Bicoastal Cosmo Street has added to its West Coast-based roster of editors, bringing Tessa Davis and Jason Macdonald on board, as well as promoting assistant Lawrence Young to full-fledged cutter.
At press time Macdonald was about to embark on his first job under the Cosmo Street banner, a package for Radio Shack via Arnold Worldwide, Boston. He comes over from Mad River Post, New York, where he initially was an assistant editor before being upped to editor.
Davis, formerly of Cutters, Venice, Calif., already has some Cosmo Street credits under her belt, having cut several Miller spots for Crispin Porter+Bogusky (CP+B), Miami. She is scheduled to edit some UPS long-form fare for The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., as well as some commercials for Frieda hair care products out of Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, New York.
And Young has cut assorted jobs at Cosmo Street, some prior to officially being named to its editors’ roster. Among his editing credits are Burger King directed by Paul Hunter of bicoastal HSI Productions for CP+B, another project for the same client and agency helmed by Martin Granger of bicoastal Moxie Pictures, and an American Legacy Foundation “Truth” assignment directed by Baker Smith of Santa Monica-based harvest for Arnold Worldwide, Boston, and CP+B.
A native of London, Young moved to Los Angeles a decade ago to pursue a career in production and editing. He initially worked as a second assistant director on spots and music videos. Young then moved to New York to work as an assistant editor at Mad River Post. While there, he developed a professional relationship with editor Tom Scherma. Young eventually worked full time as Scherma’s assistant editor. Then when Scherma joined Cosmo Street in 2003, Young went along with him. Now Young is cutting his own projects.
SOUTH AFRICAN, CANADIAN ROOTS
Davis’ career began in her native South Africa. From ’99 to ’03, she was an editor for Orchestra Blue Post Production, Johannesburg, turning out spots for such agencies as Ogilvy & Mather and Myriad.
In ’03, she relocated stateside, assisting and editing on commercials and music videos for Aviddiva. She cut Justin Timberlake’s clip “Senorita” and Carl’s Jr’s “Mechanical Bull,” which came out of Mendelsohn/Zien Advertising, Los Angeles.
Davis then went to Cutters. Her recent credits include commercials (Clorets, Nissan), a documentary titled Pirates of the Caribbean II, and a feature documentary, Girl 27.
Macdonald’s industry roots are in Canada where he began editing in ’95. For four years he freelance cut music videos for Toronto houses like Raje, Hoodoo and Avion. By ’99, Macdonald edited 80-plus music clips for artists including Sean Combs, Little Ax and Jesse Terrero.
Macdonald left Toronto to live in Costa Rica. A year later he returned to Canada, garnering experience producing, directing and gripping before deciding to pursue commercial editing. He worked briefly at a Toronto boutique before moving to New York where he landed an assistant editor’s gig at Mad River. A year and a half later he was promoted to editor. Among his editing credits are spots for Avis, Axe, Cheese Nips, Target, the NFL and Amber Rock.