On the first day of my co-op I was not entirely sure what to expect. After traveling over 300 miles and finally arriving in Santa Monica. I was there for a week before signing a lease on a house in Baldwin Hills, outside of Culver City. Finally situated, I emailed my employer, a talented director named Jennifer Sharp, to tell her I was ready to start. We met at her apartment where she gave me the rundown of tasks and a key to let myself in whenever. She also gave me no schedule, telling me the only way to get work done is if you can motivate yourself to do it.
We worked surprisingly well together, editing portions of the movie she’s working on, doing script re-writes, and even filming filler scenes using stuffed animals and voice overs. I edited a movie trailer for her, we posted it online for feedback and we went over ways to utilize dozens of people’s different feedbacks to make a better trailer. Jennifer cares deeply about diversity in her films, but not token diversity, something we agree on which made working on the story of her latest film super fun. Which you can learn all about here. To get some reshoots and location sounds from the village where the movie takes place,w e traveled to Holbox, Mexico, where I stayed for a week and she stayed for three. The town was beautiful and great adventure to have on co-op.
I headed back home before her, and was tasked with a complex editing assignment. The more fun aspect of editing is the ability to problem and solve an innovate and I was very stumped on how to streamline the process. Multiple google searches landed me nowhere and eventually I got in touch with an online group of editors and we got to discuss various approaches. It was super fun talking about something I’m passionate about with others who are also passionate, but even more fun to problem solve with some very intelligent people.
That’s where I am now, coming to the end of my co-op and trying to tackled this editing assignment before I leave. All in all, this has been one of my favorite co-op position so far. It has cemented my decision in going into film as an editor and as a writer and has given me great learning opportunities making me feel like more of professional than ever.
Photo Credit: Av Francisco and https://www.unagreatmovie.com/
