Dallas-based Fast Cuts Edits has added 10 people to its roster in the last few weeks, a move that nearly doubles its total creative staff.
The company reported that it is seeing rapid growth after the austerity of the last few years. Joining the company are executive producer Lisa Hill, who shares the responsibility with longtime Fast Cuts EP Julie Koellner, as well as editors, sound designers and producers.
“We have kept our staff pretty lean during this recessionary period,” said Richard Gillespie, president and founder of Fast Cuts. “When I saw an opportunity to expand my staff and saw a client need for the expansion, I started to interview these incredible people and they all opted to join our Fast Cuts family. It has been great.”
The new staff members were all veterans of the editorial company N2O, founded by Hill.
“The people we hired all came from the core group of what was N2O,” Gillespie said. “It was a great company with a very loyal client following.”
“I saw an opportunity to bolster our staff needs, keep the awesome N2O team together and provide a truly amazing service to the clients in Dallas and beyond, all under one roof at Fast Cuts,” he said.
On the editorial side, Fast Cuts is adding Jason Agnew, who has completed campaigns for Salvation Army, Pier One and others, and Jason Payne whose recent work includes HEB spots for the Richards Group and a campaign for Branson Tourism. They will join editors Gillespie, Kristina Cruse, Marc Hoffmeister, Brad Thurman, Tom Aberg, Michael Oleksinski and Brody Howard, giving Fast Cuts a solid creative editorial team.
Flame artist Dan Hill, joins artists Nick Mueth and Mike Jensen. Recent work for Hill includes compositing, color correction and finish for the HEB Alaskan Salmon spots and webisodes.
Graphics designer and artist, Jeff Vick joins artist Shelby Miller. Vick’s animation work can be seen nationally for projects such as Metro PCS and Maker’s Mark.
Sound designer and mixer Eric Jenkins will joins Ben Templeton and recently promoted audio engineer, Hayes Smith. In addition to mixing several spots for Metro PCS, Jenkins is also the producer for the band The Brights, which is currently in rotation on MTV. Smith’s recent work includes a campaign for McDonald’s via Moroch.
Senior producers, Barbara Sanders and Tony Rucker bring years of experience to their new roles, joining Mimi Hendrix and P.K. Jones. Assistant editor, Dale Scheihagen and engineer, Brent Foster, round out the staff additions.
With this move, Lisa Hill, founder and executive producer of N2O, comes full circle. “Interestingly, Lisa was my first producer when I founded Fast Cuts over 20 years ago,” said Gillespie. “It is great to have her back.”
“Richard gave me an opportunity to start in this business,” said Hill. “I have often said, I would not have been here without having worked with Richard and I could not have developed the company I did without leaving the comfort of Fast Cuts to pursue additional challenges. Sometimes life just brings you full circle. We are all looking forward to great opportunities.”
