Sony Pictures Television for Showtime
Created by Darlene Hunt
Produced by Darlene Hunt, Jenny Bicks, and Vivian Cannon

Ostensibly a comedy, “The Big C” is a dramatic, emotive show about a family living through cancer.

Robin Williams once said that acting for comedy and acting for drama aren’t too different. It’s all about the timing.

I feel similarly about editing: whether comedy or drama, it’s about the timing. And timing is determined by one’s sense of audience expectation and want.

An episode of “The Big C” will move deftly, and sometimes swiftly, from comedy to weighty catharsis. These tonal shifts are nuanced by that sense of audience expectation — by either fulfilling it or defying it.

Steve Jobs once said that consumers don’t know what they want until Apple shows it to them. Tonally fluid series like this one and “Modern Family” work by giving the audience what they don’t know they want.

Directed by Alex Prager

See the full collection at the New York Times website.

This was my second collaboration with Alex Prager, a fine arts photographer who was included in the MoMA’s 2010 new photography review.

For this video companion to the New York Times Magazine‘s portfolio of Oscar contenders, Alex shot vignettes of thirteen actors portraying famous villains from movie history.

The editing of these art-film vignettes really indulged my OCD. I like to make sure every edit point is just right. Alex also focuses on the details; her work is characterized by highly staged, detail-rich scenes and portraits.

Directed by Mary Molina

Official Selection, NYLA Int’l Film Festival
Official Selection, LA Comedy Fest
Official Selection, St. Louis Int’l Film Festival
Official Selection, Plus Camerimage Int’l Film Festival (Poland)

This film was the brainchild of three soon-to-be-powerful Hollywood women: director Mary Molina, producer Sarah Babineau, and writer Niki Schwartz-Wright.  Mary and Sarah were roommates of mine, and Niki is also a dear friend.

At the time, Niki was working as an assistant to director Jason Winer, so she invited him to an early screening. A few months later, Jason hired me as an editor on “Modern Family.” I owe Niki a commission!

Young cinematographer Eduardo Mayén won the Emerging Cinematographer Award from the International Cinematographers Guild for his work on the film.

Directed by Alex Prager

This was my first collaboration with Alex Prager, a fine arts photographer who was included in the MoMA’s 2010 new photography review.

This (very) short film was the offshoot of a fashion spread Alex shot for W magazine. The companion photograph to this piece, “Crowd #1 (Stan Douglas),” was displayed at the MoMA.

Directed by Asher Goldstein

Best International Short Film, Kerry Film Festival (Ireland)
Best Short Film, Trenton Film Festival
Best Screenplay, NYU First Run Film Festival
Official Selection, Firstglance Film Festival
Official Selection, Expression En Corto Festival (Mexico)

The biggest challenge of this film was its ending. Director Asher Goldstein ran out of time and didn’t shoot the last three pages of the script. So, in place of a climatic brawl, we had to use what little was there to build an ending that still felt satisfying.

Asher and I were introduced by the intern at my job. I was a 23-year-old commercial assistant who wanted to edit short films. Asher had just finished classes at NYU and needed an editor for his thesis.

We cut “Strangers” through the summer and became best bros. At the time, I lived near a family-style Mexican restaurant in West LA, so most editing sessions began or ended with wet burritos.

Directed by Jeff Vespa

Director Jeff Vespa, a photographer and co-founder of WireImage, premiered his 2008 short film “Nosebleed” at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2010, Cannes invited him to submit again, and he quickly put together this interesting piece.

In the fashion of Alain Resnais, Jeff presents a non-linear, dreamlike story of two lovers, played by Mena Suvari and Sam Trammell, in free fall.

The film was shot with Jeff’s RED camera and in Jeff’s home, so we were able to shoot pickups as needed during editorial.

Directed by Mary Molina

Official Selection, Palm Springs International Short Film Festival

Opening Night Selection, Mezcla Latino Film Festival

Director Mary Molina, producer Sarah Babineau, and I were roommates when we made this film, Mary’s thesis at USC. I had the largest bedroom, so it became our cutting room, too.

The film is almost entirely in Spanish. I edited with a translation in front of me. I studied Latin in high school and French in college, so it wasn’t difficult to loosely understand the Spanish. Though, in a few cases, I needed Mary to come in and confirm that I was interpreting individual words correctly.

Directed by Michael Connors

“Recalled” is the story of three National Guard troops during the night before their deployment to Iraq. Specialist Reyes is desperate to escape the deployment. Lieutenant Sefton was granted a transfer and won’t be deploying. His replacement, Lieutenant Chambers, has just arrived on base.

With Sefton as the central character, the film explores themes of personal responsibility, dedication, and honor.

In the script, Sefton’s backstory is presented at the film’s start through non-linear storytelling and a series of flashbacks. While this made sense on the page, it didn’t play in time. Tonally, the film’s opening felt muddled and misdirected.

Working slowly and exploring every option, director Mike Connors and I restructured the film’s first act completely. The result is a more taught and engaging opening to the film, with much of Sefton’s backstory being revealed later.

When we began screening for friends, Mike had two requests: that we get a lot of input, and that we never screen for a large group. The result was six small screenings in three weeks, with revisions made between each screening. For optimal picture and sound quality, I ended up carting half of my equipment to Mike’s apartment for each screening. It was a grueling month, but the film benefited immeasurably from the high number of screenings.

Freestyle Releasing
Directed by Dennis Cooper

Starring Zoe Saldana and Wood Harris, “The Heart Specialist” was distributed in January 2011 by Freestyle Releasing. Playing in over 70 cities, the film made a modest $1.1 million — and we’re very proud of that.

This was my first feature, and I sold myself to director Dennis Cooper by saying, “At worst, you’ll get a very skilled computer guy, which is still worth more than what you’re paying.” Fortunately, Dennis was happy with my creative talents. I worked around the clock to really get the best out of each scene, and Dennis, an old-school Hollywood type, gave me insider tips on the best lunch spots in town.

New Regency
Directed by Mark Mylod
Edited by Julie Monroe

Best summer job ever! A workaholic, I couldn’t imagine taking the TV hiatus off, so I went back to work in features. This was my fourth show assisting Julie Monroe, and she had me cutting a good deal of the movie.

I was only on during production, which consisted of two months in Boston. Then I handed over the reigns to another assistant and returned to editing “Modern Family.”

The summer was marked by several memorable moments: our basement offices flooding during a summer storm; discovering my favorite cocktail, a rye cocktail called the vieux carré; and earning my first Emmy nomination!

It was a funny moment, walking into the office that morning and telling Julie, “So, guess what? Your assistant editor just got nominated for an Emmy!”