How Lisa Long is Leading Chicago's Editing Revolution
Nimble, smart and collaborative, cutting company collective Third Coast Editorial represents a thoroughly modern way of working. Founder Lisa Long tells shots how she is bringing together the new editorial gangs of Chicago.
)
There’s a revolution going on in Chicago – editorially speaking. True, the mighty Whitehouse Post and Cutters still dominate the local market, but down in the city’s arty River North neighbourhood, one woman is quietly challenging the established order.
Having launched Third Coast Editorial (a “collective of elite international editorial companies”) last year, founder Lisa Long has already facilitated an impressive body of work. The first spot to be cut out of Third Coast’s small but efficient studio was Samsung’s award-winning Ostrich, followed by commercials for State Farm, Capital One and Kellogg’s.
“It’s been a complete whirlwind,” says Long, who doesn’t look remotely ruffled. She clearly possesses, in spades, the typical producer traits of unflappability, problem anticipation and the ability to keep creatives, directors and editors on an even keel during what is often the trickiest – and most emotional – part of the post process.
“The Soho House of editorial” is how Third Coast bills itself; something closer to a private members’ club than a four-wall studio. The collective’s members, who currently comprise Work Editorial, Final Cut, Cosmostreet and colour-grading studio Apache Digital, pay a monthly retainer. This gives them exclusive access to editing suites, studio space, multi-level assistant editors and Long’s EP services – including her enviable little black book of local agency contacts, built up over two decades in the business. They also have a veto over new member applications.
A lean, mean editing machine
In an era of shrinking budgets and in-house agency studios, Third Coast’s lean, nimble, collaborative model looks like a very modern answer to the question marks hanging over the future of creative editorial. So why hasn’t anyone managed it until now? “I guess I was just the first person to quit my job and try it,” says Long. “I figured I could sell my house and go live with my parents in the suburbs if it didn’t work out.”
The idea first started germinating in spring 2016, during the annual AICE awards show. Chatting to EPs from Final Cut, Cosmostreet and Work Editorial, Long recalls: “We were having the same conversation. What do we do about Chicago? We all knew there was work and opportunity here, but how to make it happen? No one wants to put up bricks and mortar if they don’t already have a client base here. And the editors in town are already contracted in. They’re not looking to be the next editor at, say, Final Cut when they’re already a partner at [an existing Chicago editing house].”
Long was working at a small design agency and itching to get back into the editing business, where she’d started more than 20 years ago at Red Car Chicago. “I asked myself, what is it editors need on a local level? You need an executive producer who has relationships with the agencies here already, you need a space, you need assistant editors. And [to know] that if you build it, they will come.”
“The way I saw it, if I surrounded myself with the best talent, it would bring people to the table, because people are going to want to work with that talent.”
After running the idea past the heads of production at the big Chicago shops, Long was completely convinced. “Because [bringing in editing talent] can be a big headache for an agency producer, too. When does the editor get here, where do we put ’em, what happens if the cut isn’t approved, where does the assistant come from, am I paying for them? I thought, I can solve the editing company’s problems. I can solve the agency’s problems. I’ll bring all the talent here and make it really simple.”
Once Long saw the River North studio, all the pieces fell into place. The only question was whether rival editorial companies would actually agree to share space and resources. But, driven by “a level of mutual respect” and understanding that “playing together nicely” was the only way to succeed in the market, Work, Cosmostreet and Apache Digital all signed on the dotted line, followed by Final Cut earlier this year.
“The way I saw it, if I surrounded myself with the best talent, it would bring people to the table, because people are going to want to work with that talent,” says Long. And the jobs have flooded in.
The future of creative editorial
When it comes to moving editors around the globe, Long has a wealth of experience. She was producing at the Looking Glass Company when it merged with Whitehouse Post in 2002, and was charged with the workflow of 16 editors between London, New York and LA – in the pre-smartphone era. (“We were texting on Nokia flip-phones!”)
Even so, working with three huge editorial companies has its challenges. “It’s what you’d do as an EP for one company, times three. Looking at calendars, I’m having a stroke, because everyone’s bidding on these five or six really hot brand campaigns, and what if they’re all awarded at the same time? But I tell myself there’s always a way.”
What has been the reaction from the big guns, including her former employer? Healthy competition and challenging a monopoly can only benefit the local market, reckons Long. She already plans to extend her empire to Boston and Boulder, Colorado – both markets producing work of a creative standard that demands (and, just as importantly, has the budgets to bring in) the crème de la crème of international editing talent.
Fundamentally, says Long, Third Coast represents the future of creative editorial. “These big companies with 10,000 square feet, and 10, 15 edit suites … runners, receptionists… 10 different varieties of sparkling water in the fridge – is that model really sustainable? Can you staff up when you need to? And staff down when you don’t? You’ve got to break the mould to stay current.”
Membership
