Postproduction company Lost Planet has added editor Chuck Willis to its talent roster.
Through his storied career, Willis has been awarded numerous accolades, including a 2023 Clio for the spot “Those Guys,” for Volkswagen, many Cannes Lions, LIAs, ADDYs, AICP Awards, D&AD, an Emmy nomination, as well as a Grammy Award. Three of Willis’ commercial films are in the permanent collection at MoMA. He is well known for his work editing Super Bowl commercials for Go Daddy and Pepsi. For the latter, he cut “Boy In A Bottle,” a lauded Super Sunday spot. Additional advertising collaborations span brands such as Little Caesar’s, Rakuten, Hershey, Citi, Kayak, Lowes, DraftKings, New York Lottery, Dish Network and Foot Locker, among many others.
Willis additionally edited many show openings and commercial parodies for Saturday Night Live. His most popular sketches for SNL are “Woomba,” “Compulsion by Calvin Kleen,” “Colon Blow,” “Change Bank,” “The Helmsley Hotel, and Spook House,” and “Adobe, the little car that’s made out of clay.” Over the course of 15 years at the beloved late-night show, Willis honed his storytelling skills and sharpened his comedic sensibilities through editing and occasional stints directing these parody spots. In his work at SNL, Willis collaborated with comedy notables Phil Hartman, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Maya Rudolph, Jon Lovitz, and Rachel Dratch.
Prior to joining Lost Planet, Willis was a founder and editor at several editorial houses: Crew Cuts, The Cutting Room NYC, and Gattie & Lopez. Highlights from Willis’s career include teaming up to edit work for directors like Spike Lee, Michael Bay, Melina Matsoukas, Todd Field, Craig Gillespie, Dave Meyers, Bjorn Ruhmann, and The Russo Brothers, to name a few.
“Lost Planet has always had a reputation as a very creative shop, and that’s mostly due to [founder/editor] Hank Corwin,” said Willis. “We both came up in the industry around the same time. I remember he cut an AT&T spot that really turned my head around. I’ll never forget showing it to everyone at my company, saying, ‘This is editing!’ So, naturally, I’m very excited to be on board with Lost Planet.”
Lost Planet’s executive producer Casey Cayko added, “I’ve been a fan of Chuck’s work for a while now; he makes intuitive choices that lead to out-of-the-box cuts and, ultimately, very unforgettable films. He’s naturally funny, extremely talented, and, best of all, he’s a wonderful person. I look forward to seeing what’s next for him as he continues to produce incredible work.”
Sony reports healthy profits on strong sales of sensors and games
Sony's profit rose 69% in July-September from a year earlier on the back of strong sales of its image sensors, games, music and network services, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said on Friday.
Quarterly profit was 338.5 billion yen ($2.2 billion), up from 200 billion yen in the year-earlier period, while consolidated quarterly sales edged up 3% year-on-year to 2.9 trillion yen ($19 billion).
Tokyo-based Sony's latest quarterly results were boosted by healthy demand around the world for image sensors used in mobile products.
Sales also held up in its video games division. During the latest quarter, 3.8 million PlayStation 5 game consoles were sold globally, compared with 4.9 million units sold the same period a year ago.
Demand remained strong for PS5 game software, according to Sony.
The top-selling music releases from Sony for the quarter included "SOS" by SZA, David Gilmour's "Luck and Strange" and Kenshi Yonezu's "Lost Corner."
One area where Sony's business suffered was its pictures division, including TV shows and movies, which was impacted by production delays caused by the strikes in Hollywood.
Among the recent hit films from Sony was "It Ends With Us," a romantic drama based on a novel.
Sony, which also makes digital cameras and TVs, maintained its 980-billion yen ($6.4 billion) profit forecast for the fiscal year through March 2025, up 1% from the previous fiscal year.
Read More