No Sushi has signed editor Keith Fraase to its commercial roster, adding one of film and television’s most distinctive editorial voices as the post house continues to blur the line between advertising and entertainment.
Fraase’s credits include Past Lives, Severance, Shōgun and Materialists, along with longstanding collaborations with directors Terrence Malick and Celine Song. The signing is No Sushi’s first individual editor announcement since unveiling its expanded editorial roster and new website.
For the company, the appeal goes well beyond the titles on Fraase’s résumé. His work is rooted in performance, rhythm, musicality and emotional intuition – qualities No Sushi believes are increasingly important as brands and agencies push commercial work toward more cinematic, entertainment-driven storytelling.
“Keith is exactly the kind of editor No Sushi was built for,” said founder and managing director Alexander Jamieson. “Of course the credits are extraordinary, but what really matters is the way he thinks. His work is cinematic, emotionally precise and deeply musical.”
Jamieson added that Fraase’s ability to protect performances, find the internal rhythm of a scene and make audiences feel something translates directly to branded work that needs to hold attention rather than simply deliver information.
Founded by Jamieson and director Daps, No Sushi was created to connect advertising with talent shaped by film and television, giving agencies, brands, directors and production companies access to editors, colorists and sound designers working at a high level across entertainment.
Fraase’s path to editing was not straightforward. He initially imagined a career as an actor before film studies pulled him behind the camera. Two early influences changed his direction: seeing The Graduate and reading Walter Murch’s In the Blink of an Eye.
The musical construction of The Graduate, particularly its Simon & Garfunkel-driven montages, showed Fraase how editing could create feeling through rhythm. Murch’s writing gave him a language for understanding editing as something more than a technical process – as one of the essential forces that makes filmmaking distinct.
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After working as an assistant camera operator, Fraase landed an apprentice editing job with Sandra Adair, Richard Linklater’s longtime editor. Sitting in on sessions and watching Adair solve problems in the cut gave him his first real education in how editing could reshape a film from the inside.
That eventually led him to Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. Fraase began showing Malick his own edits from footage in the system, sparking a collaboration that lasted seven years and five films.
From Malick, Fraase developed a philosophy that still guides his process: the first cut is rarely the answer.
“Being willing to try iteration after iteration and always asking, ‘Is there a more evocative way to portray this?’ is what has led to my most interesting discoveries in the editing room,” Fraase said. “I never approach a cut thinking my first attempt will be the final form.”
That approach became central to Past Lives, which Fraase describes as a career-changing project. After another major job fell apart, he was sent the script for what was then a relatively small film from a first-time feature director. The project became Celine Song’s acclaimed romantic drama.
“I put so much of my soul into that edit,” Fraase said. “The film means so much to so many people.”
Despite the film’s emotional restraint, Fraase sees the editing as deeply musical.
“My editing has always been musical in nature,” he said. “Even when a sequence plays silently, there is still a musical rhythm to be found. It’s all about feeling the edit in your bones.”
That sensibility is precisely what No Sushi hopes Fraase will bring into commercial work.
“Advertising is filmmaking,” said Daps, co-founder of No Sushi. “And Keith’s work is a reminder of how much feeling lives in the cut. The best spots have rhythm, character, emotion and point of view. They are not interruptions. They are pieces of entertainment.”
Fraase’s signing is part of a broader push to spotlight No Sushi’s editorial roster, with additional editor announcements and craft-focused features planned over the coming months.
For Jamieson, the strategy comes back to a simple idea.
“The best advertising is entertainment,” he said. “And if you want advertising to feel like entertainment, you need editors who understand story, emotion and audience attention at the highest level.”
REEL 360 News wishes Keith the best of luck at No Sushi.
