Cutters, the Chicago-based editorial house that this year celebrates its 25th anniversary, has spent recent months getting its new Venice operation up and running. Heading up the office as executive producer is Nicole Visram, who made a shift after three years as a senior producer at Ogilvy & Mather, Culver City.
The Venice base also includes three new Cutters editors: Dustin Robertson, formerly of Santa Monica-based Brass Knuckles; Tessa Davis, from Orchestra Blue in Johannesburg; and newcomer John Mailloux, formerly of bicoastal Lost Planet, where he served as an editorial assistant to editors Hank Corwin and Paul Martinez.
Robertson has cut commercials for such clients as Gap (including work this past year with Sarah Jessica Parker and Lenny Kravitz), Pepsi, L’Oreal , PGA and Pantene. He has also edited many music videos including Gwen Stefani’s “Whatcha Waitin’ For?” and Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get it Started”.
Davis has worked with agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather and The Agency, both in Johannesburg; and Mendelsohn/Zien in Los Angeles. Her commercial credits include Carl’s Jr., Telekom, and Audi TT.
Chicago’s Cutters Inc. includes Cutters (editorial), and sister shops Another Cöuntry (audio/sound design) and Sol Designfx (graphics, visual/effects, telecine and finishing). The Venice space is actually the locale that housed a West Coast Sol office until last year. The office has reopened as Cutters with two Avid Adrenaline suites.
“The two offices bring increasing fluidity across the country as all of our Cutters editors become more mobile,” said Cutters Inc. president Tim McGuire, explaining that editors based in Chicago and Venice are available to work in either locale.
Regarding the shift from Sol to Cutters, McGuire said, “We determined it best to focus on editorial. Clients are interested in working in different parts of the country and the world; this gives us an opportunity for diversification…We look forward to expanding on this in the future.”
The Cutters’ editorial roster is rounded out in Chicago by Chris Claeys, John Dingfield, Ruth Efrati Epstein, Christopher Gotschall, Kathryn Hempel, Nadia Hennrich, Carlos Lowenstein, Tom Pastorelle and Steve Stein. Representing Cutters are Jim Waldron and Wendy Hanson of Chicago-based Them reps in the Midwest; and independent rep Yvette Lubinsky on the West Coast and in Texas.
