Nutmeg, a creative marketing and content-development resource, has promoted Drew Hankins to editor, continuing the company’s policy of nurturing talent, providing opportunity and promoting from within.
Hankins began his career as a production assistant and has served as assistant editor at Nutmeg since 2011. In that role, he supported producers, cut spots and prepared files for various platforms—TV, web, social media and apps—for clients such as Animal Planet, A&E, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, Discovery, Disney, ESPN, HBO, Nickelodeon, Syfy and Verizon. Recent projects have increasingly showcased his editorial talents, including several music-video-style remixes for infectious songs from “SpongeBob SquarePants” as well as the mini-documentary spoof of VH1’s “Behind the Music,” “How Luna Became the Loudest Loud,” all of which were instant viral hits.
The road to editing started when Hankins was a kid. Fascinated by Discovery’s behind-the-scenes special effects series “Movie Magic,” he soon came to realize exactly who, in a movie’s long list of credits, was responsible for making the magic happen.
“An editor is one of the last people to touch a film and, ultimately, the person who brings the film to life,” he said. “I’ve been exposed to many amazing movies over the years but the one that made the biggest impression was ‘Goodfellas.’ It’s so well crafted; it’s perfect. It made me say, ‘That’s what I want to do!’” So much so that he paraphrases a legendary line to make his point. “To me, being an editor was better than being President.”
Besides mobsters, another big-screen bad guy made an impression—or, more accurately, his less-is-more screen time made an impression.
“On ‘Jaws,’ editor Verna Fields was tasked with creating a suspenseful movie with very little usable footage of the malfunctioning mechanical antagonist. She managed to turn that into a plus, creating chills with only glimpses of a fin or ripples in the water. She went on to win the Oscar for Film Editing. As Spielberg famously observed, ‘Had the shark been working, perhaps the film would have made half the money and been half as scary.’”
What gives Hankins a feeling of accomplishment? “Seeing something I cut, out in the wild. Just knowing that others are seeing it makes me feel good. My very first project for broadcast was a five-second bumper and I remember making sure I was home to watch when it aired. A friend even recorded it on his DVR."
