Warner Bros.’ Kim Waugh to Receive HPA Lifetime Achievement Award

Kim Waugh, executive vp of worldwide postproduction creative services for Warner Bros. Studio Operations, has been selected to receive the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) lifetime achievement award. It will be presented at the upcoming HPA Awards, held Nov. 17 at the Hollywood Legion Theater.

In his current role, Waugh oversees creative teams, facilities and operations in Burbank, New York and London. That includes the company’s mastering, localization, archive and preservation business units. Waugh is currently supervising the build-out of the company’s new postproduction facility in London.

He began his career at sound editorial company Soundelux, headed by Lon Bender and Wylie Stateman. He started out as a sound recordist before moving through the creative ranks into facility management, eventually taking on a partnership role. His field recording landed him credits on films including Glory, Braveheart, JFK and Home Alone.

Waugh, Bender and Stateman received a technical achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1994 for development of the Advanced Data Encoding System, a tool used to create an encoded timecode track and database during the initial transfer of production sound dailies, effectively a bridge between linear and nonlinear editorial. 

Waugh joined Warner Bros. in 2004 as vp of postproduction services (PPS), and in 2007 he was upped to senior vp of PPS. In this role, he oversaw the asset purchase of De Lane Lea post facilities in London. Later, Waugh rolled Warner Bros. Technical Operations/Motion Picture Imaging Group into PPS.