In this episode of FrameOne, recorded at Camp Mograph, I sit down with Ed Rhine, owner of Spillt in Denver, Colorado. Ed traces his path from starting his first company, Freed Motion, with just one other person, through merging into Spillt with a business partner, to becoming sole owner. He shares his practical approach to hiring — bringing a skill in-house once he notices he's repeatedly paying freelancers to cover the same gap — and why he sees adding each new team member as expanding the studio's creative "sandbox."

Ed tells the story behind one of Spillt's biggest turning points: after being told by a Netflix executive that the studio hadn't proven it could do main title work, the team spent six months building a full CG title sequence for the film Winchester as an unpaid internal project. It won a Promax award and directly led to Spillt landing on preferred vendor lists at Netflix, Apple, and Hulu.

We also talk about the operational side of running a service-based studio — forecasting unpredictable cash flow using historical data and seasonality, proactively reaching out to past clients during slow stretches, and deliberately watching for signs of burnout across the team before they become a real problem. Ed is candid about the value of investing in employees' curiosity and skill development, even when it doesn't have an immediate payoff, and why community and relationships have been central to nearly everything that's helped Spillt succeed.

This is a grounded, practical conversation about scaling a creative studio thoughtfully — useful listening for freelancers and studio owners thinking about growth, hiring, and sustainability.

Hosted by Drysen, a freelance 2D/3D animator and motion designer with experience across live-action broadcast TV and commercials. FrameOne features conversations with studio owners and industry veterans navigating the career questions every working creative eventually faces.