Editorial house Invisible Dog, established in 1994, has closed. The New York-based firm was founded out of Editors GAS, after that company’s co-founder Steve Schreiber left to open his own editorial shop in Miami—the now defunct Southern Exposure Post and Pro.
Remaining GAS partner/ founder Lou Addesso, executive producer Caryn Elakman, and staff editors Richard Rosenbaum and Alan Morris banded together as partners to rename the shop Invisible Dog. Staff editors on Invisible Dog’s roster at the time of closing were Michael Huetz and J.P. Morgan.
For now, Addesso’s production company, Creative Film Management International, has taken over the lease of the defunct firm. (Invisible Dog was based in the Park Avenue building that continues to house Creative Film Management International.). Invisible Dog’s equipment is in the process of being sold. A spokesperson for Addesso told SHOOT that he wasn’t interested in commenting; Elakman did not return phone calls.
Morris, who has since joined New York-editorial boutique Refinery (see story below) explained that the partners were faced with the decision to close at the end of last year. Staff was informed at the beginning of March, and the last official day of business was March 30.
"The hardest thing was having to dismantle a company that had been doing so well for so long, and seeing a really talented group of individuals break up. We had a really energetic staff of hardworking loyal people," Morris stated. "Ironically, 1999 had been one of our best years, but a series of events in 2000 had a negative impact on the company. Everyone knows about the strike, of course, and we had several of our editors leave." (Mitch Schreiber became a partner in Steel Rose Editorial, New York, and Terence Ziegler joined post facility Slingshot, New York.)
Invisible Dog had been in the midst of expanding the facility with the anticipation that the company would grow and add more editors. "Consequently we had a dwindling cash flow and fewer editors than we needed to support the operation," said Morris. "It was a very hard decision to make, but we felt it was probably the smart thing to do while we were still in a good position, rather than play out our cushion of profits from the year before and find ourselves in a situation where it would be more difficult to close."
There were few outward signs that Invisible Dog was set to shutter. There was talk of its opening another office on the West Coast. In January, after cutting a feature film, Rosenbaum told SHOOT that the company was expanding its scope beyond commercials and into short and feature-length films (SHOOT, 1/5/01, p. 7).
Rosenbaum is temporarily working out of The Well, New York, as a freelance editor. He will continue to specialize in commercials, but hopes to work on some more longform projects and is currently in discussions with a director about editing a feature film. Of his decision to freelance, Rosenbaum said he wanted to buy some time to make an intelligent choice about his next move. So when The Well offered support, he decided it was a good option.
Rosenbaum said that closing Invisible Dog was a very difficult experience to go through, but sometimes you have to know when to call it quits. "The closing was a combination of so many things. You can overanalyze it, but when all is said and done, the bottom line is, everything has its time and Invisible Dog’s time had come. The strike was a factor, but it wasn’t what closed us. We could have kept on going," he concluded, "but at some point you have to say, ‘It’s time for the next phase of our lives.’ "
