On a recent Friday, a harried DDB producer called Foundation Content with a rushed last minute job for H&R Block. On Saturday, Foundation’s Damian Riddell directed a live people shoot on Foundation’s stage, edited it on Sunday and delivered it to the agency on Monday.
All in a day’s work for the city’s pioneer hybrid post/production company, celebrating its sixth anniversary this month.
Looking back to when CEO Samantha Hart and her husband, ace editor James Lipetzky, started Foundation Post, Hart sees how their business evolved organically ahead of each rapidly-changing curve.
Consequently, she estimates that 30% of their business is editorial and 70% is production that always includes editing.
At the moment, Hart is beaming with the addition of one of the great L.A. editors as the perfect anniversary gift. Jonathan Del Gatto, whose prestigious industry awards would fill a library wall, has joined Foundation’s Santa Monica office.
“And of course,” she assures, “Jonathan will be available to work with our clients in Chicago.”
Early on, the company diversified by hiring director/editors for work other than spots. It paid off almost immediately.
They found a niche in creating trailers, the most current for Music Box Films’ “North Face” release; music videos, such as Elizabeth and the Catapult on the Verve label and seen on Universal’s Vevo, and web content, such as recipes for the Philadelphia Cream Cheese site.
A bigger internet division is on the drawing board for this year.
