Hollywood—Bill DeRonde and Michael Polito, principals of the post production facility Chainsaw (www.chainsawedit.com), shared an Emmy Award Saturday night for their work on the HBO special “The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert.� The award came for Outstanding Picture Editing for a Special (Single or Multi-Camera). Chainsaw Editor John Zimmer and freelance editor Mark Stepp were also named in the award.
It is the third Emmy Award for DeRonde (who was Supervising Editor) and the fourth for Polito, but the first that they have shared. “This award is especially meaningful to Mike and me because it was a project that we got to work on together,� said DeRonde.
Virtually all of the post work for the 4-hour Hall of Fame Concert special was conducted at Chainsaw’s Hollywood facility, including creative editorial, color grading and final editorial. Presented with more than 100 hours of HD source material, the Chainsaw team prepared the show for broadcast in less than two weeks.
Documenting a unique two-night concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden, the special featured many of the biggest stars in the history of rock and included once-in-a-lifetime performances by Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox; Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne; Bono, Mick Jagger and Fergie; Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith; Simon & Garfunkel and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
“Getting to edit a show that featured so many of our musical heroes was amazing,� DeRonde said. “The cut was a little different from what we usually do for television. The pacing was slow and cinematic…we let shots play out, undercutting it to make it more filmic. We wanted people to see Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Bono. It was all about the artists on stage.�

DeRonde and Polito have, combined, more than two dozen Emmy nominations, many of them for music-related programming. DeRonde’s previous Emmy wins came for “American Idol� and “A Supernatural Evening with Carlos Santana.� Polito’s previous three Emmys Awards all came for broadcasts of “The Kennedy Center Honors� (in 1997, 1999 and 2005).
Chainsaw is located at 940 N. Orange Dr., 2nd floor, Hollywood, CA 90038. For more information, call 323.785.1550 or visit www.chainsawedit.com.