HOT HOUSE: Promos from the EDGE

Who says you can never go back again? Sure you can, and you may even meet your future business partner when you do.

Jim Barrett and Chris McKinley, co-founders of Burbank, CA-based EDGE Creative, first met in 1994 at their pre-college alma mater, Germantown High School, near Memphis, TN. Barrett, doing the civic thing, was pitching in as an alumnus to mentor students in the fine arts program there and found himself working closely with McKinley, a student at the time and 15 years Barrett’s junior. The ensuing years saw them both end up on the opposite side of the continent, where their lives and careers continued to converge on various projects in the entertainment industry.

“Jim and I crossed paths at different places, working at different production companies and sat down and said, maybe we should do this thing together,” says McKinley of the apparent kismet. They officially joined creative forces in July 2004 with the launch of EDGE, their full-service production facility that specializes in writing, producing, shooting, and editing network and cable on-air promotion. On their company’s growing resume are promos for NBC’s E.R., Law & Order, and Revelations, ABC’s Desperate Housewives and Lost, FX’s Rescue Me and, most recently, the entire fall lineup for Bravo.

EDGE prides itself on being lean, fast and flexible-yet powerfully creative. With a core staff of the two principles plus two other full-time creatives, the company-housed in a 15,000-square-foot space with leased equipment-efficiently and economically serves its customers, broadening and morphing as necessary.

"One of the things that has made us unique is that we have a core bit of technology and office space and all the necessities to do a constant flow of work," says Barrett. "But at the drop of a hat, we can expand into another working room or add two or three more people to meet the needs of a client and/or job."

While emphasizing that their company is primarily a creative agency, both Barrett and McKinley have embraced the "preditor" ( producer/editor) role, with its attendant adaptability. "The core of the business is creative, writing and editing. But other jobs come along," says McKinley. "So much of the finishing and other things we didn’t expect to be doing when we started out just came from wanting to give the most we could to our clients."

Working in a digital environment, EDGE relies on a few workhorses. "We do most of our editing on Avid Media Composers and also have Avid Symphonies," says Barrett. "We can do both offline and online editing and rough cut to final online editing, including sweetening and graphics. We work with freelancers on that." After Effects and Photoshop are also used to punch out graphics.

One simple convenience their clients really seem to appreciate is the company’s FTP site for digital dailies. "A year ago, a lot of businesses like ours would have to rely heavily on messenger services, and our clients would have to wait for that delivery time. With our FTP site, when we finish it, we’re able to send [the client] the project within minutes."

This Burbank-based creative house and production company specializes in writing, producing, shooting, and editing on-air promotion pieces for clients including CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, FX and Bravo. EDGE has also produced and edited documentaries for VH1, MSNBC and The National Geographic Channel.

Jim Barrett, co-president/founder; Chris McKinley, co-president/founder; Ian Benson, assistant editor; Ian Kaufman, writer/producer/editor; and Trudi Keck, freelance producer/editor.

Avid Media Composer, Avid Symphony, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop

EDGE Creative
www.edgecreative.la
3625 W. Pacific Avenue, Suite 8
Burbank, CA 91505 ph. 818.416.4439