James Post Relaunches as After Avenue

Married editor duo, Amy and Jonathan Eakin, founded Atlanta-based post house, James Post, in 2020. Four years on, and with an increasing list of clients and team members, the founders have decided to relaunch the company as ‘After Avenue’. This change aims to better represent the entire company, and not to mention, finally be rid of the all-too-common question: ‘Can I speak to James, please?’.

James was never a real person, rather a portmanteau of ‘Jonathan’ and ‘Ames’ - Amy’s nickname. At launch, this name helped them attract clients who were seeking to work with independent people, not companies, but as the business has grown, the time has come for a change.

The new name, After Avenue, fittingly reflects synonyms of ‘post’ and ‘house’, and is accompanied by a full visual refresh courtesy of budding Virginian agency Provisioner - a new website, branding and general identity shake-up. It also announces the company’s transformation into “a full-scale post production company… with a talented roster of editors and designers that allows us to swiftly handle projects of any size.”

Speaking to LBB’s Ben Conway, Amy and Jonathan discuss the company’s relaunch, recent work for Visit Seattle and The Atlantic, and their attitude for the future: “create some cool sh*t with some bada** people!”

Above: Amy and Jonathan Eakin

LBB> Does this rebrand have a similar spirit to its previous iteration? Or does After Avenue bring with it a new philosophy/purpose as well?

Amy and Jonathan> With our rebrand, our roots stay the same - we will always be founded by a husband and wife editor duo that prioritises unique, high quality work alongside maintaining easy, collaborative relationships. With that being said, the rebrand does introduce a new company model, transforming us into a full-scale post production company that operates with a talented roster of editors and designers in a way that allows us to swiftly handle projects of any size. We have been operating this way for years, and we can’t wait to let the world know.

LBB> Does the relaunch involve any new focuses or capabilities? Will you still work across ads, films, TV and socials, and with the same roster of talent? 

Amy and Jonathan> With the relaunch, we are bringing our roster of talent to the forefront and shining a spotlight on our scale. We’ll be focusing on the same types of content, but with a more bespoke suite of personalised skills to cater to each variant. Both of our co-founders began their careers in advertising, so our focus inherently has been positioned in that landscape. However, our goal as a company overall is to make new friends, and keep the old.

LBB> Where did the new name come from?

Amy and Jonathan> We fell in love with the word ‘After’, given our entire business as a post production company is the final step in the life cycle of any given piece of content. All of our services occur after a typical project is conceived, and we want to confidently own the entire stage after production. The word ‘Avenue’ has a couple of meanings for us - firstly, an avenue is a physical place where people congregate to create a fluid ecosystem, and we see our role in post production consisting of several extremely important roles (sound, colour, motion edit etc.) in that same way. Avenues have more grandeur, but maintain the same comforting connotation that the word ‘house’ infers. 

Our second reason is that the company was founded and formally established in New York City on 10th Avenue, and so this word is a concrete homage to those early roots. We started the company on an avenue, and everything after is the journey we are on today.

LBB> Established in NYC, you’ve recently been based out of Atlanta - a hub for some of the world’s biggest brands. What makes the local community enjoyable and fulfilling for a post production company?

Amy and Jonathan> The creative scene in Atlanta is as exciting as it gets, and only burgeoning more with the onslaught of film and TV production in recent years. The culture is one of community and innovation, with people truly caring not only about staying on the cutting edge of technology, but also about their neighbours and helping each other out. As it turns out, southern hospitality is a real thing, making the business-building process not only rewarding but genuinely fun. 

This is true especially in the post production industry, where we’ve found that creatives just want to help other creatives. We all care about growing this industry in Atlanta, and building other companies up rather than seeing them as competition is a more fruitful way to do it.

LBB> What are some of the projects you’ve been proudest of recently? What work has set the bar for what After Avenue will become known for?

Amy and Jonathan> We just launched a new three-part campaign with Visit Seattle and The Atlantic, centring on wrongly banned books about the LGBTQ+ community that the city of Seattle will now be putting on their library shelves. In each video, an actor or artist reads an excerpt from a chosen book, that is then visually represented through Sam Miron’s masterful cinematography. 

Our first series with this same client was nominated for a Webby Award, and these have been such a blast to work on because of how art-forward this series is when compared to traditional branded content. Each video is a ride we’re certainly proud of shaping and perfecting in post. 

LBB> What are your ambitions for After Avenue in the rest of 2024, and looking toward 2025? 

Amy and Jonathan> With the launch of After Avenue, we’re extremely excited to focus on new relationships, and to introduce our brand to those who might not know us yet. We maintain relationships with some of the best artists in the industry, and we hope to showcase our entire suite of talents to new brands and creatives and really make a splash in the commercial landscape. 

With platforms and distribution tactics changing on a near daily basis, innovation and thinking ahead is of the utmost importance in our world. And we think for the people behind the lens, the desk, the phone – having fun during the process of it all is just as crucial and often overlooked.

AI, technology, remote working, and other modern conversations often fill the creative world with scepticism and doubt, but we couldn’t be more excited about the future and the opportunities this change will afford our company. The simplest way to position our attitude for the future is: Let’s create some cool sh*t with some bada** people!