We love TV and movies. And, we love the people who make them. Until recently, most people who created TV shows and movies to tell their stories were famous, or had a big pile of money to invest in a production. But today, virtually anyone can do it. All you need is an idea, some determination and a few NewTek tools to bring your creative vision to life.

NewTek was founded in 1986, by Tim Jenison―scientist, artist, musician and unfulfilled filmmaker. Tim, and a group of other wannabe movie-makers set out to break free from the studio establishment and make their own films and television shows. They invented some pretty amazing tools that were easy to use (no rocket science required), affordable (don’t mortgage the house), and just plain fun.

Tens of thousands of people fell in love with NewTek’s pioneering Video Toaster®— the world’s first real “television studio-in-a-box.” For the first time, everything to make a broadcast television show was available in one system: live switching, digital video transitions, titling, keying, video paint, still store, and 3D animation. NewTek ignited the desktop video revolution, and television production was never the same.

One of the incredible capabilities inside the Video Toaster was LightWave 3D®—a 3D animation toolset that paved the way for visual effects-laden television, animated films, and top-selling video games to hit the market, including “Babylon 5,” Stephen Spielberg’s “seaQuest DSV,” and “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.”

In 1993, NewTek made LightWave 3D available as standalone software. 3D graphics and animation no longer took a PhD, a supercomputer, and $40,000 worth of software. Starving artists everywhere could turn their creative vision into reality—fast, and on a shoestring budget. In fact, many of those starving LightWave™ artists went on to win Emmy® Awards for their stunning visual effects work―more so than any other group of 3D artists.

Today, our mission is the same as when we started out. We believe that at some point in the near future, your favorite shows will be produced by someone you know. Maybe even you. The NewTek team continues to work at making it easy and really cost-effective for anyone to produce great television. Whether it’s live production and streaming, slow motion and instant replay, motion graphics and visual effects—we make a range of tools to help get the job done.