Editor Greg Letson has joined editorial house Red Car New York. The company also has offices in Santa Monica, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco. Letson joined on Sept. 14 after a brief stint at New York editorial house MacKenzie Cutler (SHOOT, 7/21, p.8).
Letson had left his previous roost, New York-based Cabana, in May. At Cabana, some of Letson’s credits included the Catholic Communication Campaign’s "New Roommate" and "Soggy Flakes" via Saatchi & Saatchi, New York. The spots, directed by Joe Pytka, were shortlisted at Cannes. While at Cabana, Letson also edited Cobra Golf’s "Gamesmanship," "Kids," "Bingos, Bangles and Bongos," "Magnets," "Look and Feel" and "Numbers," all via Arnold Communications, Boston. Another Cabana editing credit is Chupa Chips’ "Big Dance" via The Richards Group, Dallas. The spot won the best of show award at the 2000 Dallas TOPS competition, sponsored by the Dallas Ad League.
Said Letson, "I’d been with basically one company—which had gone through different incarnations—for 12 years," and was looking for a change. He was approached by Red Car New York in June when a client told the company’s managing director, Jennifer Lederman, that Letson was available.
At the time, Letson was fielding offers from other houses and eventually, he told SHOOT, "I ended up [choosing] between Red Car and MacKenzie Cutler." He joined the latter in early July. However, Letson explained, "While MacKenzie Cutler’s a great place, I just started feeling like it wasn’t as good a fit for me as I had hoped. So I contacted Red Car and asked them if they were still interested, if the door had been closed or not."
According to Lederman, there was no question about it: "It was too good of an opportunity to turn down, because Greg’s reputation precedes him and he’s an incredible editor. … When you have that great an editor knocking on your door, you don’t say, ‘Sorry, we’re full!’ You try to make it work."
Letson offered, "Red Car has a great depth of service to their clients. They also have a national presence, with offices around the country. They have finishing here, two Smokes and two Flames, and, like MacKenzie Cutler, it’s a creative shop. I really respect [Red Car founder] Larry Bridges, and I think he’s a visionary guy."
Gavin Cutler of MacKenzie Cutler, New York, agreed that the parting was amicable. "I wish him the best and I think he’ll do well at Red Car. They do diverse kinds of work, and they have reps, which we don’t have —we’re sort of anti-rep."
Cutler admitted, "Although we do a variety of work, we have a reputation for comedy, and it’s a little bit harder for someone coming in from the outside to get into the flow of what we’re doing here, in terms of people we’re working with. I think that might have been tricky, but he’s a talented guy and he’s going to do great."
Red Car New York’s other editors are Peter Barstis, Glenn Conte, Anne Craddock, Beth Cramer, Jerry Fried, John Maloney and Peter Sorcher.
The company is repped by Kathi Calef in New York.
