Discs have replaced some of the DVD business, broadening the range of our design projects. More significantly, however, the advent of smartphones, tablets and the explosion of digital video and related production services has radically expanded our business and really put the emphasis on the ‘interactive’ of our name.
Our Denver studio now includes an experienced app development team working for local media companies, agencies and on our own skunkworks projects (Shhhh!), editors focusing on ‘value-added material’ (aka DVD bonus and featurettes), motion graphics artists delivering to major brands and video portals and so much more.
With this variety and energy, we just can’t, in good conscience, keep quiet any more.
While the needs of clients based in Los Angeles and New York continue to play a part of our Walnut Street workflow, it’s time for us to become more active locally.
So. You’re going to see and hear a lot more from Giant Interactive Denver, particularly if 
you’re in the creative businesses — advertising, internet, media, interactive technologies. We’ve already begun to spool up a newly energized business development effort, reaching out to the creative community to introduce ourselves and let you know more about us. We’re actively looking to partner with local agencies, production companies and media businesses to bring our expertise and experience to bear on your behalf.
There will be additional developments and announcements about this effort in the near future which you’ll read about here, but in the meantime, we definitely encourage you to keep up with us on Twitter (@GiantInfo) and Facebook.
And if you happen by 27th and Walnut, drop on in. You are welcome.