Henson Alternative's Stuffed and Unstrung.

The idea of the Renaissance Man is making a resurgence in the post-production world. Companies like Digital Domain, which launched creative studio Mothership in February, are building rosters of talent that can not only handle post, but also conceptualize creative and direct spots. The latest to join the fray is Detox, a hybrid production boutique that launched in New York in March. Headed by Company X Edit founder/editor Barney Miller, Detox provides an alternative to the compartmentalization in traditional production with its all-under-one-roof model.

“It’s not a case of, ‘Hey we’re in post-production, let’s get in production because we can make a killing there.’ It was more like everyone here has grown up in the industry in other disciplines so let’s offer that to the advertising and marketing communities,” says Miller. “Because we’re a post house we have Flame and graphic capabilities. But we also have two sister companies: Sugarbox Studios, where we mix audio; and Shout It Out Loud music, which is an original music and licensing company.”

Detox applied its model to a recent campaign for Henson Alternative’s Stuffed and Unstrung, a live show that reimagines Jim Henson’s Muppets for an adult-only audience. Miller directed the :30 spot, as well as two web films that he was able to conceptualize and shoot with the hours saved in the shoot day – the result of an editor’s know-how applied to directing.

“What I bring to a set as an editor is that I have never – knock on wood – gone over,” he says. “What I find is often you get a lot of footage and a lot of angles. Very often you need that extra angle, but not for a simple story. For Henson Alternatives, I worked with my DP to time it out and sure enough we finished early, so we set up the virals in the other room.”

Miller launched Detox alongside co-CD Andy Hollander, head of production Rachelle Way and Alice Mintzer, who is in charge of creative development. The roster of directors/post talent includes Terence Ziegler, Bruce Ashley, Robert Jason and Aaron Brown.

“It’s always been a philosophy of mine to build ventures around talent first,” says Miller. “In the [past] a lot of companies took out lines of credit, built up huge facilities and hoped they could fill them with talent. I don’t think that business model is going to work anymore.” Q

www.detox.tv