Following the decision by New York-based Progressive Image Group (P.I.G.) to suspend its editorial operations "for the time being," there has been a flurry of movement, including the launch of two New York editing houses: Ghost Light Editorial and The Well.
Ghost Light is staffed by a team who formerly worked together at P.I.G., including editors Jon Stefansson and Cary Gries, executive producers Brad Kimmelman and Wendy Bryant, assistant editors Dan Rogenstein and Aaron Langley, and assistant producer Tiffany Howcott. Rogenstein will work as an assistant to Gries, while Langley will be Stefansson’s assistant.
Ghost Light has also refurbished part of the former P.I.G. facility, which it is occupying per a licensing agreement with P.I.G.
Additionally, two former P.I.G. editors, Eric Horowitz and Joe McKay, have launched The Well in tandem with editor Gary Hernandez, formerly of bicoastal Crew Cuts’ New York office, and a pair of ex-staffers at New York-based First Edition, Randy Ilowite and Robert Friedrich. Ilowite served as an editor/partner while Friedrich was CFO at First Edition. Assistant editors Brent Hardy and Peter Reglis have also come over from P.I.G. to work with Horowitz and McKay, respectively. The Well’s office space, located in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, has been under construction for the past three months and is expected to be open for business this month. In the meantime, the company’s editors have been renting space at various facilities to cut spots.
While Horowitz and McKay handed in their notice several months ago, former P.I.G. editors Stefansson, Gries, Robert Volpe, David Ligorner and Elaine Volpe, and executive producers Kimmelman and Bryant were originally set to launch an alternative venture called Siberia but an agreement acceptable to all parties could not be reached. Of the people SHOOT contacted who were involved in that initial P.I.G.-related endeavor, none was willing to explain why Siberia didn’t get off the ground. However, they agreed that they were seeking independence by striking out on their own. The majority elected to stay together and launch Ghost Light while Elaine Volpe decided to take a staff position at New York-based The Blue Rock Editing Company (see separate story, p. 7). At press time, the plans of RobertVolpe (who is not related to Elaine) and Ligorner were not yet known.
P.I.G. CEO/editor Tim Sherry could not be reached for comment at press time but P.I.G.’s CFO Chinmay Das told SHOOT that P.I.G. as a company continues to exist. "We own the space on both the second and four floors," said Das. "What in essence has happened is that temporarily its editorial functions have been suspended. That does not mean that we won’t do editorial business in the future; we may, but those plans are uncertain at this time."
Commenting on rumors that the company was in financial difficulty, Das said that "we made a lot of changes around here. Then two of our editors left without giving us enough notice and … it was difficult to carry on this huge place with so many employees and only two or three editors on the roll. And with the SAG strike, business was really too slow to carry on so that’s why we have decided to suspend [the editorial side] for the time being. And of course we are under financial constraint and who is not going through that at this time? I’ve yet to find one [editorial company] who is not going through some cash-flow crunch."
GHOST LIGHT
Private backers are providing the financial support to launch Ghost Light, which has started out primarily cutting spots, with plans to branch into broadcast work and to maintain a maximum of five editing suites. An additional two editors will be hired in the near future and Rogenstein is likely to be promoted to editor.
Describing the philosophy of the company, Gries said Ghost Light will be an editorial boutique, which will emphasize personal service. "What we will be able to give clients is more of a personal type service; we want to concentrate on aesthetics and follow-through in a very precise way. In the finishing process, a lot of clients get palmed off on an assistant, but we take pride in what we do and we want to take the job through from start to finish with the editors being a part of the entire process," he said. "On a creative level, we think want we have to offer is an incredible amount of talent based on our backgrounds."
Gries joined P.I.G. in ’98 and soon after he relocated to the East Coast from Santa Monica-based Superior Assembly Editing Company where he had worked as an editor for two years. Gries has also worked as a director, DP, producer and sound editor/sound designer. He began his career as a television editor, cutting comedy spots. In ’87, he co-founded Los Angeles-based Downstream Films, where he edited and produced music videos. In ’89, he moved to Don Guy & Associates, Sausalito, Calif., where he was repped as a director/DP for long- and short-form projects. Then when the Avid came out, he decided to concentrate on editing and in ’93, he formed Gries Films, Venice, mostly working on commercials until he sold the com-pany in ’95 and joined Superior Assembly.
Recent spots he has cut through Ghost Light include "Best Most Max" for Cinemax via Deutsch, New York; "Feel the Difference" for Crest Toothpaste via D’Arcy, New York; and "Family" for Pfizer via Gotham Incorporated, New York.
Stefansson also joined P.I.G. in ’98. He relocated to New York from his native Iceland in ’89 to attend New York University’s Film School. He completed the degree in two years, having transferred from a film course in Oslo, and started working as a freelance editor on music videos. While freelancing, he also completed his masters degree in media studies at the New School in New York. Prior to that, he was a television editor at Oslo’s Channel 2. Recent work edited through Ghost Light includes two assignments for Wieden+ Kennedy, New York: three-spot campaigns for ESPN ("Su-burbs," "Wall Street" and "Streetball") and Nike ("City Attack/The Shoe," "City Attack/ The Player" and "City Attack/ The Summer.")
Executive producer Kimmelman, who will concentrate on the business side of Ghost Light, has pursued various careers in the production industry, working as an actor, music producer and having launched a record label before joining Grey Advertising, New York, as a producer in ’97. He came to P.I.G. in late ’99 as an executive producer/general manager.
Bryant will also be an executive producer at Ghost Light, focusing on the production side. Bryant joined P.I.G. in ’97 as an executive producer, relocating from San Francisco where she worked at FilmCore, an editorial company, which also has an office in Santa Monica. Bryant also worked at the Hollywood office of FilmCore (which has since moved to Santa Monica) for three years prior to a 10-month stint at Portland, Ore.-based post house DownStream.
THE WELL
The Well was the brainchild of Friedrich, who said he has been working on getting a team together to start a new editing boutique for the past two years. Friedrich is an accountant by trade who joined First Edition in ’87 and has been on the board of directors at the New York chapter of the Association of Creative Editors (AICE) for the past six years. Friedrich said that he had known each of the partners for some time but the idea of starting a company with the right blend of talent appealed to everyone and was cemented when a meeting between all parties took place. "It’s been an exhaustive process but the end result has been the creation of a truly creative and talented editorial company," he said.
McKay added: "All of us were off looking on our own and we all hit the point at the same time where we realized we couldn’t work for anybody else anymore. I had a couple of set-ups going with people; so did Eric and he had approached me at one time and Bob also approached me—so it went back and forth and finally we came full circle."
Horowitz, McKay and Hernandez will have the majority share in The Well while Friedrich and Ilowite will be minority partners. Other staffers include Patrick Lavin, formerly of Quiet Man, New York, who joins as a graphic designer. A yet-to-be-announced producer from the agency side is also slated to come aboard.
Horowitz joined P.I.G. in ’94 as a senior editor. He and McKay have worked together for the past nine years, first at Big Picture Editorial (which has since been renamed Cabana) and then at P.I.G. with McKay joining 10 months after Horowitz. Prior to Big Picture, Horowitz worked at New York-based Bender Editorial (since renamed mad.house), where he started as an apprentice and was promoted to assistant and then junior editor before joining Big Picture as an editor.
Recent credits for Horowitz through P.I.G. included "Cat" for Sprint via McCann-Erickson New York, "Jackie Chan" and "Phil Jackson" for TD Waterhouse via Emmerling Post Advertising, New York, and a Cascade campaign for Saatchi & Saatchi New York.
McKay broke in as an apprentice and then an assistant editor at First Edition. In ’86, he joined New York-based Billy Williams Enterprises where he started to cut and then came aboard Big Picture, moving to P.I.G. in ’96, working first as an editor and then senior editor. Credits at P.I.G. included spots for Budweiser via DDB Chicago, Chrysler via FCB, Detroit, and MCI for Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG, New York.
Hernandez has been at editor at Crew Cuts since ’94, and prior to that he was at the now defunct Editors Film Services from ’83 where he was worked his way up from an assistant to an editor. Spot credits through Crew Cuts included campaigns for Visa and Mars/M&M’s through BBDO New York, and Ford Focus’ "Dreamscape" through Uniworld Group, New York.
Ilowite was a founder/partner in First Edition in ’73 and has been freelancing since he sold his share of the business. Recent campaigns he has cut have included "London" and "Australia" for Sam Adams Beer via The McCarthy Group, Princeton, N.J., that he edited through earth2mars, and "Soccer" and "Apple" for Unisys via Bozell New York.
