CTB2021
Cut to Black: Taylor Joy Mason, Picture Editor
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.
Cut to Black: Joe Staton, Picture Editor (1935-2017)
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
Cut to Black: Victoria C. Page, Picture Editor
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.
Cut to Black: Daysha Broadway, Picture Editor
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.
List the credits you’re most proud of. I’m proud of them all because of what I’ve learned on each job. Most recently, I was very proud of the work we did on “Between The World and Me. It was such a great team to be a part of.
What’s a little known fact about you? What are your hidden (or not so hidden) talents? I double majored in Film and Art History so I know a bunch of random facts about art and architecture. I can draw and paint pretty well and I used to want to be an architect. And I spent a lot of time building computers as a pre-teen. Just because I was curious about how they worked.
What’s your favorite (Black) television/movie moment? Whew so many! Three come to mind: 1. The premiere of “Living Single.” I sat so close to the TV (and got yelled at about it) and was laughing so hard. I was so excited to see 4 Black women on the screen laughing and joking with each other. I thought about it the whole next day. 2. Every bit of Oprah Winfrey in “The Color Purple.” 3. Angela Bassett burning that car full of her ex-husband’s clothes in “Waiting to Exhale.” There was such build-up to it with her on a rampage inside the house and then when we get to this moment, it’s silent. Just the sound of the fire. I thought it was wonderfully structured and powerful.
Was there a television show/movie that inspired you to pursue your career? Robert Zemeckis movies got me interested in the technical/VFX side of filmmaking. He was always pushing boundaries and I wondered what editors did to accommodate for that. The opening sequences of “The Hours” for how beautifully cut they were. It was like a symphony and so much was being said without words. And “City of God” blew me away in undergrad when a professor played a gun battle scene simultaneously with a screen recording of the Protools session.
What’s your personal/professional mantra? Just try. If you fail, get the hell up and try again. The only way to not reach your destination is to stop traveling.
I’d love to work on a fantasy or sci-fi film. I love that type of escapism. Something with a bad-ass woman lead.
Cut to Black: André Fenley, Supervising Sound Editor
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.
Cut to Black: Kristin Valentine, Assistant Picture Editor
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: Kristin Valentine
What’s your job? Assistant Picture Editor
List the credits you’re most proud of. “What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali,” “Euphoria,” “Dune”
What are you working on right now? Indie Comedy Feature written and directed by Lena Dunham
Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? My parents are my biggest inspirations and influences. Aziza Ngozi and Joi McMillon, ACE are my mentors and biggest supporters. Both are women whose professional and personal successes and overall character I aspire to.
What books are you reading, shows are you watching and/or movies you’re excited about? I’m reading “Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life” and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” (for the first time!). I’m excited about “Snowfall,” love “The Crown,” obsessed with “Succession” and dying to see “Judas and the Black Messiah!”
What would be your superhero name? Math Maniac lol
What are your Black History Month memories and any cultural or historical impacts on your life? I did a presentation on Angela Davis and her book “Women, Race and Class” during black history month in high school. It was my first introduction to intersectionality and how blackness and gender equally contributed to my experience in the world.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? Don’t let the bad in the world compromise the good in you.
If you could time travel, when would you go and why? I’d travel to the 70s for the fashion, to party with my parents, and see the hype around Studio 54 and Woodstock lol.
What’s a little known fact about you? What are your hidden (or not so hidden) talents? I worked for the Department of Defense, love math and can talk like Donald Duck lol.
What’s your favorite (Black) television/movie moment? Martin proposing to Gina with Brian McKnight #Swoon.
What’s your personal/professional mantra? Pursue your interests, but only commit to what you love
What’s the last show/movie that left you speechless? What would be your dream project to work on? “Uncut Gems! I think my heart is still racing lol. My dream projects are authentic dramatic narratives with unconventional story elements. Specifically, magical realism. “Beasts of the Southern Wild” is my ultimate dream project.
Cut to Black: Brandice C. Brown, Lead Assistant Editor/Assistant Editor
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.
What’s your job? Lead Assistant Editor/Assistant Editor
List the credits you’re most proud of. “Insecure, “Big Brother,” “Celebrity Big Brother,” “Dancing With The Stars,” “The Cabin with Bert Kreischer”
What are you working on right now? I wrapped on Fox’s “New Year’s Eve Toast & Roast” in January, and then took a much needed break to work on some personal projects. But I’m sure I’ll be back to my workaholic ways soon.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? Don’t take anything personally. The way people treat you usually has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.
Cut to Black: Honoring the Negro League and Its Influence on Film
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.
Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier into Major League Baseball has become an American tale of perseverance and strength. But the story of African Americans in baseball did not begin or end there. For players of Robinson’s caliber to rise, there needed to be a forum where their skills could be showcased for the Nation. 3,400 players were given that opportunity from 1920-1948 in the Negro Leagues.
On February 13th, 1920, at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri, Andrew “Rube” Foster, a former flame-throwing right-handed pitcher now club owner, and seven other team owners banded together to form the Negro National League. At this meeting, Rube was elected President of the league and given the task of managing every aspect of the game.
1976’s “Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings” centers on a Negro League pitcher who takes a page out of Rube Foster’s book by starting his own barnstorming team out on the road. This Motown production stars Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, and Richard Pryor. The film successfully made $33 million from a budget of $9 million. While also winning a Writers Guild Award for Best Comedy and an NAACP Image Award for Mr. Williams. Former Negro League players participated in not just game action but additional stunts throughout the film. Mr. Williams and Mr. Jones’ characters were loosely based upon former Negro League stars Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson.
Speaking of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, the athletes found themselves along with Jackie Robinson to be the focus of 1996’s “Soul of The Game.” Starring Delroy Lindo as Paige, Mykelti Williamson as Gibson, and Blair Underwood as Robinson, this HBO production focuses on the impending break of baseball’s color line. As the stars of the Negro League position to be the first Black baseball player, friendships are tested to their limits. At its core, “Soul of The Game” confronts racism head-on. However, the film does find time to address other issues such as ageism and mental health from an African American viewpoint.
None of these amazing stories are possible without the drive of one Andrew “Rube” Foster. We here at the AASC admire the moxie it took to get the job done.
By Wellington Harrison
Cut to Black: Gene Lewis Jr., Editorial Assistant
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: Gene Lewis Jr
What’s your job? Editorial Assistant
List the credits you’re most proud of. “Jingle Jangle,” “Bumblebee”
What are you working on right now? An independent short film
Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? Paul Rubell, ACE, Jeff Ford, ACE, William Goldenberg, ACE, Leslie Webb, Lillian Benson, ACE, Leander Sales, Saleem Aziz, and Wellington Harrison.
What books are you reading, shows are you watching and/or movies you’re excited about? I am presently reading “A Long Time Ago in A Cutting Room Far, Far Away…Paul Hirsch.” I’ve recently watched “The Mandalorian” season 2 and completed “Lupin.” I’m excited about “No Time to Die” and “Black Widow.”
What would be your superhero name? The Reciprocator
What are your Black History Month memories and any cultural or historical impacts on your life? Watching the Bud Billiken Day Parade while growing up in Chicago. Having Harold Washington be Chicago’s first Black Mayor, watching him setting the bar high, not just as a black person in Gov’t, but as a person that carried himself in a positive way. Malcolm X, not in an obvious way, but as a man that constantly evolved as he arrived at different truths.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? “Get used to being told no, no matter how successful you are, you will always be told no, but be ready to standby what you believe. – Richard Zanuck.
If you could time travel, when would you go and why? If I could time travel, I’d like to go to Chicago Millennium Park, 2008, the night that President Obama won. I’d want to feel the electricity of that crowd.
What’s a little known fact about you? What are your hidden (or not so hidden) talents? I’ve been called a Cinefile and I’ve recently embraced the title. My love goes from silent to present. It’s been a while, but I also sketch and sometimes paint.
What would be your dream project to work on? My dream project for so many years was a story of the Red Tails, also to tell a cinematic tale of the Buffalo Soldier.