Our Story

We began in a time of slide carousels, 16mm film, long-distance fees, 5¼ inch floppies, and DOS. We had no laptops, no edit software, the cloud was in the sky, and pandemics were the stuff of science fiction.

More than 40 years ago, two complete opposites started to walk an entrepreneurial tightrope together. Decade by decade, Ken Mills and Cameron James learned the secret ingredient to survival in an industry where so many other boutiques and startups fail. What is that secret ingredient? We’re not going to tell you yet, silly, that would be bad storytelling.

1980
1990
2000
2010
2020

  • The 1980s | Founded May 1, 1984The Columbus production world in the 80s was just like today, kinda. Long days and late nights for sure, but the technical issues were analog, and the carryout came from Frisch’s…Read More
  • The 1990s | Making History Cameron has dyslexia, a diagnosis he didn’t receive until he was 36 years old. “My first-grade teacher called me stupid, so I thought I was. But as I grew up… Read More
  • The 2000s | Resilience Y2K. A computer bug caused the world to fear the internet would crash on January 1, 2000. And all of Mills James’ millions of dollars’ worth of computer tech would go with… Read More
  • The 2010s | The Secret Two events over the past 20 years have had the most impact on the company. One was scary and the other existential. The Great Recession was the first event. Some… Read More
  • The 2020s | New Rules. New Tools. “What’s truly essential” is worth analyzing more deeply these days. Since 1984, the company has defined it in business-like terms, based on shifting client production needs. Read More