A transatlantic representation deal has allied New York-based Version2.Editing (V2) and London-based Red Square Editing. Traffic will be crossing the Pond in both directions: Senior editors/partners at Red Square—Tim Fulford, Rick Waller and Alex Hagon—are available to edit commercials stateside; and V2 president/owner Vito DeSario and staff editors Lin Polito, Mark Nickelsburg, Tina Mintus and Kevin Chicken are available to cut spots in London through Red Square.
In the first week of October, the two companies will work together to edit a campaign for the Capital One Visa card via D’Arcy, New York. Directed by David Cornell of bicoastal production company Headquarters, the campaign is being filmed in Dublin, with postproduction through The Mill, London. DeSario will fly to London to cut :30 and :60 versions of one of the spots, which is called "Christmas Tree," and Red Square’s Hagon will cut :30 and :60 versions of the other, "Buccaneer."
The Visa campaign is the second job for the new alliance: Waller recently finished editing a multi-version spot for Bacardi International through V2. Called "Taxi," it was directed by bicoastal/international @radical. media’s Ralf Schmerberg via Amster Yard, New York.
Discussions between V2 and Red Square began a year ago, but plans were put on hold while the former underwent some internal restructuring. This included changing the company’s name from Vito DeSario Editing and shifting its Manhattan-based offices from the Flatiron district to neighboring Chelsea in March. Principals from V2 and Red Square met up again in June, during the Cannes International Advertising Festival, deciding the time was appropriate to solidify the arrangement.
Currently V2, with its New York operation, is looking to form a reciprocal agreement with a Californian-based editing company, in order to have ready access to an editing facility on the West Coast.
"We’re essentially offering Red Square a New York base or home, and they have reciprocated by offering us a U.K. home, so effectively they are able to work on projects out of the U.S., just as we are able to work on projects out of London," explained V2 executive producer Linda Rafoss. "I think there will be a higher incidence of the Red Square editors working out here, because part of the motivation for the alliance was to offer more editorial options to our New York clients," she said.
Stateside turf
The Red Square/V2 deal follows steps taken by several high-profile U.K. editing houses seeking a foothold in the U.S. These include the launch of London-based Final Cut’s New York office in May (SHOOT, 4/7, p.7), and the formation of an alliance between London-based editing company The Whitehouse (which also has an office in Amsterdam) and New York editing boutique Post Factory last summer (SHOOT, 8/13/99). Additionally, in April of this year, Gary Bass, former producer at J. Walter Thompson, New York, launched Chop Chop, a New York-based management company that will bring national and international editors to New York to work on spots (SHOOT, 4/7, p.7). London editors that have formed associations with Bass include Steve Gandolfi of Cut & Run, London; Ian Weil of Ian Weil Editing, London; and Marc Langley of The Firm, London.
Red Square was founded in 1992 by Waller, Fulford and a third editor—Nick Diss, who opted out of the company and was replaced by Alex Hagon in ’98. Spencer Ferszt and Louise Macgregor also edit through Red Square, and the U.K. editing house is in the process of hiring an additional editor; however, for now, only the three senior editors/partners will be put forward for U.S. work. Red Square is also in the process of moving to new premises in London’s Noho, to a space double the size of its current Soho venue.
Commenting on the current popularity of British editors in the U.S., Waller noted that New York has some great editors, but said that, to an extent, advertising will always be market-led and influenced by what is fashionable.
"There is also the fact that in the U.K. campaigns are not restricted to the :60 and :30 format, so we possibly have more experience in terms of storytelling at different lengths. In the U.K., we cover a broad spectrum ranging from :10 to :120, so that could be part of it … It’s also kicking back to the fact that over the past seven years there have been some strong campaigns from the U.K., so the demand for U.K. editors could be riding on the back of that."
Waller got his start in music videos, working at Carlton TV, London, from ’80 to ’91, cutting music videos for bands such as U2, Wet Wet Wet, the Eurythmics and Peter Gabriel, before taking a position at The Mill, London, as senior offline editor, from ’91 to ’92. It was during his stint at The Mill that Waller was first introduced to the commercialmaking industry—the focus of Red Square, which he co-founded the following year.
Waller had worked with the late director Jhoan Camitz during the past eight years, cutting such spots for Diesel Jeans as "Business as Usual," "It’s Real" and "Hot Couture" via Paradiset DDB, Stockholm. Camitz helmed the spots through MOD:film, Stockholm. Waller also cut the original Orangina Rouge campaign, "Vengence I," directed by Camitz, and more recently worked on the latest installment, "Vengence II," directed by Tierry Poiraud of Paris-based production house Entropie Films.
Hagon joined Red Square as a runner in ’94, working his way through the ranks to assistant and then editor, and becoming a partner in ’98 when Diss left. Hagon’s spot credits include cutting the European version of "Wrestling" for Lynx/Axe deodorant via the Paris office of Lowe Lintas & Partners Worldwide. Directed by @radical. media’s Barton Landsman, "Wrestling" was created in the U.S. and local versions were cut for each market.
Prior to co-founding Red Square, Fulford was at London-based editing company The Film Editors, which he joined in ’79, initially as a runner, exiting in ’82 to work as an assistant editor on films including The Hunger and The Keep. He returned in ’83 as an assistant editor, becoming an editor in ’84 and leaving in ’93 to co-found Red Square.
Fulford is best known for spots such as the Independent Newspaper’s "Litany," directed by Rob Sanders of Helen Langridge Associates, London, via Lowe Howard-Spink, London, which won the Grand Prix in the film category at the Cannes International Advertising Festival in ’99; and the Yellow Pages spot "Cleaners," directed by Tom Vaughan of Helen Langridge Associates for Abbott Mead Vicker, BBDO, London.
V2 is repped nationally by independent rep Barrie Isaacson.