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What’s your job? Music Editor
List the credits you’re most proud of. “Us,” “6 Underground,” “Guava Island,” “The Predator,” “The Invisible Man”
What are you working on right now? A Marvel film.
Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? My mentor is Del Spiva (another African American music editor with 20 years in the industry).
What books are you reading, shows are you watching and/or movies you’re excited about? Definitely excited to see the finished product of the film I’m currently working on. Also “Coming 2 America” (which my mentor worked on) and all the new Marvel movies coming soon.
What would be your superhero name? Mr. Incredible
What are your black history month memories and any cultural or historical impacts on your life? When Barack Obama became president! Proves that WE CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? “You miss every shot you don’t take.”
If you could time travel, when would you go and why? To graduating year at high school. I’d love to get a “leg up” in the industry and get a bigger head start than what I already had.
What’s a little known fact about you? What are your hidden (or not so hidden) talents? I’m very musically talented and can sing very well.
Was there a television show/movie that inspired you to pursue your career? Well the movie “Drumline” inspired me to chase music in college/attend an HBCU, and I honestly wouldn’t be where I’m at today if I didn’t.
What’s your personal/professional mantra? Never complain about where you’re at/what you’re going through because it could ALWAYS be worse. Instead GET UP and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
What’s the last show/movie that left you speechless? “Uncut Gems.” That ending was INSANE!!!
What would be your dream project to work on? Honestly??? The next big “Black Panther” movie. I’m so blessed to be working on a Marvel film currently so I’m on the right track!
What’s your job? Assistant Editor
What are you working on right now? “All Rise, Season 2 (CBS All-Access)
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.
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.
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.
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
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 “Who 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.”
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.
