Boutique Post Production House Features Editorial, Finishing, Design & Audio Services

Three Chicago post production industry veterans have launched The Colonie, a boutique post production studio offering an unusual mix of creative services for all types of advertising content.
Editors Bob Ackerman and Brian Sepanik and executive producer Mary Caddy are all former staffers at Avenue Edit. Their new company, The Colonie, offers creative editorial as its bedrock service as well as finishing/fx and motion graphic design. Their aim is to provide agencies with a complete, flexible and creatively-oriented solution for traditional broadcast advertising (both HD and SD) and new media such as viral, webisodes and branded entertainment.

“Bob, Brian and I wanted to create a company that’s tailored to the changing needs of the advertising industry today,” explained Caddy. “We envisioned a company that is multifaceted and able to easily adapt.”

The Colonie styles itself as a modular company that can assemble different components to match the requirements of individual projects. This approach gives it the ability to tackle projects outside the confines of traditional broadcast advertising and those with unusual creative requirements. “Today, you need more than one skill set,” said Ackerman. “But having everything in one company can be clumsy. We want to be lean and flexible.”

“As Colonie, we can take on smaller projects and different kinds of projects that a larger company with more overhead could not,” added Sepanik. “I like the idea of being part of a small group of passionate people where everyone has a role in the work that we create.”

With several projects already in hand, The Colonie has hit the ground running. Ackerman has just completed a pair of TV packages for Hallmark. Sepanik has recently completed a series of videos, conceived by Leo Burnett and directed by Steve James, that are part of Chicago’s bid to land the 2016 Olympics and is now beginning a Blackberry project.

Ackerman, Sepanik and Caddy were each at Avenue Edit for more than ten years. Ackerman has won a number of awards for his work. His credits include “Required Reading” an Emmy Award winning spot for the Hallmark Hall of Fame. He was nominated for an AICE Award earlier this year for another Hallmark spot, “First Card.” He has also cut spots for Corona and Toyota, among many others.
Sepanik’s tenure at Avenue Edit spanned 11 years, including eight as an editor. His credits include commercials, webisodes and other advertising media, as well as a number of documentaries and independent films. His recent spot credits include work for Bally, SC Johnson and Kellogg’s.

Caddy served as executive producer at Avenue Edit since 1992. Her background includes posts with the music houses Libman Music, Shafer Antelis and TMK-Elias Productions. She began her career as an account executive with Chicago agency Eisaman, Johns & Laws and is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Colonie is located at 610 N. Fairbanks, Chicago IL 60611. For more information, call 312.255.1234 or visit www.thecolonie.com.