Editor Bill Marmor and executive producer Allison Nunn have partnered to form Rex Edit, a boutique editorial house based in Venice.
Previously, Marmor spent a year at TrailHead, Santa Monica, one of the shops in the Stoney Road family of commercial companies owned by Michael Romersa. According to Romersa, TrailHead was shuttered following Marmor’s exit at the end of January.
Former TrailHead editor Patrick Fraser is currently freelancing while he explores his editorial house options. The plans of TrailHead executive producer Melati Pohan were not known at press time.
"Patrick is a talented up-and-comer, but the whole company was really about Bill Marmor, so it made sense for him to open up his own company," Romersa explained.
TrailHead began life as a hybrid production/post facility, but later phased out its production operation, becoming a full-fledged editorial house (SHOOT 11/26/99, p. 1). Shortly thereafter, Marmor came on board (SHOOT, 2/11/00, p. 7).
Marmor said that forming his own company was "a natural next step." He envisions Rex Edit as a boutique shop "where the emphasis is on service, the environment is more controlled, and the work is handled better. We’ll never let it become a factory."
Rex Edit also comprises assistant editor Ben Hopkins and producer Josiann Coté, who join the new company from TrailHead. Marmor and Nunn plan to bring on a second editor within the next six months. The partners expect to hire sales reps in the near future.
Among Marmor’s recent credits is a 12-spot package for Fannie Mae via GSD&M, Austin, Texas, which was directed by Ray Dillman of bicoastal Gartner. The ads are described as mini-dramas involving people with questionable credit histories trying to get loans.
Just prior to exiting TrailHead, Marmor cut a California Lottery spot directed by Craig Gillespie of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander for Grey, Los Angeles. Marmor’s other notable TrailHead credits include "Trading Places," a theatrical Coca-Cola spot via D’Arcy, St. Louis. Directed by Paul Holahan of Los Angeles-based Scream, the ad, which was designed to look like a trailer for an action-adventure film, promotes a contest offering consumers a chance at a role in a Universal Pictures movie.
Before joining TrailHead, Marmor had been with Crew Cuts West, Santa Monica, since its opening in 1997. (Crew Cuts also encompasses Crew Cuts Film & Tape, New York, and Crew Cuts/San Francisco.) While there, he cut (with editor Dave Bradley, now of Go Robot!, New York) a humorous three-spot World Championship Wrestling (WCW) campaign via Ogilvy & Mather, Atlanta. Gillespie directed the spots, which were produced by bicoastal Coppos Films and executive produced by Nunn, who had then served in that capacity at Coppos. The WCW ad "Voodoo" earned Top Spot distinction (SHOOT, 5/7/99, p. 16); the remaining ads were "HOV" (a.k.a. "Carpool") and "Couch Tussle."
Marmor began his career in ’89 as an assistant editor at Red Car, Hollywood (now Santa Monica), making the transition to editor about a year later. At Red Car, he cut Gatorade’s "The Wall," starring Michael Jordan and directed by Rupert Wainwright of Windmill Lane Productions, Venice. (Red Car maintains operations in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Dallas, as well as a presence in Toronto.) Marmor’s assorted editing credits also include spots for such clients as IBM, Aerial wireless communications and Aetna health care.
Nunn, meanwhile, had been on sabbatical from the spot business for about two years after exiting Coppos (SHOOT, 5/14/99 p. 1). When Marmor approached her for advice on the mechanics of setting up a company, she told SHOOT, "one thing led to another, so here we are."
During her two-year tenure at Coppos, Nunn worked alongside directors such as Gillespie, company principal Mark Coppos, Mike Bigelow (now of Space Program, Hollywood) and feature director Barry Sonnenfeld. Nunn has maintained her relationship with Sonnenfeld, for whom she exec produces in the spot arena on a per-project basis. Earlier in her career, Nunn spent several years as an executive producer at Santa Monica-based Atlas Pictures.
