By Robert Goldrich

Editor Rick Lobo, executive producer Tatiana Derovanessian and visual effects artist/compositor Josh Kirschenbaum, all previously at Revue, Santa Monica, have teamed with the talent ensemble at editorial house Flipside to form Lux. The new venture maintains facilities in Santa Monica and San Francisco, taking over the bases of operation formerly maintained under the Flipside banner.

Executive producer Lisa Falvo, a longstanding staffer at Flipside, San Francisco, explained that the infusion of artisans from Revue prompted the decision to re-brand, resulting in Flipside becoming Lux. Falvo is executive producer of Lux, San Francisco, while her counterpart in the Santa Monica office is Derovanessian.

Falvo is one of several Flipside mainstays who continue at Lux, including San Francisco-based editors Nick Seuser, Bob Gingg and Dave Burghardt, and Santa Monica staffers Tracy Hof and Luis Ruiz. Flipside’s CGI/ animation department also remains intact at Lux, San Francisco, featuring staff animators Mark Riehl and Casey Benjamin. And Scott Williams, who founded Flipside, is creative director/owner of Lux.

All these artisans are available through both the Santa Monica and San Francisco offices. Plans call for each Lux facility to bring aboard additional editors. To accommodate Kirschenbaum’s finishing and effects work, a Flame suite has been relocated from San Francisco to Santa Monica.

Derovanessian said that the Lux opportunity was ideal for her, Lobo and Kirschenbaum, who several months ago had parted ways with Revue’s silent partners over philosophical differences. At press time, word was that Revue had closed. Derovanessian said that the Lux proposition was particularly appealing because it offers a foothold in San Francisco, a market in which Lobo has a following. Prior to Revue’s formation about a year ago, Lobo had freelanced in the Los Angeles market. But prior to that, he had an eight-year run on staff at FilmCore, San Francisco, with such credits as adidas for Leagas Delaney, San Francisco; Sun Microsystems for Lowe & Partners, San Francisco; and CobraGolf via FCB San Francisco.

Falvo noted that the talent from Revue fortifies what had been Flipside, particularly in its Southern California operation. Additionally Kirschenbaum provides meaningful diversification via finishing services that clients can access if they so choose. In addition to his spot pedigree, Kirschenbaum is experienced in longform. For example, he worked on AfterEffects elements for several shots in the film Titanic, and served as on-set supervisor for execution of 24 fps computer graphics for Spawn. He was also involved in such films as Twister, Jerry Maguire, The Relic and Starship Troopers.

Recent credits for editors at Lux include a DirecTV NFL job for The Ballpark Agency, Santa Monica, edited by Lobo; a pair of Seuser-cut commercials for Burger King, out of Campbell-Mithun, Minneapolis; Gingg-edited work for the Clorox Bleach Pen via DDB San Francisco, with Williams serving as animation director and Benjamin, Riehl and freelancer Johan Thorngren as animators for Lux; Fisher-Price jobs cut by Ruiz for Gardner, Geary, Coll, San Francisco, with Kirschenbaum handling visual effects compositing and some 3-D work; Burghardt-edited fare for Vivendi-Barbie CD-Rom Games, also out of Gardner, Geary, Coll; and Hof-cut work for General Motors via McCann-Erickson Detroit in Troy, Mich.

Additionally, at press time, Lobo was in the midst of an ESPN NBA project for The Ballpark Agency, and Hof was editing a job for Rush Presbyterian Hospitals for agency Storandt, Pann, Margolis in LaGrange, Ill.

Lux is repped on the West Coast and in Texas by Toni Saarinen of independent firm Saarinen, Los Angeles. Lux is also actively seeking representation on the East Coast.

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