Cutters Editorial has extended its geographic reach with the opening of Cutters Detroit. This will be the third Cutters shop, joining the flagship Chicago studio and the Santa Monica facility.
Executive producer Mary Connolly has been hired to head Cutters Detroit. She comes over from mainstay Michigan editorial house Griot. Cutters Detroit opens with a roster of editors consisting of Dave Mariani and Chris Moore, both formerly of Griot, Kevin O’Brien, who had been with Kinetic Post, and Byron Pink who shifts over from Cutters sister post house Ringside Creative, Detroit.
The launch of Cutters Detroit represents a natural progression. Earlier this year (SHOOTonline, 4/7), Cutters gained a foothold in Detroit by partnering with Steven Wild of Wild Acquisitions to purchase RingSide Creative LLC. At the time, SHOOT asked Tim McGuire, founder/president of Cutters, if this could lead to the emergence of a Cutters’ banner in Detroit. He said it was too early to tell but certainly Cutters had gained greater access to the Michigan marketplace via the RingSide deal.
Now it appears that the other shoe has indeed dropped with Cutters Detroit coming to pass. The new venture will be conveniently located next door to RingSide, allowing a smooth workflow for projects that both houses are working on.
“By bringing the national reputation and resources of the Cutters brand to Detroit and aligning with the talents of RingSide Creative, we are establishing a truly unique partnership platform for our expanding advertising community,” said Connolly.
Mariani’s credits span such brands as Ford, White Castle, Del Taco, Chrysler and Cox Communication. Moore’s most prominent clients over the years include UPS, Jeep, Chrysler For and the U.S. Navy. O’Brien has put his editorial stamp on Blue Cross, GMC, Chevy and PNC Bank, among others. He also cut the Pierce Brothers film Deadheads. And Pink has made his mark in the Detroit market with his work for the likes of Lincoln, Carhartt, GMC Trucks and the NFL’s Detroit Lions.
EP Connolly now reunites with Craig Duncan, executive producer of Cutters, Chicago. Duncan has roots in the Detroit market, having served as sales manager for Griot and its sister post/VFX house Postique and then as VP/general manager for Griot from 2001-’09. In November ’09, Duncan moved to Chicago to become managing director of Red Car, Chicago. A year later, he joined Cutters.
National roster
Besides its resident talent, Cutters Detroit can also tap into Cutters’ national roster, collaborating with editors in the Chicago and Santa Monica shops. This dynamic already took hold shortly after the RingSide and Cutters creative partnership was finalized.
For example, Detroit agency Global Hue gravitated with Cutters L.A. editor Barnett Kiel for a One Main Financial (formerly Citi-Financial) project. It so happens, this project also showed clients the smoothness and ease of working across the multiple studios in the Cutters network. This particular project was bid out of Chicago, but Kiel was able to be a part of the Los Angeles shoot, and used Cutters L.A. in the afternoons and evenings to scan the previous day’s dailies and begin the edit. Kiel worked for a week in the L.A. studio with the Snorri Brothers (the directing duo for the spot), and posted cuts for the agency. He then hopped over to Detroit for the final edit with the team from Global Hue.
More recently, editor Chris Hafner (who recently opted to move from Ringside Detroit to Cutters in Chicago to be closer to family–SHOOTonline, 6/1) also gave some clients the multi-studio experience when he worked with Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ Detroit office on a Chevy Camaro project that saw him cutting in both Chicago and Detroit. Camaro’s “Special Editions” will be hitting the airwaves soon.
Also Kiel and Hafner were joined in Detroit by Chicago-based cutter Tom Brassil who spent two weeks with agency Team Detroit/Pulse editing a campaign for Sports Authority.
McGuire related that one of Cutter’s prime mantras “is to create a boutique feel for each city we are represented in, while still being a national brand allowing for amazing access to great creative talent throughout the country.”
