If you are in the business in Orange County and asked anyone what is the go-to company for Action Sports and Action Wear production, the clear, unequivocal answer would be ChopShop. ChopShop is certainly that but much, much more.
ChopShop Entertainment is a creative team whose expertise includes concepting, copywriting, video and film production, as well as post-production, design, animation, and website development. ChopShop produces output for all size screens: broadcast, online, cell phone, iPod, event, or DVD.
ChopShop is well known and respected in the industry for its production resources from in-house directors and producers, to a robust network of freelance talent. They handle projects of any size and complexity.
Their client list is a compilation cool, leading brands like Harley-Davidson, RedBull, Volcom, Boost Mobile, RipCurl, Etnies, BodyGlove, FatBurger, Taco Bell and many others as well as leading advertising agenciies such as O’Leary and Partners and DraftFCB.
The ChopShop team includes designers, copywriters, and other creative talent who craft content for all purposes and destinations. Their full range of offerings include visual concepts, storyboards, 2D and 3D animation, compositing, and post-production services such as editing, DVD authoring, and as a one stop shop they even offer website design and media duplication. Lastly, they can assist with syndication needs including media placement on television and/or web destinations.
OCS Do you remember when you were first “hooked” on the production business?
Ken Anderson After graduate school I was recruited by Bank of America and trained for a year to become a corporate bank officer. On completion of training, B of A assigned me to what was then their regional office at Sunset and Vine in Hollywood. In that position I had the opportunity to meet many film and television people, musicians and entertainers and I knew that was the industry for me. Their careers seemed much more fun and rewarding than what I was doing so I left banking and joined two industry professionals to form a small L.A. production company. That was the beginning of a great career choice.
OCS Do one (or two) productions you’ve done stick out or that you are most proud of?
Ken Anderson We hope to be proud of all of our productions. Zach Lyons, our Creative Director and my partner has set high creative standards that the company follows and it’s reflected in the level of product we deliver. Rather than being proud of a single production, I’m very pleased with the growth and evolution of ChopShop into the high-end production house it is today, even with an adverse economy. We had record growth in 2010 and 2011 is starting out strong.
OCS Most of your projects are for specific clients. Do you have any projects you’d like to do just for fun? Like a documentary or drama? Short of feature length?
Ken Anderson We like experimenting with visuals and we’re fortunate to have in-house resources – including production equipment, stage, editing, color correction, audio mixing – that allow us to have some fun and still do fee-for-service projects. We have several proprietary projects in development that, as time permits, we hope to bring to the screen. We’ve been fortunate over the past several years to be very busy, but being busy limits the time available to do our own projects.
Editor’s note: I have admired the work of ChopShop for as long as I remember. And as I have gotten to know Ken as a fellow board member of the Media Alliance of Orange County (MAOC), and know him as a top-flight professional, and a class act in every sense of the word. He has always generously given of his time, energy, and talent to improve opportunities for everyone in the business in Orange County. Check out his work at www.chopshoptv.com
