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Nikki O’Connor

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Cut to Black: Kimberly Wilson, Supervising Sound Editor

by Nikki O’Connor
written by Nikki O’Connor 2 minutes read
For each day in the month of February, the Committee will be highlighting African-American members, both past and present, and their accomplishments. We look forward to showing the contributions and influences African-Americans have had on the industry.
Name: Kimberly R. McCord-Wilson
What’s your job? Supervising Sound Editor for Warner Brothers Studios.
List the credits you’re most proud of. Difficult to choose—my dialogue work on Spike Lee’s “Summer of Sam” or HBO’s, “The Wire” to supervising Peabody Award winning “David Makes Man.”
What are you working on right now? S2 CBS’s, “All Rise” and gearing up for “David Makes Man, S2.”Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? Satya Goenka.
What books are you reading, shows are you watching? “The Nickel Boys” and “I Will Destroy You.”
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? See things for what they really are.
If you could time travel, when would you go and why? My childhood—the 70s were dope!
What’s a little known fact about you? What are your hidden (or not so hidden) talents? I have 7% Yakut ancestry.
What are your black history month memories and any cultural or historical impacts on your life? My college-tour of Howard University. I was humbled by a renewed sense of majesty feeling the energy of the cultural brilliance surrounding me. I got accepted and never looked back.
What’s your favorite (Black) television/movie moment? Waiting for “What’s Happenings,” “Doobie or Not Doobie Pt 2,” to air.
Was there a television show/movie that inspired you to pursue your career? Watching 70s B-horror movies: hearing all those cool Sci-fi SFX opened that door.What’s your personal/professional mantra? Never answer before you’re ready.
What’s the last show/movie that left you speechless? Marcel Camus’ “Orfeu Negro.”
What would be your dream project to work on? Dream Talent(s): Regina King, Radha Blank, Ava DuVernay, Kenya Barris, Michaela Coel, Steve McQueen, Donald Glover, Charles D. King, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle,  Nia DaCosta, Lena Waithe, Mara Brock Akil, Monkeypaw Productions, Overbrook Entertainment, Viva Maude Productions, Higher Ground Productions, SpringHill Entertainment , Animal Pictures, Proximity Media and Outlier Society just to name a few. 🙂
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Cut to Black: Sean Linal, Assistant Editor

by Nikki O’Connor
written by Nikki O’Connor 2 minutes read
For each day in the month of February, the Committee will be highlighting African-American members, both past and present, and their accomplishments. We look forward to showing the contributions and influences African-Americans have had on the industry.
Name: Sean Linal

What’s your job? Assistant Editor

List the credits you’re most proud of. “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “Queen Sugar,” “Teen Wolf,” “Timeless,” “The Bachelor”

What are you working on right now? “All Rise, Season 2 (CBS All-Access)

Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? George Lucas. David Lynch. Spike Lee. The Neptunes. Babyface.

What books are you reading, shows are you watching and/or movies you’re excited about?
Books:  L.A. Reid’s “Sing To Me” and “Thrawn.” Television: “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” “The Mandalorian,” “Transformers: War for Cybertron,” “Narcos: Mexico,” “Cobra Kai,” “Penny Dreadful,” and “90 Day Fiance.” Movies: “The Many Saints of Newark,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “The Godfather Coda,” and “Tenet.”
What would be your superhero name? Plushard

What are your black history month memories and any cultural or historical impacts on your life? In 2019, I visited Washington, D.C. and saw a block commemorating the enslaved Africans who helped build the U.S. Capitol. I also visited all 8 floors of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It left me in tears.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?  “You’re damned if you do. You’re damned if you don’t.” (Bart Simpson) In other words, just get out there and live!

If you could time travel, when would you go and why? I’d go back to 1994 and enroll in a community college that offered film school courses vs going to (and graduating from) a private film school right before the economy tanked.

What’s a little known fact about you? What are your hidden (or not so hidden) talents? I love mayonnaise. I rarely eat hot sauce and only on selected dishes. I’m a great Salsa dancer and Karoake singer. I have tattoos of a Sith Hologram (back of my neck) and the Auto-bot Matrix of Leadership inside of Optimus Prime (across my chest, of course).

What would be your dream project to work on? Any Star Wars, GI Joe, Transformers TV show or film project. Or a Metallica project, because my future wife loves them.

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Cut to Black: Stephane Neroes, ACE, Picture Editor

by Nikki O’Connor
written by Nikki O’Connor 2 minutes read
For each day in the month of February, the Committee will be highlighting African-American members, both past and present, and their accomplishments. We look forward to showing the contributions and influences African-Americans have had on the industry.
Name: Stephanie Neroes, A.C.E

What’s your job? Picture Editor

List the credits you’re most proud of. “Surviving R. Kelly”

What are you working on right now? I start Netflix’s “Atypical” next month.

Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? Whoopi Goldberg was a huge influence in my life way back when she was doing stand up comedy. Just to see someone who looked like she did, someone who looked like me, excel during that time was very impressionable and allowed me to dream of a career in entertainment. (By the way, she was robbed in 1985.)  Also, team sports were a big influence. In a career where collaboration is key, applying the ideology of teamwork added to my success and evolution. As for mentors, I had a college professor who was very supportive. He believed in me and my talents. However, he had hoped that I would’ve become a screenwriter. Presently, I’m discovering new mentors on the regular through my journey as an editor, more so, in the last year and I’m very appreciative of these new relationships.

What books are you reading, shows are you watching and/or movies you’re excited about? I’m currently reading “Spirit Hacking.” It’s about empowering yourself and empowering others. I plan on starting “Bridgerton” soon and watching “One Night In Miami” is my next to watch film.

What would be your superhero name? According to a friend, I would be Onyx Angel Warrior.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? Very early in my journey into film making, I was told “Be nice to those you see on the way up because you will see them
again on your way down.” Don’t know why but that’s always stuck with me. Also, nothing is that serious.

If you could time travel, when would you go and why? I’m a big fan of simplicity and, so, I would love to experience life before the invention of electricity and technology.

What’s a little-known fact about you?  A little fact known about me is that I played women’s tackle football for ten years. And, yes, I was able to win a championship ring before retiring/blowing out my knees.

What would be your dream project to work on? Cutting “Atypical” at this point in my career is a dream job.

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Cut to Black: Sidney Poitier, Actor, Director, and Activist

by Nikki O’Connor
written by Nikki O’Connor 3 minutes read
For each day in the month of February, the Committee will be highlighting African-American members, both past and present, and their accomplishments. We look forward to showing the contributions and influences African-Americans have had on the industry.

Sidney Poitier, Actor, Director, and Activist

“The best place to learn about filmmaking is in the editing room.”
– Sidney Poitier  “The Measure of a Man”

On February 20, 1927, noted actor, director, and activist Sidney Poitier was born, unexpectedly, in Miami while on a family trip. His parents were natives of the Bahamas where they owned a farm, and Poitier grew up there until the age of 15 when he moved to the United States.

He worked as a dishwasher in New York City, while he tried to land journeyman work as a stage actor. He was the lead actor in a play that ran for four performances, the understudy for another play, before ultimately joining the original cast of “A Raisin In the Sun.” But Poitier’s destiny lay in Hollywood. In 1964, Poitier won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his work in “Lilies of the Field,” becoming the first African American male to win that award. (Hattie McDaniel won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1939 for “Gone With the Wind,” becoming the first African American to win an Oscar.)

Poitier is currently the oldest living and earliest surviving Best Actor Academy Award winner. He came of age in a time when America began to accept strong, confident Black characters, moving away from the inaccurate, manufactured stereotypes of bumbling, so-called comic characters from earlier years. Many of his early roles reflected this change- “Cry the Beloved Country”, “The Blackboard Jungle,” “Edge of the City,” “The Defiant Ones,” which was his first Oscar nomination, and “In the Heat of the Night,” for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe and a British Academy Film Award. Other prominent performances were in the big-screen adaptations of “A Raisin In the Sun,” “Porgy and Bess,” and “A Patch of Blue.”

Sidney Poitier was also a strong supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, and one of their reliable sources of financial support, along with his friend and fellow actor/activist Harry Belafonte.

Poitier made his feature film directorial debut in 1972, starring with his friend Harry Belafonte in the western “Buck and the Preacher.” He subsequently directed several feature films- a romantic drama, and four comedies, the most successful of which is “Stir Crazy,” starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.

In 2002 when Poitier received his second Academy Award, an honorary one, in recognition of his “remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being,” Denzel Washington became the second African American man to receive a Best Actor Oscar for his work in “Training Day.” Denzel spoke to Poitier directly in his acceptance speech. “I’ll always be chasing you, Sidney. I’ll always be following in your footsteps. There’s nothing I would rather do, sir.”

In January of 2021 Arizona State University named its film school after this farmer’s son, screen legend Sidney Poitier.

We here at the AASC salute the vast talent of Sidney Poitier, and his gift to this industry and this country.

Written by Lillian E. Benson, ACE

 

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Cut to Black: A’sia Horne, Assistant Editor

by Nikki O’Connor
written by Nikki O’Connor 3 minutes read
For each day in the month of February, the Committee will be highlighting African-American members, both past and present, and their accomplishments. We look forward to showing the contributions and influences African-Americans have had on the industry.
Name: A’sia Horne

What’s your job? Assistant Editor

List the credits you’re most proud of. ​I am proud of “Young Rock” because it’s my first AE Union Job on a scripted show, “First Christmas” ​because it was my first Union job ever and the “The Shop,” because it was my first credit on a show.

What are you working on right now? I’m currently working on “Young Rock.”

Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? I absolutely love the work of Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir. Mentor wise I’ve learned a lot from Kat McAuley, Victoria Page and Kelly Soll. Through friendship and Kat and Kelly’s programs, I’ve been able to become a stronger assistant for scripted editing.

What books are you reading, shows are you watching and/or movies you’re excited about? I’m currently in the middle of the ​“Parable of the Sower​” by Octavia E. Butler. And my favorite shows right now are “The ​​Expanse,” ​and I’m late to it, but enthralled by “The Good Place.​”

What are your Black history month memories and any cultural or historical impacts on your life? When I think of Black History Month I think of all of the community events I was raised to be a part of. The parades, the different festivals and the speeches. I often think of the plays I acted in as a kid at church and school to share the lives of historic figures in our American History.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? The best advice I was given was to celebrate every win. It helps you reflect on how far you’ve come, and to be grateful for every moment. And to also be kind to yourself as you learn and grow.

If you could time travel, when would you go and why? To the future, because I would want to see what we’re doing in space lol.

What’s your favorite (Black) television/movie moment? Honestly it would be “Love and Basketball.” For a while I just knew I’d play in the WNBA, I later found that would not happen lol. But I lived for that movie. The tape, yes the tape, lived in my bedroom so I could watch it over and over again. It’s probably the film I’ve watched the most in my lifetime.

Was there a television show/movie that inspired you to pursue your Career? I think it was a series of films in the 2000s that pushed it. I was amazed at the storytelling of films like ​“Old Boy​” and ​“Requiem for a Dream”​ at that time, and that I think sparked my desire to work in film and television.

What’s your personal/professional mantra? What God has for me is for me. Every door that’s open for me I know that God has opened it for me. And no man can close what God has opened.

What’s the last show/movie that left you speechless? The last show that left me speechless was “I May Destroy You,” created by Michaela Coel. I absolutely loved every aspect of the show. Writing, direction, editing and acting. Everything was superb.

What would be your dream project to work on? I honestly have three! I absolutely am in love with the book ​“Children of Blood and Bone​.” When I found out that it was in development, I placed it immediately on my vision board. I also added “W​ho Fears Death” to my vision board when I saw it was in development at HBO. Those two are my top ones, and a show that’s current I’d say I really enjoy “The Expanse.”

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Cut to Black: Twi McCallum, Apprentice Sound Engineer

by Nikki O’Connor
written by Nikki O’Connor 3 minutes read
For each day in the month of February, the Committee will be highlighting African-American members, both past and present, and their accomplishments. We look forward to showing the contributions and influences African-Americans have had on the industry.

Name: Twi McCallum (Happy Belated Birthday Twi!)

What’s your job? Apprentice Sound Editor

List the credits you’re most proud of. I was a Re-recording Mixer for an Amazon commercial and a Dialogue Editor for “SULWE,” an audiobook by Lupita Nyong’o and Penguin Random House Publishing.

What are you working on right now? I am currently an apprentice sound editor for “The Girlfriend Experience” Season 3 (STARZ television show) and will subsequently start on “Dr. Death” (NBCUniversal-Peacock limited series).

Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? I am heavily influenced by post-sound artists I’ve met such as: Bobbi Banks, Glenfield Payne, Rob Fernandez, Nicholas Renbeck, Jamie Baker, and Dann Fink. I also admire the legacies of Willie D. Burton, Russell Williams, Skip Lievsay, and Jesse Dodd although I haven’t met them. I am also committed to organizations such as SoundGirls, Post New York Alliance, and Theatrical Sound Designers & Composers Association which all do fantastic service. I thank Howard University’s theater department and Yale School of Drama for my technical theater roots that have transferred into the cinematic universe.

What books are you reading, shows are you watching and/or movies you’re excited about? I faithfully watch lots of reality television, especially “Judge Judy,” “Top Chef,” “Love & Hip-Hop” are my guilty pleasures. I am desperately awaiting the new seasons of “You,” “Pose,” “Money Heist,” and “Proud Family.”

What are your Black History Month memories and any cultural or historical  impacts on your life? My birthday is Valentine’s Day, double whammy for Black History Month! I also took a mini vacation in February 2018. I flew to LA to see a premiere of “Black Panther,” and got to sit beside costume designer Ruth Carter at the theater.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? Practice (almost*) every day, even if I think I don’t need it or if I’m not in the mood. *Keeping in mind time for rest, fun, and being human.

What’s a little known fact about you? What are your hidden (or not so  hidden) talents? One fun fact about me is that I have 5 pet snails, all named after Black women singers/rappers (Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Rihanna, and Megan thee Stallion). My favorite hidden talent is that I’m great at zombie video games and looking forward to Resident Evil 8 this summer (team PlayStation)!

Was there a television show/movie that inspired you to pursue your career? “Ray,” the Ray Charles biopic film has evolved my love for sound editorial/design from the time I viewed it as a kid to now when I watch it as an adult. The story splashes between delicate to intense dialogue, perspective, timbre, music, and ambiance. That is the level of acuity and visceral creativity I aspire to achieve in this craft.

What would be your dream project to work on? I dream of doing sound editing/mixing for anything created by Beyonce, Ava Duvernay, BET, and Marvel/Disney. Overall, I hope to work on lots of horror/thriller movies, children’s educational content, and adventurous Black stories that reflect the past, present, and future.

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Cut to Black: Ri-Karlo Handy, Picture Editor & Executive Producer

by Nikki O’Connor
written by Nikki O’Connor 3 minutes read
For each day in the month of February, the Committee will be highlighting African-American members, both past and present, and their accomplishments. We look forward to showing the contributions and influences African-Americans have had on the industry.
Name:  Ri-Karlo Handy
What’s your job? Picture Editor & Executive Producer
List the credits you’re most proud of. Creator of “Saints and Sinners,” Co EP “Keyshia Cole Show,” SVP Original Programming Bounce TV, Executive Producer Greenwood Commercial.
What are you working on right now? A documentary special on the history of Greenwood.
Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? Ryan Glover, Pluria Marshall, and many others who were not just creatives, but also understood the business.
What books are you reading, shows are you watching and/or movies you’re  excited about? “Blue Ocean Business Strategies,” “Outliers,” and “Misfortune 101.”
What would be your superhero name? Handyman
What are your Black History Month memories and any cultural or historical  impacts on your life? Being from Oakland, the formation of the Black Panther Party, and the death of Malcolm X.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? Whatever goals you want to achieve, make sure you do something to get you closer, no matter how small each day.
If you could time travel, when would you go and why? I would go to the past to make better investments with my time, money, and resources,,, but not change too much because of causality… Love My Kids and Family too much!
What’s a little known fact about you? What are your hidden (or not so hidden) talents? I grew up in Germany on Ramstein Air Base, and I am a tournament poker player.
What’s your favorite (Black) television/movie moment? I have so many! Michael B. Jordan getting killed in “The Wire,” Will Smith’s “Why don’t he love me?” scene in Fresh Prince… I like big emotion.
Was there a television show/movie that inspired you to pursue your career? My career path was primarily inspired by music videos in the 90s. I only discovered TV after directing music videos for years from 18-22 years old and I needed a job… I had always edited my own videos, so a friend offered a job editing teases on a Fox reality show.
What’s your personal/professional mantra? Let’s be as creative with the business of entertainment as we are with the art!
What’s the last show/movie that left you speechless? “American Skin.” Just watched! Excellent film… I could feel the emotion as a black father especially.
What would be your dream project to work on? A project I’m developing about the history of my family going back over 200 years.
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Cut to Black: Taylor Joy Mason, Picture Editor

by Nikki O’Connor
written by Nikki O’Connor 2 minutes read
For each day in the month of February, the Committee will be highlighting African-American members, both past and present, and their accomplishments. We look forward to showing the contributions and influences African-Americans have had on the industry.

Name: Taylor Joy Mason

What’s your job? Television/Picture Editor

List the credits you’re most proud of. Editor for “Pose” and “Twenties.” Assistant Editor for “Bladerunner 2049” and “Dune.”

What are you working on right now? “Pose”

Who are your influences and/or mentors? Kayla Emter, Joe Walker, ACE Shannon Baker Davis, ACE and Daysha Broadway

What books are you reading or movies you’re excited about? Books: “Sapiens” by Yval Noah Harari and “The Vanishing Half” by Britt Bennett. Films: Currently watching a lot of my childhood favorites; “Beetlejuice,” “Death Becomes Her,” “Drop Dead Fred.”

What would be your superhero name? Black Woman

What are your Black History Month memories and and cultural or historical impacts on your life? I was often the only Black kid in my classroom growing up. Black History Month always served as a source of pride for me as my classmates learned about the innumerable contributions of Black culture in this country.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?  Confidence in self is the key to unlocking one’s greatest potential.

If you could time travel, when would you go and why? 400 years from now. I would love to see how much more amazing my culture becomes having experienced freedom longer than enslavement in this country.

What’s a little known fact about you? I was a model for the 50th annual Ebony Fashion Fair Runway show: The world’s largest and groundbreaking traveling fashion show which raised millions for African-American charities as it toured the globe. The show presented haute couture to Black audiences during a time when Black men and women were not allowed on runways. Ebony Fashion Fair put amazing fashions and aspirational lifestyles within reach of African-Americans.

What’s your favorite (Black) television/movie moment? Absolutely any moment in “Harlem Nights.”

Was there a movie that inspired you to pursue your career? “School Daze”

What’s your personal/professional mantra? Trust your instinct.

What’s the last show/movie that left you speechless? “Get Out”

What would be your dream project to work on? “Black AF” or anything directed by Ryan Coogler.

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Cut to Black: Joe Staton, Picture Editor (1935-2017)

by Nikki O’Connor
written by Nikki O’Connor 2 minutes read
For each day in the month of February, the Committee will be highlighting African-American members, both past and present, and their accomplishments. We look forward to showing the contributions and influences African-Americans have had on the industry.

Joe Staton, Picture Editor (1935 –2017)

In the late 60s/early 70s, Staton was part of NYC’s independent film community.

Joe started his own editorial company, Staton Film Service that was based in the heart of midtown Manhattan and was a union shop.

A contemporary of George Bowers and Hugh Robertson, Joe edited commercials, documentaries, and independent features. Two such features were “The Long Night,” directed by theater producer Woodie King, Jr. and the Jamaican cult film classic, “Smile Orange,” directed by Trevor Rhone, the screenwriter of “The Harder They Come.”

Joe worked as an editor on the children’s television series “Vegetable Soup,” and wrote and directed a serialized fiction piece for them called “Summer Father.”

His documentary credits of this period include “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” a film about Continuing Education programs for the NY State Department of Education and “Emerging Playwrights,” an interview series featuring up and coming Broadway playwrights. (He directed and edited both.) The “Emerging Playwrights” series profiled David Mamet, John Guare, Douglas Turner Ward, Christopher Durang, Albert Innaurto and Ellen Stewart of the La Mama Theater.

Later in his career Staton moved to Los Angeles to pursue cinematography and had a second career working behind the camera. His last two producing projects were independent documentaries, “All Our Sons- Fallen Heroes of 9/11,” the story of the firefighters of color who died at the World Trade Center, and “Amen- The Life and Music of Jester Hairston,” a portrait of composer-arranger Jester Hairston.

Written by Lillian Benson. ACE

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Cut to Black: Victoria C. Page, Picture Editor

by Nikki O’Connor
written by Nikki O’Connor 2 minutes read
For each day in the month of February, the Committee will be highlighting African-American members, both past and present, and their accomplishments. We look forward to showing the contributions and influences African-Americans have had on the industry.

Name: Victoria C. Page

What’s your job? Picture Editor

List the credits you’re most proud of: I’m most proud of my current gig. I’m on my first professional editing gig!!

What are you working on right now? “Hightown,” Season 2 for Starz

Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? Lillian Benson, ACE, Anita Burgoyne, ACE, Terilyn Shropshire, ACE and Pam Martin, ACE. I have the utmost respect and gratitude towards my mentors. Some of them have known me since the beginning of my career and I’ve always appreciated them so much both for sharing their brilliant editing minds as well as for the always honest conversations, no matter the topic.

What books are you reading, shows are you watching and/or movies you’re excited about? “Selected Takes: Film Editors on Editing” and I’m currently binging “Bridgerton.”

What would be your superhero name? The Dailies Crusher. My superpower would be speed.

What are your Black History Month memories and any cultural or historical impacts on your life? I can’t go without saying the Black Lives Matter Movement.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? Best piece of advice “I’m in control of the edit.”

If you could time travel, when would you go and why? I would go back to the 60s mainly to see family.

What’s a little known fact about you? My hands can’t keep still for long.

What are your hidden (or not so hidden) talents? I love to knit and crochet, plus I’m studying ASL. I hope to be fluent one day.
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