The Invisible Art of Finishing: A Conversation with Spencer Eide

When you meet Spencer Eide, Mirror Mirror's Executive Finishing Producer, one of the first things you notice is how genuinely curious he is. He’s the kind of person who can talk about frame rates with the same enthusiasm he has for a good joke or DIY home project. We sat down to talk about what it actually means to “finish” a project, the invisible art of finishing, and who on the team would survive a zombie apocalypse.

Ice Breakers

Dasha: What’s something you’re always hoping people will bring up in conversation?

Spencer: Oh man, that’s tough. It’s not really one thing – it’s more about connection points. It could be DIY home projects, or someone saying they just started playing tennis, or they’re getting back into running and want to trade advice. I just like hearing what people are into.

Kyle: Not FPV drones?

Spencer: (laughs) Hey, if we can connect over that, I’m all in.

On adaptability and goodbyes

Spencer says people often tell him he’s adaptable — that he can walk into a new situation and just figure it out. It’s no wonder how he fits so seamlessly into Mirror Mirror’s constantly shifting workflow.

“I’ve been told that I’m adaptable. I get into a situation and I adapt as fast as possible.”

And when it comes to leaving a party? He leans all the way into his Midwestern roots.

“A Midwest goodbye,” he says. “I say bye to everyone, and by the time I finish, it’s been long enough that I have to say bye to the first person again. Then I stand at the front door for about half an hour saying bye to everyone one last time.”

The Spencer: a culinary self-portrait

If a restaurant ever names a dish after him, it’ll be called The Spencer.

“It would be a wedge salad with a ribeye, horseradish cream sauce, and French onion soup,” he says. “But what if it was a sandwich? Like sliced ribeye on bread with like a blue cheese spread, lettuce, onions, tomatoes… and then you dip it into au jus. Very close to a French dip.”

So, what does a finishing producer actually do?

For anyone outside post-production, “finishing producer” can sound mysterious — like a person who swoops in at the end with a magic wand. In reality, Spencer’s job is a mix of technical mastery, creative protection, and relentless communication.

“A finishing producer oversees the process of a spot or piece of digital content going from offline edit through online and out to delivery,” he explains. “We’re making sure we honor the creative the editor and client approved, and then add our own creative with sound design, mix, color, Flame, graphics — all that.”

At its core, he says, it’s about workflow.

“You pay for the mistakes and assumptions you make at the beginning at the end,” he says. “So you want a pipeline that catches those early, keeps things moving, and delivers the highest quality throughout without any degradation.”

On defining a successful finish

Success, for Spencer, is simple — but not easy.

“The ultimate success is that everybody leaves happy and would do it again,” he says. “But there are smaller wins too — like learning a new technique or building a workflow that automates a step. Finishing is so technical that there’s always something new to learn that can benefit both the team and the project.”

And what’s the most underrated part?

“There’s no feeling like uploading the last file,” he laughs. “When you’ve QC’d everything, hit send, and it’s out in the world — that’s an amazing feeling. I also really enjoy establishing the workflows for our team.”

The invisible art

When asked what tiny detail non-post people might never notice, his answer comes fast.

“Frame rates,” he says. “I can see when something’s mixed frame rate or converted badly. Like when there’s frame blending or an optical flow — or when someone figured out a clever way around it. I love that.”

He also lights up when talking about invisible Flame work.

“The goal is that you don’t see it,” he says. “The only way you’d even know it’s there is if you look at a before-and-after. It’s a deep tool set for sure. Same goes for color or sound design — you want it to feel seamless in the way that it moves you emotionally without you really realizing why.”

The humbling parts

Every single part of the process, he says, keeps him humble. He warns you need to be careful of making assumptions.

“As soon as you assume something’s going to go a certain way, it won’t,” he says. “Do not make assumptions on a Friday afternoon. That’s a guaranteed late night.”

Dasha: Fridays in the biz!

Getting Curious

Spencer didn’t start in post — he started as a PA (Production Assistant) back in 2006.

“I worked my way up to project coordinator and manager,” he says. “But I wanted to start a family, and 4 a.m. call times make that tough. Post just made sense.”

Once there, he realized how much he loved the technical puzzle of it all and decided to follow his natural curiosity.

“I would just roll up my sleeves and really enjoy the problem-solving process. If something looked different in delivery than it did in edit, I wanted to know why,” he says. “That curiosity took me far and then next thing I know, I was a finishing producer.”

Advice for newcomers

When asked what advice he’d give to someone starting out in finishing, he doesn’t sugarcoat it.

“Don’t take your foot off the gas,” he says. “If you have the bandwidth and time to solve a problem now, do it now. ‘That’s a problem for another day’ will always come back to haunt you.”

He pauses, then adds:

“There are always going to be problems. It’s how you respond that matters. Communicate, stay calm, figure it out. When a problem comes up, appreciate that it happened – there’s always a valuable lesson there that will make the next job easier.”

Stay Inspired

Dasha: Is there a film or ad whose finishing inspires you?

Spencer: Oh yeah, Jen Milano worked on it. It was that Nike commercial, You Can't Stop Us. There’s a lot of emotion in it. I think it's so cool. Also, Nike’s Snow Day spot. It’s a bunch of NFL players that wake up, see that it’s snowing outside, and they’re acting like excited eight-year-olds. The BTS looks so fun from both a production and post perspective.

Rest & recharge

Outside of work, Spencer recharges in his solo time with running and DIY home projects, like researching sauna kits. “It’s cold and wet out there,” he laughs. “I just want to warm up.”

He’s also deep into the world of his kids’ sports (“It’s 90 minutes of socializing for the parents”) and family walks after dinner — a ritual from his childhood.

“Eat dinner, clean up the kitchen, go for a walk, come back to a clean kitchen,” he says. “You feel good. You’re ready to kick your feet up. We also love a family episodic. We’re watching Wonder Years with the kids right now.”

Kyle: What would you do if I sang out of tune?

Dasha: Keep going.

Spencer: Would you stand up and walk out on me?

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

When it comes to what makes Mirror Mirror a good partner for clients, Spencer doesn’t hesitate.

“Our attitude,” he says. “We’re happy to do the work, super transparent all along the way, and we really see ourselves as partners. That’s the Mirror Mirror/Lucky Day ethos, after all.”

What sets Mirror Mirror apart, he adds, is that one-stop-shop mentality.

“We can do every step or just one part,” he says. “If you want to bring in another vendor, awesome — we’ll collaborate. It’s like Old Country Buffet, right? Just because you’ve got the plate doesn’t mean you have to fill it. But if you want to, be my guest.”

Kyle: You don’t see buffets much anymore.

Spencer: Man, buffets were a thing of the ’90s.

Dasha: Let’s bring 'em back!

On zombies and team glue

When asked who would survive a zombie apocalypse, Spencer doesn’t miss a beat.

“Dasha, I definitely think that you’d survive,” he says. “You’d just be like, ‘There’s a zombie over there — I’m not dealing with that.’ That practicality would get you far. And I feel like Dan would both survive and not survive at the same time.”

Kyle: Yeah, people do screw around. They’re like, ‘I don’t know.’ *pokes zombie*

Spencer: ‘Oh god, they bit me.’ 💀

He gives credit to Chris for the best pep talks (“He’s literally born to do that”) and to Jen for being the glue that holds everything together and keeps our team sane. “Everyone brings a different skill set. But right now Jen is orchestrating all the daily moving parts on like a granular level,” he says.

And if he could swap jobs for a week?

“Pegi,” he says. “But with her connections and history in mind, right? I do like talking to people, so it’d be fun to try it and see what that world’s like.”

What’s next?

Right now, Spencer’s deep in a big end-of-year project — the kind that takes a lot of mental bandwidth but feels great to deliver.

“It’s a bit of a cliche, but I’m definitely excited about all projects,” he says. “Who knows what’s next? Maybe there’s going to be something that allows us to stretch our wings a bit in VFX, or we’ll get to work with new vendors that bring new talents to the table.”

“Every project’s different,” he says. “But they all have that same goal — make something great, keep everyone happy, and learn something new along the way.”