Colorist Lez Rudge and veteran production and postproduction executives Marcelo Gandola, Axel Ericson and Ed Rilli have joined forces to launch TWELVE, a high-end post boutique for the advertising, film and television industry. The announcement comes on the heels of several projects under the TWELVE banner, including campaigns for Jagermeister, Comcast, Maybelline, and the NY Rangers.
TWELVE’s 4,500-square-foot space in Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood features three DaVinci/Resolve color rooms, two Autodesk Flame suites, and a 4K DI Theater with a 7.1 Dolby surround sound system and 25-person seating capacity. Clients also have access to a suite of film and production services– editorial, mastering, finishing and audio mixing–as part of a strategic alliance with Ericson and his team at Digital Arts. Ericson, who brings 25 years of experience in film and television, also serves as managing partner of TWELVE.
Rudge was formerly a colorist and partner at Nice Shoes, with clients such as Revlon, Avon, Canon, GE and Dewar’s. Since 2015, Rudge has also been focusing on his directorial career. His most recent campaign for the NY Rangers and Madison Square Garden–a concept-to-completion project via TWELVE–garnered more than 300,000 Facebook hits on its first day.
Rilli was previously head of production at Nice Shoes for 17 years. His long list of agency clients includes Hill Holiday, Publicis, Grey, and Saatchi & Saatchi, with projects for the likes of Dunkin Donuts, NFL, Maybelline and Ford. At TWELVE, Rilli will handle client relations, strategy, budgets and deadlines, among other deliverables for the business.
Gandola was most recently chief operations officer at Harbor Picture Company. Other notable positions include: EVP at Hogarth; SVP of creative services at Deluxe Entertainment Services Group; VP of operations at Company 3; and principal of Burst @ Creative Bubble, a digital audio and sound design company.
While TWELVE is currently working on short-form content, such as commercials and marketing campaigns, the company is making a concerted effort to extend its reach into film and television. Meanwhile, the partners also have a significant roster expansion in the works to fill its state-of-the-art post facility.
“After all of these years on both the vendor and client side, we’ve learned how best to get things done,” concludes Gandola. “In a way, technology has become secondary, and artistry is where we keep the emphasis. That’s the essence of what we want to provide clients, and that’s ultimately what pushed us to open our own place.”
