The name itself—Gas, Food & Lodging (GF&L)—purposely implies one-stop shopping. The one-stop nature of the Culver City, Calif., commercial and music video production company—which also works on new media, television and film projects—is made possible by its collaboration with parent company New Wave Entertainment, a creative service and entertainment marketing firm.
New Wave, also located in Burbank, markets film and TV programs in addition to creating movie trailers and title sequences. It has its own in-house postproduction facility, complete with telecine, graphics and effects compositing, full digital on-line and audio capabilities. GF&L opened last May as a subsidiary of New Wave, with New Wave principal Allen P. Haines as a partner in the new venture.
The directors and principals at GF&L relate that the company’s post offerings aren’t what make it unique. Rather, the collaboration among directors, and their ability to call on the creatives at New Wave early on in the process, is more important. For example, a director may experiment with 3-D or compositing before a spot job has been awarded.
"The resourcefulness is in the preproduction," says GF&L partner/executive producer Jim Evans, likening the process to research and development. "We use New Wave in the prep of jobs well before agencies receive presentations or conference calls. If there is something you want to think about and figure out how to do, we are well prepped before we give any agency an idea of what we can do."
The relationship with New Wave enables GF&L to produce finished and detailed presentations. GF&L director Eugenio Zanetti used such a presentation recently for a global campaign for Gillette’s Arctic Ice out of BBDO New York. "It doesn’t happen very often that we single bid any more," Evans says. "When Eugenio turned in his presentation at BBDO, it moved up the ladder on a Friday summer day in two hours, when it usually takes three weeks."
June Guterman, executive producer at GF&L, says the company’s relationship with New Wave is synergistic. "We utilize the creative resources that New Wave offers us in any way that seems appropriate on each job," she says.
The directors
Director Ashley Beck, who joined GF&L earlier this year from bicoastal The End, says the support at New Wave enhances his ability to develop new techniques, looks and styles. "It comes down to this really nice collaboration with New Wave," he says. "I develop styles and I do a lot of theory. I spend time initially developing a look, trying certain aspects of it out, seeing if it will physically work within the treatment. A lot of people try at the end—after shooting—to work things out, and they are not always successful in post. I’ve been fortunate to have a streamlined look and very precise techniques down pat. It only gets better and better; it allows us to be very buttoned-up as directors."
Zanetti, who is best known as a feature film art director and production designer, says he was attracted to the New Wave connection—as much for the equipment as for the personnel. "I really put an accent on the personal aspects and the people involved, because the greatest difference isn’t really the toys you have to play with, but the people involved," he says.
Zanetti’s production design credits include The Haunting and What Dreams May Come; his work on Restoration in ’95 won an Oscar for art direction. Zanetti compares his relationship with New Wave to playing chess with multiple partners. "You can be editing in several bays, working with several people on different effects, and just go from room to room and keep this multitasking going," he says. "There is this extraordinary synergy that happens when you can carry on all these jobs simultaneously."
Posting jobs at New Wave also allows the director to remain with the job longer, Zanetti says. "The way you give your input on the effects side, the way you integrate effects, and the way some ideas come through and can be developed is part of it," he says. "We have done commercials, and I am editing a feature at New Wave."
Director Rich Wafer cites Bud Light’s "Aren’t You Speeding?" which he directed for DDB Chicago, with editing done by Van Harrell of New Wave. "We presented an editor and a different way to go, as opposed to bidding out an editor somewhere," explains Wafer. "They loved him, so we did the spot there. It’s just a good collaborative situation for us to be able to suggest going a different route in advance. It’s a boutique inside itself, where you’re able to put the people you need to work with around you, but at the same time, the outside world is still a resource."
Evans and Haines both say there is no overriding mission to convince agencies to post GF&L jobs at New Wave, but that they are getting the word out on the relationship. Even if agencies don’t readily embrace the one-stop concept, at least they know that the option is available.
