Editors Stuart Waks, Susan Munro and Michael Bartoli have teamed with executive producer Gail Butler to form hybrid, a Santa Monica house offering creative editorial, finishing, visual effects and motion graphics.
Munro has already wrapped the first project under the new banner, cutting a Union Bank campaign directed by Ray Dillman of bicoastal/international MJZ for San Diego-based agency MeadsDurket. At press time, Waks was editing a Toshiba webisode campaign titled “Boring vs. Normal” for Y&R, Irvine, Calif., and directed by Mark Foster of P13+Co., New York.
The hybrid roster also includes editors Cory Livingston and Duncan Shepherd. Livingston comes over from Filmcore Santa Monica and prior to that was with The Whitehouse.
The rest of hybrid’s editorial lineup and executive producer Butler had most recently been with 89 Editorial. Butler joined bicoastal 89 as its West Coast exec producer last year (SHOOT, 6/20/08), followed by editors Munro in October ’08, Bartoli in January ’09, and Waks in February ’09. Shepherd was at 89 prior to Butler being hired there. While 89’s longstanding New York base of operation remains intact, the shop recently closed its Santa Monica office.
Power credits
Hybrid additionally represents editor and graphics/finishing artist Oliver Power who is best known for his work on Doritos’ “Power of the Crunch” commercial which finished second in the client’s “Crash The Super Bowl” contest and earned the fifth place slot in this year’s USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter rundown. “Power of the Crunch” was directed and conceptualized by Eric Heimbold whose spotmaking roost is Venice, Calif.-based Wild Plum (SHOOT, 2/20).
All of hybrid’s editors are established in commercials. In addition to his spot endeavors (Nissan, Sony PlayStation II, Budweiser, Lexus, Ford and the Ridley Scott-directed iconic Chanel No. 5 ad “Gardens”), Waks has had a hand in cutting several feature films, serving as one of the editors on such movies as Ali directed by Michael Mann, Days of Thunder helmed by Tony Scott, and Any Given Sunday directed by Oliver Stone. Waks also edited a Stone-directed commercial for Heineken, and a Mann-directed spot for Rolex.
Prior to joining 89, exec producer Butler was a senior producer at The Whitehouse, Santa Monica, where she worked with such brands as Nike, Coca-Cola, Miller, Motorola, Land Rover, Visa, Nissan, Dunkin’ Donuts, Lexus, NASCAR and UPS. She began her career at Red Car in Southern California and subsequently moved up the ranks there to producer before leaving in ’04.
The editors at hybrid are available in all markets and for mobile on-set editorial. Hybrid is handled by Doug Sherin and Kimberley Griswold of Los Angeles-based independent rep firm OPTiONS.
