Web Exclusives
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
Appreciation: Bob Jones, Editing and Writing Wizard, Left a Lasting Mark on ’70s Cinema
By Peter Tonguette
Early in Hal Ashby’s 1973 drama “The Last Detail,” a trio of sailors share a meal.
Petty Officers Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Mulhall (Otis Young) are in the midst of the first leg of a trip during which they aim to combine business and pleasure. Officially, the two have drawn orders to accompany a young sailor, Seaman Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid), to a naval prison in Maine, where the glum-faced young man is to serve an eight-year term for pilfering $40 from a polio contribution box. Unofficially, the three of them intend to take a good, long while to make their way to Maine, planning to raise a lot of hell along the way.
In one of screenwriter Robert Towne’s signature scenes, Buddusky, Mulhall, and Meadows are seated in a diner. Cinematographer Michael Chapman’s camera followed a waiter walking from the kitchen with their orders — Meadows has requested a cheeseburger with sufficiently melted cheese — and settled on a wide shot of the three in their booth as the plates are set down. But it was picture editor Robert C. Jones, ACE, who added the touches and transitions that brought the scene to sparkling life.
Jones held on the wide shot even after Buddusky, nosily lifting up the bun on Meadows’s burger, finds that his charge’s cheese is unmelted. Buddusky summons the waiter: “Melt the cheese on this for the chief, would you?” After Buddusky sends the burger back, Jones cut, for the first time in the scene, to a medium shot of Meadows, looking on hungrily at his chums as they chow down and ooh and aah over their food. Then comes a time jump: Just as Buddusky barks, “Hey, where these malts at?,” Jones wittily dissolved to a head-on two-shot of Buddusky and Mulhall simultaneously taking one last gulp of their malts. The scene ends with a cut to a reverse angle on a now-satiated Meadows: “It’s good,” he says, holding up his burger.
Such simple strokes of editorial invention were the hallmark of the films of Jones, who died on Feb. 1 at the age of 84. His survivors include his wife, Sylvia Hirsch Jones, and two daughters, picture editor Leslie Jones, ACE, and Hayley Sussman.
A Los Angeles native, Jones was born into a post-production family: His father, Harmon Jones, was an accomplished editor, receiving an Oscar nomination for cutting Elia Kazan’s “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947), before becoming a director. His son was himself nominated for three editing Oscars — for “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (1963), along with Gene Fowler, Jr., ACE, and Frederic Knudtson, ACE, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967), and Ashby’s “Bound for Glory” (1976), co-edited with Pembroke J. Herring — and took home a screenwriting Oscar, along with Waldo Salt and Nancy Dowd, for Ashby’s “Coming Home” (1978).
As an editor, Jones enjoyed multi-film collaborations with several important directors, including Stanley Kramer, Warren Beatty, and Arthur Hiller, but his most fruitful, and eclectic was with Ashby, for whom he edited “The Last Detail,” “Shampoo” (1975), “Bound for Glory,” and was among a consortium of editors on “Lookin’ to Get Out” (1981). Having been tapped by Ashby to contribute to work on the screenplay to “Coming Home,” Jones also produced the shooting script used for the director’s 1979 masterpiece “Being There.”
First and foremost, though, Jones was a gifted editor — praised for his speed and invention by his colleagues.
“He was probably the fastest editor I ever worked with,” picture editor Don Zimmerman, ACE, told CineMontage this week. Zimmerman served as an assistant editor under Jones on “Shampoo” and “Bound for Glory,” but was bumped up to picture editor on the Jones-scripted “Coming Home” and “Being There.” “He was just really brilliant and a great storyteller,” Zimmerman said. “He really had an incredible mind. . . . He instilled in me a whole sense of how to do things.”
Jones’s association with Ashby began on “The Last Detail.” Film scholar Nick Dawson, the author of the acclaimed biography “Being Hal Ashby: Life of a Hollywood Rebel,” said that Ashby was dissatisfied with the initial work done by the original editor on the film. Jones was brought in on short notice, ultimately molding the film into the masterpiece it became.
“Jones was starting from scratch,” Dawson told CineMontage this week. “It was a situation where time was of the essence. The work that he did was so quick and so good.”
Ashby, who had won acclaim (and an Oscar) as a picture editor himself, kicked off his directorial career with “The Landlord” (1970) and “Harold and Maude” (1971). Those classic films, edited by William A. Sawyer and Edward Warschilka, featured a flashier, more ostentatious style of editing in keeping with the spirit of the New Hollywood movement, something Jones moved away from. “You see in the films that Jones cut for him a greater simplicity in the editing that allowed the strength of the material to stand out,” Dawson said.
Jones’s sedate, contemplative editorial rhythms also added an extra dimension of melancholy to the sex farce “Shampoo,” starring Warren Beatty as George Roundy, equally sought-after as a hairdresser and Don Juan figure in the lives of a bevy of Los Angeles women in 1968, including Goldie Hawn, Julie Christie, and Lee Grant. “He and Warren hit it off, and he worked with Warren on almost everything,” said Zimmerman, who, with Jones, co-edited Beatty’s “Heaven Can Wait” (1978). Jones then edited the Beatty-produced “Love Affair” (1994) and, with Billy Weber, ACE, co-edited the Beatty-directed “Bulworth” (1998).
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Robert C. Jones, left, Nancy Dowd, second from left, and Waldo Salt with their Oscars for writing Coming Home backstage at the Academy Awards with presenter Lauren Bacall in 1979.
Confident in Jones’s ability to bring out the best in the footage he shot, Ashby gave himself permission to step away from day-to-day involvement in postproduction. “In simple terms, [Jones] freed him to be a director first and to be able to not feel a sense of obligation to be in the cutting room too much,” Dawson said. “It allowed him to sort of live his life a little bit: He’d finish production and hand off the film to Bob Jones. . . . He knew that the movie was in good hands.”
Yet Ashby had bigger plans for Jones, who was tasked by the director to get the screenplay for “Coming Home” ready to shoot. “There were a decent number of credited and uncredited writers on that film, including Ashby himself,” Dawson said. “Jones was somebody that he trusted. It’s a testament to his incredible abilities, and that rare combination of skills, that the film is so good.” After winning an Oscar for “Coming Home,” Jones wrote the script used during the filming of “Being There” (though Jerzy Kosinski, upon whose novel the film was based, received the sole on-screen credit). “The version of ‘Being There’ that was shot was Jones’s script,” Dawson said.
Ashby and Jones would eventually go their separate ways, but his demand as a top picture editor never abated. Jones also worked on Tony Scott’s “Days of Thunder” (1990) and Harold Becker’s “City Hall” (1996). In his capacity as a screenwriter, he penned episodes of Shelley Duvall’s acclaimed series “Faerie Tale Theatre.” In 2014, Jones received a Career Achievement Award from the American Cinema Editors.
“Bobby is the kind of guy who could do just about anything,” Zimmerman said.
And Ashby’s films lost a little of their magic in the absence of Jones, the man who was, for so long, his go-to editor. “I feel like he maybe thought it was a bit too easy — that it was kind of a bit of a cheat — to have Bob Jones as your editor,” Dawson said.