Named for the electric trolley system that ran through Los Angeles in the city’s halcyon days, editorial company Red Car is the brainchild of Larry Bridges, who, first as editor and then as director, helped to create a revolution in advertising for hand-held, grainy, textured "anti-commercials," complete with quick cuts, jumps, whip pans, stills and run-outs. Red Car opened its first shop in Hollywood in ’82, the year Bridges cut Michael Jackson’s influential "Beat It" video. As Red Car has moved into new arenas—signing additional editors, acquiring new editorial companies, and expanding its services—the company has worked to deliver, according to Bridges, both creativity and service.
With offices in Santa Monica, New York, Dallas and Chicago, Red Car now has numerous outposts but still considers itself a boutique. Each office is self-sufficient with its own editors, and the branches sometimes trade talent. Red Car recently consolidated its Los Angeles operations into new digs in Santa Monica, and has made forays into other areas of post such as online editing, effects work and audio post.
"The company started in ’80 in a garage and moved to Hollywood Center Studios, where we were for twelve years," Bridges recalls. "I started editing locally in Los Angeles for such agencies as Chiat Day [now TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles] in the pre-1984 Apple Computer days. … At the same time, I was working on music videos. This was [before] MTV; music videos were a hobby of mine.
"Like everybody else, I got into [editing] with a friend, by doing promos for record companies," Bridges continues. "Because I was straddling both the commercial and music video realms, I was offered the opportunity to edit ‘Beat It,’ directed by Bob Giraldi [now of bicoastal Giraldi Suarez Productions]. ‘Beat It’ propelled music videos into the mainstream, and then with MTV, the agencies discovered rock stars as promoters. So I started doing every rock ‘n’ roll commercial that was out there, which launched my career from being locally to nationally known."
In ’84, Bridges edited the Super-8, hand-held "Walk on the Wild Side" for Honda motorcycles (starring Lou Reed), via Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore., and directed by Steve Horn of Steve & Linda Horn Inc., New York. Later, Bridges would establish long-term editorial collaborations with Wieden & Kennedy and director Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA, on several ads for Nike.
"What happened with Pytka and other directors I was working with," says Bridges, "was that I was coming to New York a lot for big jobs. It became clear that I needed an office there." Red Car’s New York office, which opened in ’87, began growing even more rapidly than the Los Angeles branch. When Bridges began doing jobs in Chicago, he again decided that Red Car needed another outpost. The most recent addition to Red Car is its Dallas branch, which came about when Red Car purchased Yellow Rose Editorial (SHOOT, 1/8/99, p. 7). "It’s not like we grew overnight," says Bridges. "It was a slow and gradual process."
In ’88, Bridges went from the cutting room to the director’s chair, helming and editing spots such as Veryfine Juice’s "Fill Up" and Gravy Train’s "Woof Woof" out of Red Car Productions, via Chiat Day, New York (now TBWA/Chiat/Day). His directing credits also include spots for American Express, Bugle Boy jeans, Arby’s and AT&T. A recent example of Bridges’ combined directorial and editorial work is "Big Change" for Kraft General Food’s Velveeta Shells ‘n Cheese, via Leo Burnett Co., Chicago.
CROSS COUNTRY
Red Car has a stable of 24 editors in four cities. In addition to Bridges, Los Angeles editors include Jonathan Del Gatto, Adam Lobel, Hal Honigsberg, Susan Munro, Justin Stolo and Rob Watzke. In New York, the editorial ensemble consists of Anne Craddock, Beth Cramer, Tom Tortoriello, Glenn Conte, John Maloney, Peter Sorcher, Peter Barstis, Jerry Fried, Ron D’Argenio and Toni Blye. Chicago cutters include Adam Sobocienski, Sean Berringer, Michael Corrigan, Tom Kedzuch, Jim Lipetzky and Kerri Kuziel. The Dallas editorial contingent consists of Jonathan Edwards, Joe Elwood, Ron Sussman and Brian Hicks.
"My approach is to always create an attractive creative brand reputation," Bridges says of Red Car’s infrastructure. "We were the first company to be looked at as a brand," he contends. "Our logo, our company and our tradition promise something. People associate us with creative editing, with editing knowledge, and with people who can work with the most advanced directors in the craft. [What] I try to communicate to our editors is that the company is dedicated to their careers, not to amassing wealth, growth or machinery.
"We also reinvest constantly in the company’s service profile so that it is the best place to work not only in terms of atmosphere. Editors and agencies are surrounded by the smartest assistants, managers, and producers," he continues. "I have a principle of always hiring editors at every position, which helps the organization to grow toward better service. We have four generations of editors working [at the company]. One is at a level where they don’t know that they’re editors yet, and then we have apprentices, assistants, and senior editors."
Recent work from Red Car’s four offices includes "First Book" for McDonald’s, directed by Pytka via DDB, Chicago; "FBI Guy" for the Cadillac Seville STS via DMB&B, Troy, Mich., directed by Nick Lewin of bicoastal X-1 Films; "Pulled Hammy" for La Quinta hotels, directed by Neil Tardio Jr. out of now defunct Fahrenheit Films (he has since joined Fuel/Razorfish, Santa Monica) via Publicis, Dallas; CNET’s "Boss," directed by Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international Hungry Man out of Citron Haligman Bedecarre, San Francisco (the account has since moved to Legas Delaney, San Francisco); EDS’ "Speech," helmed by Frank Todaro of bicoastal/international @radical.media out of Fallon McElligott, Minneapolis; "Goldfish" for Ecampus.com, directed by Jesse Dylan of bicoastal Straw Dogs; Living.com’s "Hurdler," directed by Chris Hooper of bicoastal Tool of North America for Leo Burnett Co., Chicago; and "Anthem," for Toysmart.com, directed by Marcus Nispel of bicoastal RSA USA via Arnold Communications, Boston.
SERVICE EXPANSION
With the acquisition of Discreet Logic Smoke and Flame in ’98, Red Car has moved into more online and finishing work, which allows the company to handle post on a spot from start to finish. An example of such a project was a three-spot package for Fresh Samantha juices. The commercials—"Moose Lee," "Beard Net" and "Moose Fire"—were directed by Jeff Feuerzeig of Washington Square Films, New York, via Dweck!, New York. The campaign establishes the Fresh Samantha brand identity in an off-the-wall manner by lampooning pop culture while promoting the quality of the juices. The Red Car, New York talent handled the offline and online edit, visual effects and audio post for the project.
"Our talent pools in the various cities are not competing, but are complementing each other," Bridges says. "Sometimes a job is too big for a company, so we can expand suddenly because we can bring in another couple of editors. We are a big company, but what’s key to maintaining a boutique feeling is making sure that all the individual units are big enough to provide good service, but not too big that they become facility block houses. We’re in different cites but we’re interconnected. We’re a web of nodes, offering specific creative services."
