Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1487666
82 W I N T E R 2 0 2 3 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA®) Awards Committee presented its HPA Lifetime Achievement Award to studio post-production executive Kim Waugh, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Post Production Creative Services, Warner Bros. Studio Operations (WBSO) at Warner Bros. He received the Award on November 17. While we understandably proudly focus on the lastest mix workflows, technology, and techniques, it is important to recognize the talents and journeys of those whose leadership and support allow us to focus on our craft. Associate CAS member Kim Waugh is definitely one of these invaluable forces. Here, Mr. Waugh shares some thoughts about his career and philosophy. On starting his career at Soundelux with Wylie Stateman and Lon Bender in 1987… I started as a sound recordist in their field recording, sound recording, and transfer department. I was all about learning—and loving every moment of it. It was really inspirational working alongside Lon and Wylie. Soundelux was a boutique. There were a dozen of us and they'd say, "Hey, I need this car. Go to the desert, record this car. Hey, I need these transfers." In a little boutique like that, we were all so terribly hands-on. We had a pride of ownership and a great sense of who we were in the community. I think that we built a beautiful foundation of being able to dream big and to imagine. That organization gave me the inspiration to do a lot of the things we went on to do. We got into mixing, which was only the domain of the major studios. We purchased Signet Sound Studios (formerly Motown Hitsville) and turned it into a facility for mixing mid-level films. We outgrew that and bought Ryder Sound and that became Soundelux Vine Street. We went into mixing tent pole features there. It was really all about being inspired by the folks that we collaborated with. We built our own little empire at the time which was fabulous. On moving from a little empire to a major studio… Soundelux was a great learning experience and a great grounding for a person like myself to then come into Warner Bros., take a fresh look at this organization, and take lessons from the past and best practices and install that with my colleagues here. When I joined Warner Bros., there was this level of leadership from the president's level that was very flat. My access to my direct report and above to the president was incredibly flat. We would meet constantly to talk about how I would like the department re-equipped and how I could imagine it for the future; what we're going to build, and what we're going to invest in. And, most importantly, their understanding that talent and relationships came first. It's always people first, whether it be your colleagues that are supervising sound editors or re-recording mixers and picture editors or producers and directors. It's really fortunate that the culture of a studio affords us the privilege of having environments like we do at Warner Bros. There's such an engagement from the presidential level to my level and to producer level to build facilities that attract world-class talent and retain them. I've never felt compartmentalized. I've always felt I'm a part of a production cycle, and our part is the post production. But I've always seen it as part of the creative process. Whether it's the screenwriter or the person Kim Waugh: Leading with Passion b y B o b B r o n o w C A S M P S E Kim Waugh (right) receiving the HPA Lifetime Achievement Award