Utopic partner/editor Jan Maitland is embarking on an ambitious production of his own that will also be his legacy to future generations of Chicago filmmakers.
He is collecting an oral history of the commercial production industry and recording the stories that fascinated him when he started out as an assistant editor 22 years ago. They will be released as Podcasts later this summer.
Maitland has teamed with Utopic editor Keith Kristinat to produce “Time Lapse,” in a casual interview format. “We feel that this history will be an asset to those beginning their careers, as well as an entertaining retrospective for the pioneers of our industry,” he states.
Maitland has already begun capturing “Time Lapse” stories and is lining up new interviews for the ongoing series. “We will have a good body of them before in our library before we release them on iTunes and other podcast distribution sites by mid-summer.”
Maitland came up in the up in the business under great editors like Bob Carr and the late Jim (Yamus) Mudra at Optimus. “As a result of their influence — and stories — I became fascinated with, and passionate about Chicago’s post and television advertising history,” he says.
As he progressed through his career (an editor at Optimus and Edit Sweet and his own company formed three years ago), he found that young people entering the business were educated in technology and general tools of the trade, “but had little to no idea of our industry’s origins, traditions and very rich industry.”
He feels quite strongly “about correcting this knowledge gap” with stories from the people who formed the foundation of the industry and shaped it over five decades.
