The Dallas chapter of the Association of Independent Commercial Editors (AICE) is looking at 2000 as a watershed year to increase membership, promote a frank exchange within the editorial community, and to smoke out key issues between the chapter and Dallas agencies.
The AICE, which is a national organization, also has chapters in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. AICE/Dallas began in January ’99 with five Dallas-based companies: charlieuniformtango (CUT), Fast Cuts, Tom’s Easy Way, Hothaus (a division of Video Post & Transfer), and Red Car. (Red Car also has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.) Chapter president Tom Aberg, who is owner/editor of Tom’s Easy Way, is banking on adding to the roster at a meeting this month.
"We’re trying to attract new members, but it’s not that easy," says Aberg. "Honestly, we’re still struggling. But we’re committed to getting new members. We feel like there are some companies in Dallas that want to join, and two more in Austin. What’s happened is a number of people have made inquiries, but when we ask for dues, [the interest] tends to fizzle. When they ask, ‘What’s in it for us?’, and we start talking about philosophies and intangibles, they’re not ready for it."
To combat the reluctance of some shops to join, AICE/Dallas has drafted an invitation for its February meeting that elucidates the association’s mission and membership benefits. The invite is being sent to 10 non-member editorial shops in Dallas and Austin.
Aberg believes that editorial houses will find the AICE membership attractive. The membership includes access to a standardized editorial bid form, negative insurance and uniform cancellation policies for clients who have to pull out of edit sessions, as well as an ad campaign which the AICE plans to run this year.
The leadership of AICE/Dallas believes that access to the aforementioned benefits—especially negative insurance—will be the editorial houses’ strongest incentive to join. "Historically, the production company’s insurance lagged over to cover the negative while it was in the editorial house, but the 4A’s [American Association of Advertising Agencies] wanted something more secure," explains chapter VP Richard Gillespie, president/owner of Fast Cuts. "The AICE—particularly the New York chapter—has been instrumental in getting some insurers on board. As an AICE member, you can get negative insurance that an independent company can’t buy." Gillespie says that currently, the only way to obtain negative insurance is through joining the AICE, and predicts that it will become a necessity for finishing houses within a few years.
Discussion
Aberg believes that over time, editorial shops will find that the greatest membership benefit is in having access to the platform AICE provides—for editorial houses to sit down with agencies and production companies to discuss mutual issues of concern. "It’s important that the association build a good working relationship with the agencies and not be confrontational," says Aberg. "We’re very sensitive to that. We don’t want to come off like a union. We want to find a way to communicate with the agencies to find out what they need. And we want to be able to sit down with the agencies and educate them on issues that concern us."
AICE/Dallas first opened these lines of communication last October, when it hosted a meet-and-greet session. That event attracted 300 to 400 agency creatives and producers, as well as editors and editorial house staff.
Aberg, Gillespie and AICE/ Dallas VP/AICE national treasurer Lola Lott, owner of charlieuniformtango, describe the gathering as a smashing success. "It was tremendously successful and we had lots and lots of compliments," recalls Gillespie. "It gave us a chance to face off with the community in a setting they were unaccustomed to. Here were all the editors, who were basically enemies and competitors in the past, and we were having a nice social event." The party initiated a dialogue that AICE/Dallas intends to make more structured via a panel discussion in July with editors and agency creatives.
Issues Aberg hopes will be included in the panel discussion are what needs to be done to convince agencies to finish spots in Dallas (as opposed to Los Angeles or Canada); the use of cost consultants; and familiarizing Texas agencies with AICE National’s aforementioned edit session cancellation guidelines.
"We want to form this [panel] around a new ad campaign that AICE is trying to develop this year," says Lott. "We thought we’d call this event ‘Who’s My Editor?,’ " and base questions around that."
The chapter is also planning to consult with local universities to turn out graduates who are better equipped to move into the industry as editors. "The curriculum in some of these schools is so off base," says Aberg. "If we as an association could have a little input about the sorts of things and equipment they’re being trained on, it could be beneficial for both of us." Aberg hopes to target film programs at the University of North Texas, Denton, the University of Texas, Austin, and Southern Methodist University, Dallas.
In terms of working with the AICE National, Aberg says that Dallas plans to support the organization’s main objectives. In a letter to members, AICE National president Jeanne Bonansinga—who is also president of Edit Sweet, Chicago—outlined the association’s major pushes for the coming year. Those included the trade ad campaign, planning an AICE/Editorial Awards show for 2001, upgrading the directory, and continuing to develop the lines of communication among editorial companies both nationally and locally.
The only significant difference between AICE/Dallas’ goals and those of the other chapters, adds Gillespie, is that the Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and San Francisco groups want to attract business from Dallas, and vice versa.
"I think the goals and objectives are all part of the same thing, in that we all want a bigger piece of the pie," Gillespie says. "We want to raise the level of importance of the editor. We want to create significance in what the editor’s craft is and what he or she does—not just as an extension of the Avid, Fire or Flame, but what he or she also brings to it from his or her experience."
Aberg is convinced that the membership ranks will increase substantially over the next two years as non-members come to understand the aims of the Dallas chapter. "It’s an education process that we’re just starting," he says.
