About
Kevin Jardin
I've been cutting video since I was fifteen, getting paid for it since I was eighteen, and somehow still think it's the best job on earth. I also build AI tools now, which is a sentence I never expected to write on a page like this.
The short version: I moved to San Francisco as a kid, fell in with the indie bike film scene, and spent my twenties working through Beast Editorial on campaigns for Google, Levi's, and EA. Somewhere in there I won a Cannes Lion, which was fun and also made my mom very confused. Directed spots for Ubisoft and a handful of Bay Area agencies. Then Salesforce hired me and I spent the next twelve years building their post-production department from a single Mac Pro in a boardroom into a proper film floor, founded the in-house 3D team, built their global Media Asset Management system, and am currently helping revolutionize the way we work with AI. That part took a while.
In 2023 I started building AI tools, not because I was chasing a trend, but because I had a documentary that needed to get finished and exactly zero spare hours to finish it. So I built the hours. The tools I made for myself — grant seekers, editorial assistants, research agents — turned out to follow patterns that worked at enterprise scale too. Shipped a full content generation platform at Salesforce using the same architecture. That's how Portland Picture Works came together: the instincts from the edit room and the systems thinking from the engineering side, finally in the same place.
These days I consult on video strategy, AI pipelines for creative teams, and enterprise video operations. I'm not a production house. I'm a filmmaker and engineer who's spent twenty years doing both sides, and I can usually tell you in about thirty minutes whether the thing you want to build is worth building.
How I got here, roughly.
2005–2010
San Francisco — indie films & commercial edit
Taught myself to edit at fifteen on a family computer that really wasn't built for it. First paid gig at eighteen. Moved to San Francisco, fell in with MASH Transit Productions and spent a few years shooting and cutting indie bike films — the kind of work where the crew is two people and the budget is good vibes. Joined Beast Editorial SF as an assistant editor, worked up to junior editor on campaigns for Levi's, Google, EA, Facebook, Chevrolet, and Audi. Won a Cannes Lion for Best Internet Film on the Dead Space 2 campaign. Still probably the coolest sentence in my bio.
2010–2014
Freelance directing
Stepped behind the camera full-time. Directed commercial work for Ubisoft, Levi's, and a bunch of Bay Area agencies. Kept one foot in indie filmmaking the whole time — edited and shot MASH's 2014 feature film because some projects you just can't say no to. Also got to work alongside Digital Domain, The Mill, and ILM, which permanently recalibrated what I consider acceptable quality.
2014–present
Salesforce Studios — 12 years building post
They hired me as an editor. I ended up building the department. Started from a Mac Pro in a boardroom — no team, no facility, no plan beyond "let's make good stuff." Twelve years later it's a full film floor: 5 edit suites, 2 color suites, 3 mix rooms, 2 3D rooms, a podcast studio. I founded the in-house 3D team, designed the media asset manager (2M+ assets and counting), and pioneered virtual production and AI workflows before most people were talking about either. Still the senior editor. Still the resident colorist. Still showing up every day.
2023–present
AI tools — built because I had to
I didn't set out to become an AI engineer. I had a documentary that needed to get finished, a full-time job, and two kids under four. Something had to give, so I built tools instead of finding hours. Grant seekers, editorial assistants, source-notes agents. The patterns worked well enough that I shipped the same architecture at enterprise scale — a full AI content generation platform at Salesforce. Now I run open-weight models locally on an M2 Ultra and consult for creative teams who want to build their own.
2024–present
Heart Thieves — the documentary
The film that started all of this. An independent documentary about my friend Rotem Sivan, a jazz guitarist who wrote an album for his newborn twins. When his son Eden was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor, those songs became something else entirely. Eden passed away at nineteen months. I'm directing, shooting, producing, and editing this myself. Featured twice in People magazine. A few more shoots this summer, then festivals.
Things I actually believe, not just things that sound good.
Craft first, AI second.
AI is a tool, not the product. The product is the film, the pipeline, the thing that actually reaches a person. AI just helps us get there without burning out.
One thing at a time.
I take on work I can actually be present for. If the calendar is full, I'll tell you that instead of saying yes and delivering something I'm not proud of.
The work has to travel.
If I build something your team can't run without me, I haven't finished the job. Everything comes with documentation. Everything gets handed off clean.
Honest over impressive.
I'd rather tell you something isn't a fit on the first call than take your money and figure it out later. Life's too short for that.