Post-Its

Editor Grant MacDowell, formerly of Brass Knuckles, Venice, Calif., has joined Optimus, which maintains offices in Chicago and Santa Monica. The Santa Monica shop, which had been known as CO-OP Editorial, has been re-branded as Optimus. Grant will be based at the Santa Monica site. During his three years at Brass Knuckles, MacDowell cut a mix of work, including humor spots for T-Mobile, automotive fare for the likes of Mazda, Ford and Lincoln and lifestyle ads for Las Vegas Tourism. Also coming aboard Optimus is junior editor Justin Amore who has primarily freelanced over the years at Spot Welders, Venice, and now defunct Superior Assembly. Amore served as a long-time assistant to noted editor James Haygood. Optimus, which is under the aegis of president Tom Duff, has an editors’ roster that includes MacDowell, Amore, Tim Kloehn, Craig Lewandowski, Steve Mach, Jan Maitland, Randy Palmer, Dana Phillips, Katherine Pryor, Deb Schimmel, Jim Staskauskas and Kate Wrobel….Editorial houses Blue Rock, New York, and Rex Edit, Venice, Calif., have entered into a reciprocal alliance. Per the arrangement, Blue Rock gains a foothold on the West Coast while Rex Edit now has a home base in the Big Apple. Rex’s clients can also access the extensive postproduction resources at Blue Rock, as needed. Blue Rock executive VP Joanne Ferraro related, “Our partnership with Rex gives our talent access to an L.A. client base, which will allow them an even greater opportunity to pursue more avenues of creativity.”  Conversely, the deal is in line with Rex owner/editor Bill Marmor’s business model of maintaining a boutique shop yet still being able to tap into other markets and resources without adding to company overhead. Some five months ago, for example, Rex Edit entered into a reciprocal alliance with Sydney-based Guillotine, garnering U.S. representation for editors Drew Thompson and Alexandre de Francheschi who are both Down Under (SHOOT, 9/24, p. 7). “In some respects,” observed Marmor, “the business is becoming more localized with agencies keeping work in their home cities. So if we can establish relationships in different markets, we can be better positioned to access work.”….Meanwhile, Blue Rock has added to its talent lineup through the signing of editor Don Kleszy, formerly of The Well, New York. Kleszy’s other prior roosts include Crew Cuts, New York, and 89 Greene, New York. He is also experienced as a musician, enabling him to serve as sound designer and/or music director on projects….Editor David Checel has joined bicoastal/international Cut + Run. Checel recently completed a new spot for Gatorade via Element 79, is currently cutting the music sequences for a new Outkast film, as well as a Brothers Strause-directed music video starring the band A Perfect Circle for the movie Constantine. He arrives from Filmcore, Santa Monica, where he edited spots for such clients as MasterCard, ESPN Sportscenter, Nike, Diet Coke, Target, Budweiser, Lexus, Lincoln, Mitsubishi, Honda and Ford–Colorist Seamus O’Kane is exiting VTR, London, to join The Mill, London. He starts at The Mill in April. His recent credits include spots for such clients as Stella, HSBC and Lynx. At VTR, O’Kane was part of a team that deployed a combination of Spirit and Spectre on both commercials and digital intermediate projects….Northern Lights Post, New York, has added editor/visual effects artist Christopher Harrison. He comes over from Broadway Video, New York…. Creative editorial house Greybox, Richmond, Va., has brought on board editors Ben Layman and Nick Wurz, both of whom also have extensive design experience….

Senior producer Velvy Appleton and executive producer Buzz Hays have joined Radium, which has shops in San Francisco and Santa Monica.  Appleton is no stranger to Radium; last year he worked there as a freelance visual effects producer for Sin City. Prior to that, he produced feature film visual effects for SpyKids3D and Hellboy via The Orphanage, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Meanwhile Hays has served as executive producer and producer at yU+co. Hollywood, VP/co-founder of Tribeca Interactive, San Francisco, and head of research and development at Lucasfilm, San Rafael, Calif…..Steve Meyer has joined The Napoleon Group, New York, as executive producer. His experience includes serving as an exec producer, production executive and visual effects, animation and post supervisor on a wide range of projects, including commercials, broadcast promos/graphics, TV program and feature films. He was visual effects supervisor on Game 6, an ’05 Sundance feature, and on The History Channel’s Troy, on-air graphics director/post supervisor for NBC’s 9/11 benefit Concert for America, and HD producer/post supervisor on feature film The Believer, which copped a dramatic grand jury prize at Sundance in ’01. As the visual effects supervisor/producer for Image Design/Blink.fx, New York, Meyer worked on commercials for Endust, Aquafresh, Ford Escort, Quaker Oats, Jif Peanut Butter and Prestone, among others. The Napoleon Group consists of: Napoleon Art for art and illustration; Napoleon Post for multi-format editing; Ultra-Sound for voice recording, audio mixing, music and sound design; Code Films for live-action production; and Code f/x for visual effects planning, pre-visualization, computer animation, compositing and finishing….

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