Bright-eyed and full of energy, PS260 heads west to LA, taps Carol Dunn to lead effort
There’s a new outpost out west for post-production company PS260. The company behind some of the ad industry’s top commercials, including for clients Omnicom, Interpublic, WPP, AT&T, Bank of America, JetBlue, Acura, Google and M&M’s, is now holed up in an iconic home near the canals of Venice, California, with a new executive producer in tow.
Carol Dunn will head up the west coast office of the New York-based editorial and post-production company, helping build client relationships in the Los Angeles area and beyond, and she’ll do it from an office many know as the Californication house. David Duchovny’s character, Hank Moody, was the resident author/heartbreaker during the HBO series and lived in the uber-hip home.
Considering its television pedigree, the house seems a perfect office for a company in the business. But it’s industry veteran Dunn who will shape and grow the company’s west coast operations.
“We’ve wanted to open an office in Los Angeles for awhile now. We’re doing more work there with client relationships extending to the West Coast,” said PS260’s Managing Partner Zarina Mak. “With her incredible talent and industry expertise, Carol is the perfect person to grow the business. We’re beyond thrilled to welcome her to the team.”
Dunn will be reporting to Mak in her new role. She joins PS260 from Squeak E Clean Productions, where she served as EP & Head of Sales, overseeing and directing national sales force, marketing and new business. She previously held leadership roles at music production company Amber Music, Capitol Records and Interscope Records.
“I’ve always been impressed with the caliber of PS260’s work, and I’m really excited to step into my role. I knew right away that I wanted to take on the challenge of launching a new office and helping PS260 bring their unique culture to the West Coast,” said Dunn. “They’re not your typical post-production house, and they don’t want to be. Any idea can be brought to the table, and it’s with that mentality that you see some of the most creative pieces of artistry produced. And the office space isn’t too bad, either.”
That office space has been transformed from its shooting locale to mirror the aesthetic of PS260’s New York 5th Avenue space, while keeping a decidedly LA vibe. It was was designed by David Hertz FAIA in Venice, and the building has been honored for its environmentally responsible design with recognition including the Sustainable Living Award by the Eco Home network.
"We'd always been toying with the idea of setting up our LA operation in a house as opposed to a traditional office space. For us, editing is such an intimate, personal and intense part of the post process that requires so much time and focus. We thought working 'at home' with our clients could create such a unique dynamic and would just be a really comfortable and rewarding way to work,” said JJ Lask, PS260’s partner and editor.
Dunn will certainly have a great home base to help PS260 grow out west. The Drum talked briefly with her regarding the move.
The Drum: California, eh? What about the west is so appealing, aside from the obvious, for the company?
Dunn: Well, PS260 clearly has its editorial and familial roots set in New York. We started doing more and more work on the West Coast so it just made sense to make the move out west -- to grab a seedling and plant it in Los Angeles, if you will. So many great adventurers have headed west with their dreams looking for their next great success. What attracted me to PS260 was and still is their great culture. Aside from the stellar work, there is a true East Coast brand that is cool, electric, artistic and addictive about them. The idea is to bring that same culture to LA, but nuanced with a West Coast feel. It truly comes down to expansion, diversifying our client base so that we’re able to better serve both coasts and provide that same PS260 panache that our clients have grown to love.
The Drum: What will constitute a win in six months/a year?
Dunn: What will constitute growth is simply growth. We are very happy in New York and have been growing steadily for the past 13 years. Again, we could have been satisfied with that success and rested on the laurels of our stellar East Coast reputation, but we wanted to take a chance in offering a brick and mortar solution to all of the great work we were getting from our West Coast clients. In six months, we hope to be working with every agency in Los Angeles. In a year, we’d love to be working with every agency on the West Coast. That would be incredible growth and proof that dreams do come true in the city of angels.
The Drum: You’re fresh on the PS260 scene — and have tons of really cool, varied experiences. What will you bring to the mix for PS260 in LA?
Dunn: What I hope to bring is all of my musical experience and my over 30 years of record and movie industry experience. I have very dear friends who are now heads of music departments at major film companies, TV networks and trailer houses, or who are running the video departments at record companies. We were all assistants together. We still speak to each other and have a mutual respect for where our careers have taken us. I want us to be cutting those trailers and movies and videos.
My son graduated from RISD with an illustration degree. He took some computer science classes at Brown while in Rhode Island and is pretty much a self-taught web designer. All of his friends are on different parts of the creative spectrum, where the discrepancies are only in the industries that they have chosen. I talk to him and his friends and get inspired all the time. They are true content creators. PS260’s tapped into that creative artistic millennial mentality. When we sit around, we don’t just talk editorial. We talk about books and theater and art and food. We are going to take our varied interests and talent into places that will surprise a lot of people.
The Drum: The Californication house? Wow!! Bold. What will make this a special place?
Dunn: What makes the Californication house so special is, firstly, it is a house. There was a very deliberate intention to be in a house to make our client’s feel like they are visiting a home. Seeing this house in pictures is breathtaking, but actually walking onto the grounds and being here is truly hair raising. The house is unbelievable. It’s so hard to put into words what makes it special. It was built with love, and the architect raised his kids here. Not to sound super LA, but the energy is special. Once you come inside, you don’t want to leave.
The Drum: Three years from now, what will you and I be talking about with PS260?
Dunn: We’ll be talking about how our first year goals were achieved in six months and how our expansion had exploded beyond our wildest dreams. I am very bright-eyed and full of energy when it comes to PS260, but I can tell you with full assurance that even though I’m surrounded by people who have been here for five, eight, or 13 years, they are all equally as bright-eyed and full of energy. There are no bounds to what we believe we will accomplish. Please do come back in three years; I’d love to show you the house we had to buy next door.