In order to create a more distinct identity for its postproduction-related services, Chicago-headquartered facility Cutters has reorganized. Cutters has expanded its Santa Monica-based design/effects sister company SOL designefx, opening a Chicago operation to house what had been Cutter’s Windy City-based team of design, effects and finishing artists. SOL designefx, Chicago, will be headed up by Cutters’ general manager John McGrath. SOL’s West Coast studio continues under the aegis of partner/effects creative director/ senior Inferno artist Maribeth Emigh. Additionally, Cutters has turned its sound design/audio mixing division into a separate Chicago-based company, Another Country, run by partner/sound designer/mixer John Binder.
The core creative editorial group will remain Cutters and be managed by editor Kathryn Hempel, in addition to Cutters partners, president/editor Tim McGuire and VP/editor Chris Claeys. In Chicago, each company will have its own operating budget and its own individual space; separate entrances are now being constructed. Plans also call for Cutters’ space to be refurbished in upcoming months. Ownership of the overall company—by McGuire, Claeys, Emigh and Binder—remains unchanged.
Claeys explained that there was some confusion when they first opened the design/effects branch in Santa Monica under the name Cutters because of its connotation as a creative editorial house. "We thought if we’re going to do effects in the L.A. market, we should have the satellite be under a different name," explained Claeys. "So we renamed it SOL designefx, which helped position it better in that marketplace. It helps to identify what that office is doing."
To that end, the partners subsequently decided that the Chicago office’s effects and finishing staff, as well as its sound design/audio mixing artisans, could benefit from a similar delineation. "What we’re trying to do with these three companies is create their own identity," said McGuire. "I think it will enable them to prosper within their own specialty areas."
Emigh said, "SOL was created to allow a group of talented artists in different locations a place to come together as a team—not a department of a large post house—and create a new way of doing business in the creative environment." Greg Souers, Chicago-based effects creative director/senior Flame artist at SOL designefx, added, "Now that we’re focused as a design and effects studio, we believe that SOL in Chicago will be more attuned to our clients in the initial concept stage."
Binder observed that having a separate name and identity for the audio division should serve to ward off perceived conflicts of interest. "We not only work with Cutters, but we work with Red Car, The Lookinglass Company and other editorial houses. I never want them to feel funny coming over here to work."
Noting that over 60 percent of its business comes from out-of-house, Binder added, "We’ve found we’re pretty strong, sound-wise, in our own right. I think there’s a certain stigma about being a ‘sound department’ in a post house. It’s a little unfair because all of us have music degrees, some of us have electrical engineering minors and many of us play actively in bands."
Separately, company business managers Chris Johnson and Jennifer Giles have been named producers at Cutters. "Chris and Jennifer were doing a great deal of this [producing] work before," said McGuire, "but they were also doing a lot of billing for the other departments like graphics, audio and telecine. But now those jobs have been dedicated to each company, so we’ve freed their time to act as producers in the editorial department."
In addition, Cutters recently promoted assistant editor John Dingfield to editor. He joined Cutters nearly five years ago; he has primarily assisted Claeys and editor Ruth Efrati Epstein. His solo editing credits include the spots "Perfect Date" for Blockbuster Video via J. Walter Thompson, Chicago, which debuted on the MTV Video Music Awards; as well as "Web Site" and "Moisturizer" for Noxzema Skin Fitness via Leo Burnett Co., Chicago.
Another Country has recently hired audio producer Brynn Reedy, who formerly worked as a producer at such Chicago agencies as Lois EJL and Fogarty Klein 312, both of which are now closed. McGuire said that SOL designefx plans to hire a colorist to replace Oscar Oboza, who departed last year to join Minneapolis-based Hi-Wire. SOL expects to have that colorist in place by May.
