Jack Cashin - Founder and President of Ultra Sound Laboratories 

NEW TIMES: What’s your favorite movie that’s featured your company’s equipment?

CASHIN: Well there’re lots, but I’d probably have to say either Raiders of the Lost Ark or one of the Star Wars movies.

NEW TIMES: What was your motivation for getting involved in the movie business?

CASHIN: I’ve always been interested in movies, and I first started in production. But after seven years of 16-hour days, I decided that I wanted to have a real life, with a job that allowed a balance between my personal life and my career ambitions.

NEW TIMES: Which award that your company has received are you most proud of?

CASHIN: I’m real proud of the surround-sound award we received for creating Prologic years before Dolby created it, and Arnold Schwarzenegger presented the award. We’ve also won three manufacturer-of-the year awards, and all while competing against the major companies in the film industry.

NEW TIMES: How has your company fared as a film company outside of LA?

CASHIN: It hasn’t been a problem except for the meetings in LA. There’s a lot of research and development in transitioning to digital cinema and audio, and this is a better area for it. We also host a lot of visitors from abroad who stop here for the weekend, which you wouldn’t think would happen in a small town like this.

NEW TIMES: Where is your company looking to go from here?

CASHIN: We’re basically looking to keep going in the same direction. We want to expand into digital cinema, as thus far we’ve mostly done audio. The new digital medium blends audio and video together, so we’re aggressively moving into video.