Q Where are you currently employed?
I’m between engagements.
Q Current projects?
Since the work slowdown caused by the strikes, I’ve been the cohost/editor for a weekly wrestling video podcast called “Home Wrestling League.” I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was five years old, and a friend and I decided to create a video pro wrestling podcast from a Black point of view because there was no Black-centered wrestling podcast.
Q Describe your job.
My job is to help make the editors’ day less hectic, so I assist them with graphics, sound work, and mostly technical problems that affect them. Sometimes an assistant editor gets the opportunity to edit a scene or two, but everything we do is to help the editor.
Q How did you first become interested in this line of work?
I’ve wanted to be an editor since I was 16 years old back in Las Vegas. When I was in high school, my broadcasting class needed an editor, so I did it. It wasn’t until I was attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and talked to one of my best friends, Jason Edmiston, that I decided to make editing the focus of my career. Jason is a professor at UNLV and gave me the confidence to actively pursue that. He gave me notes and we talked about movies for hours on end.
Q Who gave you your first break?
Tom Hietter, who was a story producer for unscripted (reality) TV. The story producer watches hours and hours of footage and creates a story from it. Tom gave me my first job directly out of grad school as a story assistant for a season on an unscripted TV show called “Kendra on Top.” (Kendra Wilkinson is a former Playboy playmate who was married to retired NFL player Hank Bassett.) My job was to watch hours of footage, find certain phrases, and then put markers on them as I tried to conceive a functional story for the show.
Q What was your first union job?
In 2016, Shiran Amir, ACE (a member of the Editors Guild board) said that her boyfriend (now husband) Cody Miller needed an assistant editor for a movie he was working on in Boston. She told me on a Thursday, while I was at a Chelsea FC soccer match with my friend Franzis Muller, who’s also an editor. She told me to take the job. On Friday, I said yes. On Saturday, I quit the job I was working on. On Sunday, I was working in Boston.
Q What credits or projects are you proudest of, and why?
Pre-pandemic, I worked on a lot of movies that no one has seen. (I did an interview with a friend who actually said that to my face.) I answered an ad to work on Season 3 of “You,” the Netflix psychological thriller. I assisted Rita K. Sanders, who allowed me to work with her on something that people have actually seen. Thanks to Rita, who is one of the best and most generous editors working in the industry, I got a lot of experience. I would die for her.
Q What was your biggest challenge in your job (or on a particular project) and how did you overcome/solve it?
Sometimes, dealing with stress. As an assistant, your job is more technical and about the details. So you may forget little things and get incredibly stressed out. But you have to persevere and take your time to do the many things that are needed to finish the task.
Q What was the most fun you’ve had at work?
When I worked on “Wu Tang: An American Saga,” which streams on Hulu, part of my job was to find sources for music cues. I picked a song that has deep personal meeting for me; when I spent time with my uncle, he would play this song a lot. It’s called “Meth vs Chef,” by Method Man and Raekwon. It’s about the two of them competing with freestyle rhymes. I picked it, and the show was able to use it in the final cut of an episode.
Q Jobwise, what do you hope to be doing five years from now?
June 10th, 2022 is an important day for me, not only because Steph Curry dropped 43 in Boston in the NBA Finals, but also because someone said something to me that I wasn’t a fan of. I’m not going to get into details, but ever since then, my goal is to become an editor in under 20 years, and I’m working every day to accomplish that goal.
Q What are your outside activities, hobbies, passions?
I collect sneakers, trading cards, and I talk to my friends via Twitter Spaces.
Q Favorite movie(s)? Why?
“Singing in the Rain” is my favorite movie – at least in part because it’s a movie about trying to save a movie, which editors often do. Other favorites include “The Warriors” because it’s a gritty look at gang life in the ‘70s and “Drop Dead Gorgeous” because it’s a hilarious mockumentary that takes a look at the madness that is beauty pageants.
Q Favorite TV program(s)? Why?
My favorite show ever is a three-season show that came out in the mid-2010s called “Happy Endings.” It’s one of those shows that, sadly, was underrated. It’s one of the best written comedy shows ever that not that many people know of. The dialogue was zippy. It was very fun and it was incredibly well edited. So I am one of the primary flag bearers for it. I watch “Rick and Morty,” “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” and “The Simpsons” (Seasons 1 through 12, because the writing gets weak after that).
Q Do you have an industry mentor?
Cody Miller was the first person I assisted edited for on a union gig. Rita Sanders gave me that opportunity to work on a popular show. Jim Carretta is one of the few people that I know who actually enjoys movies, and we would have very long conversations about the movies that we genuinely like. And Dominique Ulloa is essentially the reason I’m still in post; she has frequently gone out of her way to help me. Q What advice would you offer to someone interested in pursuing your line of work?
When I guest lecture at my alma mater, UNLV, I realize everyone is significantly younger than I am, but they all grew up with this movie: “Finding Nemo,” I tell them, has the most important advice for any career you go into: “Just keep swimming.”
Q Was there ever a circumstance when you had to rely on the Guild for help or assistance?
When I took that job in Boston, I didn’t get paid for nearly four weeks. The union had to step in and fix that problem. Also, now: I haven’t worked full-time in a year, and if it weren’t for the union, I would be in significantly worse shape than I currently am. I have my healthcare until September, so I hope to find some sort of work by then.
Q Is there anything you’d like to say to your fellow Guild members, some words of encouragement?
Like I said earlier, you just gotta keep swimming and you’ll find your path. Also, Blake Griffin once said, “You have to be in love with the process of becoming great to become great,” and I have used that ideal for a good chunk of my career. If you are in love with it, then you accept everything that happens with it.