Nestled in the heart of Austin's warehouse district, post-production boutique 501 Post opened five years ago and has continued its healthy acquisition of national spot work with the recent addition of some impressive editorial and visual effects talent.

Editors Gavin Tatro, Angelo Valencia and visual effects artist Eric Pham now operate within a space offering some of the most advanced technology available in the five-state Southwestern region of the US.

"It's fantastic to see competent professionals working here without an attitude," continues O'Dwyer on the new posse. "They play off of each other's talents exceptionally well. It's very unusual to have that kind of teamwork from major players, so it's cool to see."

Stepping back to take in the full picture, O'Dwyer opened 501 Post after deciding to build a well-oiled machine focused strictly on editorial work.

"We gutted the building, put in new bays and equipment and made a comfortable, cosy and intimate shop," explains O'Dwyer. "I decided to shrink the focus of the post house that once stood here with the intent of becoming a creative editorial shop."

O'Dwyer's recent addition of Tatro, Valencia and Pham came about after scouting for new talent to allow the company to grow at a more healthy rate.

"They were all at the top of my list," admits O'Dwyer, who feels somewhat gracious to be housing the three amigos. "It was important for us to pick exceptional talent and take our work to the next level. We needed to create an in-shop ability for more dialog-driven, comedic spots."

Tatro arrives from Santa Monica-based Hank's Editorial and has already cut a Miller Genuine Draft campaign through local agency LatinWorks, filmed in Buenos Aires by Argentine Marcelo Szechtman of Flehner Film. He has also edited a package of Land Rover spots through well-respected local agency GSD&M.

Valencia also hit the ground running, editing a three-spot campaign for Sea World. He previously cut with San Francisco-based FilmCore where his work on Brandon Dickerson's "Low Rider" spot for the San Francisco Jazz Festival recently collected a Gold Lion at Cannes.

Pham is from the feature world but is also recognized as an art director, graphics designer and visual effects artist/compositor. He previously acted as visual effects artist at Hollywood-based CRC Digital. His credits include visual effects for Mission Impossible II, The World Is Not Enough, Mask of Zorro, Lethal Weapon 4 and Stuart Little. Pham is currently mapping out visual effects for a beer-branding concept created by producer Kenny Grant, again at GSD&M.

"I knew that I could use his visual effects capabilities in several places here but didn't realize I'd be using him as much as I am right now," admits O'Dwyer on the effect guru. "Companies are also interested in using his abilities as a post supervisor but he's fully booked for a while to come."

The past year has harvested a crop of healthy spots for 501 Post who have completed work for the 2000 presidential campaign, Super Bowl XXXV, the Sydney Olympics, the aforementioned Miller Genuine Draft (MGD), Southwestern Bell, Southwest Airlines, Digititas, Hoovers.com, Schlotzky's, Puritan Pride, Mirage Casinos, United Supermarkets, Chili's and Pennzoil. Feature film work is slated to be increased, although O'Dwyer notes that the company edited opening sequences for the Forrest Whitaker flick "Hope Floats" and the trailer for "The Newton Boys."

Webfiles:
501 Post> http://www.501studios.com/