Executive producer/principal Deanne Mehling has launched Chrome, an edit shop featuring cutters Lance Pereira and Hal Honigsberg. The Santa Monica-based venture reunites Mehling and Pereira, who were formerly colleagues at Jigsaw Editorial in Santa Monica. Honigsberg was most recently a staffer at Red Car’s Santa Monica operation. (Red Car also maintains shops in New York, Chicago, San Fran cisco and Dallas, as well as a presence in Toronto.)
Mehling characterized Chrome as "an opportunity to do my own thing with two people I love working with." She said Pereira and Honigsberg "possess a high-end aesthetic and are great with sound design and special effects." The editors—who first met in the mid-1990s while working at Santa Monica-based Graying & Balding’s editorial division—indicated that a close and supportive working environment is what attracted them to Chrome. For instance, Honigsberg and Pereira jointly cut a pair of recent Budweiser ads—"Neighbors 1" and "Neighbors 2"—via Ornelas & Associates, Dallas.
"Our clients are getting the support of the whole company, as opposed to just one of us," said Honigsberg. "It’s a concentrated group effort, which is an asset to anyone that comes through the door."
Directed by Wayne Isham of Los Angeles-headquartered A Band Apart Commercials, the Budweiser ads are a Spanish-language version of the original Isham-helmed "Neighbors" campaign, out of DDB Chicago. All the ads capture a day in the life of a neighborhood and feature time-lapse photography and a catchy soundtrack. Mehling said it’s possible that the latest spots, which were shot in Rio de Janeiro, but are meant to represent Miami, will be re-recorded in English for general market air.
Since coming aboard Chrome, Pereira has also cut an Isham-directed Pepsi spot via Uniworld, New York, which features hip hop artist Wyclef Jean. Pereira is currently working on a project out of a Japanese agency, which he wasn’t at liberty to publicly discuss. Meanwhile Honigsberg most recently cut the David Gray music video "Please Forgive Me," which was directed by David Kellogg of bicoastal Anonymous.
According to both parties, Mehling and Jigsaw mutually agreed to part ways in October 2000. At that time, Jigsaw general manager/head of sales Traci Meyer was promoted to executive producer (see SHOOT’s "Street Talk," 11/10/00, p. 38). According to Meyer, an announcement regarding new editorial talent at Jigsaw is imminent.
Also joining Chrome is producer Ashley Hydrick, who spent the past two years in the same capacity at Jigsaw. Previously she was lead scheduler at Digital Magic, one of several post, animation and effect shops that last year were merged into the full-service studio R!OT, in Santa Monica (SHOOT, 3/24/00, p. 1).
Other Chrome personnel include assistant producer Stephanie Del Fonzo and runner/vault manager Brandy Dean. Mehling is in the process of securing sales representation and hiring an assistant editor. She said that it’s likely she will bring on a third editor by the end of the year, but that Chrome will "always stay a boutique."
Mehling’s credits at Jigsaw include the Sony PlayStation ad "Strip Tease," out of TBWA/ Chiat/Day, Los Angeles, and directed by Tony Kaye, who maintains his own shop, Tony K, London and Santa Monica. Pereira cut that spot and again teamed with Mehling on Apple’s "Music," also out of TBWA/ Chiat/Day, but directed by Mark Coppos of bicoastal Coppos Films.
Prior to joining Jigsaw three and a half years ago, Mehling served a brief stint as exec producer at Los Angeles-based post/visual effects house A52. Previously she was a senior producer at bicoastal/international Satellite, where for two years she worked alongside directors such as Spike Jonze, Josh Taft, Doug Aitken (now of Hollywood-based Oil Factory Films), Pam Thomas (now of bicoastal Moxie Pictures), Mark Kohr and Peter Care (Kohr and Care are with bicoastal Bob Industries).
Pereira joined Graying & Balding as an assistant editor in 1991 and was promoted to editor before moving to Jigsaw in ’98. One of his final Jigsaw assignments was "He’s Got It," a client-direct ad for multimedia music network Farmclub.com, which was directed by Brian Scott Weber and run through Los Angeles-based No Prisoners’ now defunct commercial division. Weber recently moved over to Los Angeles-based Scream (SHOOT, 3/16, p. 1).
Pereira has also cut ads for E*Trade and Autonation.com. The latter ad, "We Won" was created by Zimmerman & Partners, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and directed by Charles Wittenmeier of bicoastal/international Propaganda Films. Don Rase of Backyard Productions, Chicago and Venice, Calif., helmed the E*Trade spot "Inheritance," via Direct Partners, Los Angeles.
Honigsberg worked out of Graying & Balding from 1994 to ’97, at which point he joined Red Car. Among his Red Car credits are ads for Dr Pepper, Lexus and Nasdaq. Dr Pepper’s "Subway" and "Downtown" were created by The Richards Group, Dallas, and helmed by Jaume of bicoastal/international Partizan. Marcus Nispel of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander helmed the Lexus ad "Luxury Test," via Team One, El Segundo, Calif., as well as the Nasdaq spot "Corporate," via Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/ Euro RSCG, New York.
Honigsberg’s additional spot credits include ads for Discovery.com, Sprite and Nintendo. He also directed "Nice Color," a spec Volkswagen ad. According to Mehling, Chrome may eventually diversify into the commercial production arena, which would be mutually beneficial given Honigsberg’s emerging directorial talents and aspirations. In the future, Chrome may also pursue Web design work and feature film editorial assignments.
