Cutting Class

Bonus Round Interviews, non-editors talking about editing:

Jeff Kling is the Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Das Favorite. He has previously been CCO of Lightning Orchard, CCO of Fallon Worldwide, and ECD of Wieden Kennedy among many other roles in his storied history. Jeff is responsible for the universally beloved Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man in the World campaign, the Miller High Life Errol Morris campaign, the Arby’s “We Have the Meats” campaign, he’s responsible for that hilarious Loctite Super Bowl commercial from 2014 and in his own words he “rubber stamped” the Nike “Write the Future” commercial. And this is just the surface of all of the insane spots he’s worked on or created.

Hey everybody, welcome to the Bonus Round of Season 1 of Cutting Class. As I mentioned at the end of Jen Dean’s episode I’m doing something a little different with these bonus episodes and I’m hoping it proves to be interesting and of value to you: I’m speaking with non-editors about editing. People who work closely with editors and likely have never really expressed out loud some of their feelings about editing and editors.

And first up is really top notch:

Crystal Moselle is the celebrated director of The Wolfpack, Sophia, The Skate Kitchen and HBO’s Betty. And though she is a director she does have some editing experience. Also since we talk a good amount about it, a little refresher: The Wolfpack is the 2015 documentary about the Angulo family, whose seven children were confined to their lower east side apartment by their overbearing father. They learned about the outside world through watching films. On one of their few breakaways from they home Crystal ran into them and struck up a friendship then began filming them for many years. The result was Crystal’s debut film which ended up winning the Grand Jury prize at Sundance and was bought by Magnolia Pictures and the rest is history. 

Stay tuned for more of these bonus episodes.

HMU @cuttingclassediting on IG

Jen Dean is a NY-based commercial editor and mother with a sharp eye, a quick wit and a love for Texan psych rock. After studying under Stan Brakhage she got her start at Lost Planet as Hank Corwin’s assistant, eventually moving on to cut her own award-winning projects from fashion to comedy to docu style and everything in between. She’s an editor’s editor and has been in this edit world for long enough to be known and respected by anyone and everyone who’s also been around long enough to know anything. 

When I began this podcast and the accompanying instagram I reposted an image of Thelma Schoonmaker on the IG and multiple people, including former guest Kimmy Dubé, quickly responded that the woman Thelma was with was also a legend herself, Jen Dean. So I swiftly got Jen’s contact and tried and failed to land an interview for many months and then the conversation drifted away; so Jen was my white whale for this season and I couldn’t close it out without her. And I’m so glad she was finally able to make time for me because we had a great chat. 

For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm Connect with us on IG @cuttingclassediting

Questions, Comments, Criticism: cuttingclassediting@gmail.com

Cutting Class is produced, hosted & edited by John McSwain

Paul Rogers is an LA-based editor best known for his astonishing work on the breakout hit film Everything Everywhere All at Once. His wild resume also includes The Eric Andre Show, You Cannot Kill David Arquette, The Death of Dick Long, Dream Corp LLC, and a number of great music videos notably including DJ Snake & Lil Jon’s extremely viral “Turn Down For What”, Haim ft A$ap Ferg’s “My Song 5” and Lauv ft. Julia Michaels “There’s No Way.” He, along with his partners at Parallax Post, co-edited Sampha’s beautiful album film “Process” as well as “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story.” (As we get into later, who from Parallax worked on what is not entirely clear for me and I’m going off IMDB and I know there’s way more than what’s listed there so my apologies if any of that isn’t fully correct but it’s an interesting story to stay tuned). In this episode we discuss: -a life changing viewing of Flying Lotus' Until the Quiet Comes -Editing with "The Swarm" -Why all editors should be in therapy -Premiere Gang -The Rocks ************ For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm  Connect with us on IG @cuttingclassediting Questions, Comments, Criticism: cuttingclassediting@gmail.com Cutting Class is produced, hosted & edited by John McSwain

Eileen Meyer and Aaron Wickenden are two outstanding editors who have collaborated on three major documentaries: Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Television Event and Best of Enemies: Buckley vs. Vidal. They’re also prolific individually: Eileen previously co-edited the Oscar-nominated/Sundance Audience award winning doc, Crip Camp, and cut on the Netflix doc series The Devil Next Door; while Aaron has also cut or collaborated on such very notable docs as Becoming, Feels Good Man, They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead, Finding Vivian Maier and a personal favorite of mine: Won’t You Be My Neighbor. Together, they’ve been nominated for this year’s CinemaEye Honors award for best editing.

In this episode we discuss:

-Collaboration and ownership

-Layering emotion and humor

-Doc narrative structure

-Utilizing silence

Evan Schrodek is a Los Angeles-based TV, film and documentary editor best known for his work on the zombie-apocalypse smash hit The Walking Dead. After assisting on season four he moved up to editor on season five and continued cutting for seasons six, eight and nine.  He also recently edited the thriller series Panic and he’s soon to be known even more for his work on the upcoming Resident Evil series on Netflix.

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On this episode we get into:

- The Pleasure of Horror and cutting for the audience

- Horror sound design

- Alienating the viewer aka brutally murdering a lead character

- Our mutual love for Hereditary

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For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm

Connect with us on IG @cuttingclassediting

Find Evan on IG at @evanschrodek

Questions, Comments, Criticism: cuttingclassediting@gmail.com

To Support this podcast visit anchor.fm/cuttingclass/support

Cutting Class is produced, hosted & edited by John McSwain

Jake Burghart is a prolific editor, cinematographer and director known for his work at VICE media over the past 15 years. As one of the company’s first video hires during its transition from free magazine to behemoth news and entertainment network, Jake set the look and tone of the videos as both camera person and editor.

He got his first big break in the early 2000s shooting and editing the Against Me! documentary, "We're Never Going Home," then after joining Vice cut The Vice Guide to Travel DVD, True Norwegian Black Metal, The Vice Guide to Congo, and his own surfing shows High Shredability and School of Surf. He spent many years as Cinematographer for the Emmy Award-Winning show VICE on HBO. Our interview took place in Fall of 2020 after he’d recently completed directing, shooting and co-editing The Vice Guide to Iran and was working on a new mid-pandemic news show, Shelter in Place, with Shane Smith.

Stephanie Filo is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning editor best known for her work on HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show and Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 69, among many many others. Now based in Los Angeles but having grown up in Colorado and Sierra Leone, Stephanie also cuts many social impact docs, including her own PSA “End Ebola Now” which was viewed widely, spawning dance videos from celebrities to bring awareness, and helped lead to the eradication of Ebola in Sierra Leone. She’s also cut specials like Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project, following Kim K as she works to help incarcerated people be released from prison, and finally, Separated, a short doc for which she won an Emmy, about ICE deportations and their effects on families.

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On this episode we get into:

-Getting the editing bug from watching the Se7en intro titles

-Dancing's relationship to Editing

-The imposter syndrome

-Reality vs Documentary

-Keeping your career diverse and keeping diversity in Post

-Cutting from the heart (and winning awards for it)

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For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm

Connect with us on IG @cuttingclassediting

Questions, Comments, Criticism: cuttingclassediting@gmail.com

To Support this podcast visit anchor.fm/cuttingclass/support

Cutting Class is produced, hosted & edited by John McSwain

Jason Goldwatch is a Los Angeles-based Director and Editor best known for his music videos for some of hip hop’s finest rappers. A brief collection would include Nas, Jay-Z, Kid Kudi, Common, Schoolboy Q, Pusha T, Alchemist, Evidence, Conway the Machine, Atmosphere, The Roots, Action Bronson and Kool Keith.  In this episode we trace his career, from making Beastie Boys tribute videos in high school to being the youngest signee to Spike Jonze’s production company to starting his own company and record label to now returning to being a one-man show, culminating in his recent album length video for Atmosphere, The Day Before Halloween.

A few topics covered in this episode:

• Jason’s thoughts on why you should absolutely not go to film school. But maybe. But definitely not.
• digging in the YouTube crates
• editing in the pocket
• creating a visual language
• spirituality in the edit

For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm

Find Goldwatch online @goldwatch or goldwatching.com

Connect with CC on IG @cuttingclassediting

Questions, Comments, Criticism: cuttingclassediting@gmail.com

To Support this podcast visit anchor.fm/cuttingclass/support

Cutting Class is produced, hosted & edited by John McSwain

Kimmy Dubé is a Los Angeles-based commercial editor, known for her comedic and action spots. After starting out as an intern at Lost Planet in NY she rose the ranks to become a rostered editor, cutting excellent work like AT&T's "It's Not Complicated" campaign with SNL's Beck Bennet (very few commercials make me laugh like those do) and eventually departed for Cosmo Street in Los Angeles, where she now works. Her wonderful sense of humor has garnered her many friends and fans in the industry and her distinctive voice has landed her a number of voice-over roles as well.  In this episode we cover: -Will Kimmy ever learn to play an instrument? -Crying with Hank Corwin -How to become a famous voice-over artist -Budweiser, fighter jets and desert horses For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm Connect with us on IG @cuttingclassediting Questions, Comments, Criticism: cuttingclassediting@gmail.com To support this podcast visit anchor.fm/cuttingclass/support Cutting Class is produced, hosted & edited by John McSwain

Colby Parker Jr. Pt 2. The editor of Ant-Man, Friday Night Lights, Patriot’s Day, Deepwater Horizon, Hancock and the pilots for The Leftovers and Ballers talks more music, Marvel, Pete Berg and cutting action with heart. 

In part two we cover:

• Sacrificing a great shot for the story
• Being on set for Friday Night Lights
• Finding the emotion in a coin toss
• Giving explosions in the sky their big break
• Do you have to play an instrument to make it today?
• Meeting salty Hollywood heroes

For more information and supplemental video clips visit cuttingclass.fm

Connect with us on IG @cuttingclassediting

Questions, Comments, Criticism: cuttingclassediting@gmail.com

To support this podcast visit anchor.fm/cuttingclass/support

Cutting Class is produced, hosted & edited by John McSwain.

Visit vctns.com or @vacationsonline for more info

Welcome to Cutting Class, a podcast about film & video editing as told through the lives of some of the top editors in their fields. Episode 1 coming soon.