Charlie Kessler
Assistant Editor
Charlie’s love of film began at a young age, ostensibly nurtured by growing up in Roger Ebert’s hometown of Champaign-Urbana. After exploring different areas of filmmaking, he realized editing and post-production was by far his favorite part of the process. Upon graduating from DePaul University’s film program, he began his career in post-production as a runner before going on to join a start-up production company as an assistant editor and editor. He joined Hootenanny in the summer of 2024 after a period as a full-time freelancer. Charlie has a background in dance and music, which continues to inform his work as an editor. When not cutting side projects, Charlie loves watching movies, playing the drums, ballet, and talking about James Bond with anyone who will listen.
Originally wanting to be a big-time 3D animator for Pixar movies during his time at Joliet Junior College, Eddie fell in love with compositing while at Tribeca Flashpoint. He’s been making footage look pretty since 2012 for clients such as Aldi, Belle Tire, Cars.com, Chick-fil-A, Harbor Freight, Marco’s Pizza, Visionworks and Weight Watchers. Most of his time is spent in a dark room keying green screens, removing those pesky unwanted logos, or making it look like that kid sitting on the couch is watching Saturday morning cartoons instead of staring at a blank TV. When he’s not forgetting to blink in front of a computer screen, you might spot him playing pickup soccer games all over Chicago, or pretending he knows what he’s doing on a tennis court.
