By Kathy DeSalvo
Spots BME, a Chicago-based post boutique, has added editor Alaric Martin.
For the past year, Martin has worked in the Chicago market as a freelance editor, cutting spots for Oldsmobile and Wal-Mart via E. Morris Communications, Chicago; Kraft for Leo Burnett Co., Chicago; and Great Enter-taining.com via A. Eicoff & Partners, Chicago, among others.
Before this, Martin was a staff editor at Southfield, Mich.-based Griot Editorial, a division of Farmington Hills-based parent company Grace & Wild, which he joined August ’96. His credits at Griot included spots for GMC Trucks via McCann-Erickson, Troy, Mich.; Chrysler via FCB Worldwide, Southfield; Ford via J. Walter Thompson, Detroit; Chevrolet via Campbell-Ewald, Warren, Mich.; and Dodge via Don Coleman Advertising, Southfield.
Martin recently heard there was an opportunity at Spots BME. Company owner/editor Bruce Frankel was looking for an editor to replace Marty Bernstein, who departed to open his own Chicago-based shop, Machete Edit & Design (SHOOT, 3/10, p.8).
Said Martin, "I’d been freelancing out of [Chicago-based] Film & Tape Works, which was a nice experience. But I needed to be someplace with an environment where my clients would be comfortable. I wasn’t too interested in big facilities. I wanted to be a little bit closer to clients and figured a boutique would be more my style. Bruce and I had a couple of conversations over the past month or so, and I decided to take a chance and see what happens."
Relating that he had received many recommendations for Martin, Frankel said, "I think he brings a new perspective to our company. He’s a smart guy with a good sense of humor and he’s got a funny reel, which fits in with our style of storytelling. He’s got a good sense of style and is an excellent editor."
Prior to Griot, Martin spent four years as an editor at the now defunct Skyview Film & Video. He got his start at Chicago-based agency Burrell Communications, where he spent three years heading its audio-visual department before moving on to Bravo, the editing division of Genesis Creative Group (both now defunct).
Martin joins a Spots BME creative editorial roster also consisting of Deirdre Heaslip and Frankel. Spots BME also includes audio designer/mixer Bill Reis, assistant editors Dave Dvorak and Traci Weingardt, and production/business manager Paul Pela. The company is repped by Gwendolyn Druyor.
Judge Upholds Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Charge Against Alec Baldwin In “Rust” Shooting
A New Mexico judge has upheld her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
In a ruling Thursday, state District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer stood by her July decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin. She said prosecutors did not raise any factual or legal arguments that would justify reversing her decision.
"Because the state's amended motion raises arguments previously made, and arguments that the state elected not to raise earlier, the court does not find the amended motion well taken," the judge wrote, adding that the request was also untimely.
A spokesperson for Baldwin's lawyers said Friday that they had no immediate reaction to teh decision.
The case was thrown out halfway through trial on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense in the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
Baldwin's trial was upended by revelations that ammunition was brought into the Santa Fe County sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammo unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers say investigators "buried" the evidence in a separate case file and filed a successful motion to dismiss.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey can now decide whether to appeal to a higher court.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for "Rust," was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer —... Read More