Interview with Carol Martori, Documentary Editor

Hana (H): Our first question is what is your preferred caffeine source? Coffee tea, red bull?

Carol (C): Oh god, coffee! I’ve been drinking coffee since I was 18, 19 years old. And I don’t know too many editors that don’t. Well let me strike that, there’s all kinds of things that help editors. But if it’s really late and you’re on a major deadline and you are literally going to head into the wee hours of the morning, sometimes, I’ll do a Red Bull.

Well my very first job actually, we had a ritual, it was with Wolfgang Hastert, he was German and we would go to lunch everyday, he like really believed in just making everything very comfortable, so he always wanted to break and have a very nice lunch and then right after that, we would have an espresso, and then boom — back to work.

H: that’s good, its like…

C: Civilized. It’s very civilized

H: Yeah, it’s very civilized. So… You’re a freelance editor. Describe a typical day at work. Obviously it changes all the time…

C: It’s never typical. That’s so hard because I feel like it’s so catered to where you’re at in your career and what kind of project you’re doing. Of course you get down, you turn on your machine, or if you’re in a great situation that has a lot of money, you have an assistant editor who turns on your machine for you. I generally like to review what I did the day before, unless it’s like a long form thing then I’ll just review the section and then you kind of think about it. I like to have a plan about what I’m gonna do next, like what’s going on for that day. I like to have little micro goals, you know per day, that obviously align with the bigger macro deadlines and stuff like that.

Some projects just don’t have as much money and they don’t have as many resources, so I’ve been doing a lot of work that normally an assistant editor would do. And it’s been really challenging because I’ve had to go back and learn some things anew! Because things have changed so much in terms of the digital world. And I’ve had this great opportunity to have these amazing assistant editors, but now it’s like, “Oh yeah, we don’t have the budget, can you do that?” “Can you output an EDL, can you do reference files, can you make the OMFs for the sound guy and this and that and the other thing.” And I’m like oh my gosh!

Yeah, and you know you, it’s pretty basic but at the same time those are things that are so technical that if one thing messes up, that next person can’t do their job. And so it’s great because number one, it’s re-igniting my appreciation for an assistant editors but number two I also have a better experience and knowledge about what that next person the sound mixer, the colorist needs to do their job well. So it also helps me in terms of becoming a better editor and making sure we do it the right way. And I feel like that’s something I’m more and more focusing on, is like, making sure everything’s kind of quality from the top down. And that just makes it so you can be as creative as you possibly can, because that’s my job is to sit there and literally make something out of all this material. Yeah we can have lots of conversations, you can even have scripts, but at the end of the day, you have to see potential in that material and you have to have the brain space and the time in which to do that. You know, in addition to an amazing team. That goes without saying.

H: I love that you have the ideally it’s like this, and then… in reality…

C: You’ve got to be flexible, you really do, as a freelancer. It’s really kind of down to I’ve always been willing to go the distance, that’s just the person I am. I’m going to work hard for you, because this stuff takes a lot of hard work, it takes a lot of long hours. But I also feel like, as I get older, and I have more experience, there are certain kinds of parameters and situations that are better for me and better environments in which to maximize my own potential. It’s not about like, I’m a prima donna or anything, you just kind of know yourself better. And it also will help you in terms of not burning out. Because I love editing, but it’s an enormous amount of work, it’s a big dedication and you have to also take care of yourself, you have to take care of your own craft and skill set, essentially.

H: It sounds like setting yourself to be successful

C: Yes. I feel like when you’re making choices on what to work on, there’s a few things you really need to consider: one is the team, the quality of the team; two is how much money you’re going to get; three is are you really interested in this project, is this something you are passionate about yourself. And four is this something that’s going to be improving my skill set or giving me a credit that can help me later down the road.

So those are things, that, and listen, very few projects have all four of those. That’s like oh my god, I just hit a grand slam, whoo! So you’ve got to figure out what’s important to you, in terms of where you’re at. And more money doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a better project either, but you need to just kind of assess each project on a case by case basis and make sure you’re getting the things out of it that you need to at that particular moment in your career. You know I’ve taken some things on because you know maybe they don’t have the money, or the great studio but maybe that’s a great credit for me. That can help me down the road. Or maybe it’s a subject I really care about and I want to work on this material, so those things you just have to figure out what are those elements that are important to you as a person as you’re making those choices.

H: So we’re going to talk about growing up in Phoenix. What did you want to be when you grew up?

C: Oh I wanted to be psychologist. Yeah. I mean, from probably about 14. I wanted to act before that. I definitely wanted to act; I was really into it. And I did school plays and I even took some classes and all this stuff and I loved it. I was on stage and did a few little productions here and there. I just was super captivated by it. And then at a certain point, I began to kind of realize that, it was going to be a lot of hard work and a lot of potential rejection and, I was like I don’t know if I have the personality that can deal with that kind of rejection because it seemed so arbitrary. And a lot of it came down to physical traits or this or that and some of it was about your talent, but some of it was about something completely out of your control. And so I didn’t feel like I had the wherewithal to deal with that. At the same time as that was kind of waning, then I was really getting interested in psychology and I loved it. And I kind of just wanted to figure people out. Why did they do the things they did? I also wanted to figure out my own life, you know, selfishly. You know that was a great way to kind of understand things, why people do the things they do and what was going on with me at that moment in time and who I am. And studying that eventually those kind of twin interests did I think marry themselves in this kind of love for film and documentary in particular and trying to understand other people and doing something that was a little bit more creative too at the same time.

H: What was your first job out of college?

C: I was a social worker. Actually, I should rephrase that. I was a caseworker. And I worked with people who had chronic mental illness, schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, unipolar depression, and bi-polar depression. And my job was basically to help them get resources from food, shelter, clothing, to psychological and psychiatric services, and also to basically keep them on track in general in terms of their treatment plan and if they were decompensating or you know these illness are cyclical, so if their symptomology was aggravated, then we would have to bring them into the doctor, and if the doctor couldn’t just adjust their meds, you know to even out their symptoms great, if not, we would have to make sure they got checked into a hospital somewhere in Phoenix.

H: Where did you go to school?

C: Undergrad, I went to Pepperdine.

H: Oh that’s right. And then you went back to Phoenix.

C: I went back to Phoenix. I worked for two years and then I decided I wanted to go to grad school. And I went to San Diego State and studied sociology and that’s actually when I really started getting more and more into documentary. Because I was loving the subject that I was studying, but I was realizing that a lot of people didn’t have access to these theories and ideas and concepts in a way that was kind of digestible. It’s like off in dusty books in the library and so or there were books at that time. [laughs] And so, then I started watching a lot of documentaries and really loving it and I thought I’d really love to marry my interest in sociology with documentaries, sociology and psychology and documentary. And so I actually asked them if I could do a documentary for my thesis instead of a written thesis and they denied my request. They said you have to do a written thesis, which is actually right up there in that red book [points to the book shelf].

H: Oh my god, hold up, hold up. [Gets up to look at it]

C: You’ll like it Hana. Yeah pull it out. It’s meaty that one. Yeah [laughing], yes. “The Development of Feminist Consciousness: A sociological inquiry.”

H: Nice!

C: As you can see [flipping through the book] it’s long. It’s 180 pages and by the end of it, like I actually did interview some people on camera, but it was so long and such a process just to do this, that I was like, I just need to graduate now. I just need to get out of school and maybe I’ll do the documentary later or maybe I won’t, I don’t know. And unfortunately, I never did end up doing that documentary, but I started getting into it more and more.

H: Just really, quick, what is the two-sentence version of that, if you can…

C: It’s about women who identify themselves as feminist, how they came to embrace that label, embrace that way of thinking.

H: Interesting.

C: Yeah, it was you know like, pretty classic, because generally, it’s women who were in their twenties and teens in the 60s and 70s, came to it through consciousness raising groups and the social movement of the women’s movement that was going on at the time.

H: Yeah, like my mom.

C: Your mom. And then women like, my age, who came to it in college and even your age. Once the movement had been institutionalized, and you had women’s studies programs, then they came at it that way. So it was just a real clear age breakdown, but what’s more interesting is, that’s just how they came across their ideas, but why did they attach themselves to it? So there are a lot of different stories in relation to that, actually. And frustration and anger at being discriminated against is generally at the heart of that.

H: Or strong female role models who inculcated them from birth.

C: That too. That’s a big one. [both laughing]

H: Was feminisim so much a dirty word in the 90s as it is now, because I feel like there’s this backlash against it, just as a label even more. I don’t know …

C: Well Backlash was written in the 90s too, so it was dirty word in the 90s. I think when we lost the equal rights amendment in what was that ’89? That was kind of a death knell for feminism and I think it really hasn’t recovered since then. In some ways it has, I think probably maybe the most viable way is probably through pop culture. Like the riot girl movement.

H: And the economic power of women has increased dramatically.

C: Oh absolutely, I meant more like the image of it.

H: Interesting, so even by then, it was already kind of a dirty word.

C: Oh yeah, it definitely was. You know I have the quote, the Rebecca West quote, at the beginning of my thesis, and you know people have a hard time, “I myself haven’t ever been able to find out precisely what feminism is, I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.” Rebecca West, 1913.

H: Wow.

C: Yeah, so it’s always been pretty contentious. You’re challenging. You know you’re challenging the system and people have a hard time with that. People have a hard time especially when it’s a woman doing that. In a certain type of way, you know it’s uncomfortable for them. It doesn’t agree with their views about how women are supposed to be.

H: So as an editor, you’re a storyteller. So I think one of the big tenets of The Stairs as a brand is that we’re trying to promote women storytellers in the industry because we feel like it’s important. Do you agree? Do you think that it’s important for women to be part of the storytelling process in our culture and if so why? What benefit does that bring do everyone? If anything?

C: That’s hard because I think it’s important for everybody to have a voice, no matter who you are. And I feel like, we definitely have a situation in Hollywood, which is the main place of storytelling, where many different groups are marginalized and kept from telling their stories and I think that unfortunately, it makes for a far less rich, creative culture and way of expressing some of the most deepest and profound experiences out there, because you know the white male perspective is just one perspective. And it’s just a valid as anybody else’s and also even you know the American way of telling stories, is just one way of telling stories. You know three-act structure and all that stuff. There’s many different ways of telling a story, if you look at the Native American way of telling a story, it’s very circular, at least from my understanding of it, I don’t have a deep knowledge of it. But I think that we limit ourselves by limiting anybody’s voice. And I think it’s important for everybody to be able to come to the table and have an opinion and have a voice and have an idea that they want to share in the way that they want to share it. I think it brings a lot and it enriches the community. But unfortunately, I think we have a situation where you know we live in a capitalist economy, the main thing is to make money and you know Hollywood, in order for it to thrive and survive and that’s why they do things like big summer blockbusters and sequels and things that are very status quo. It’s a much bigger risk for them to tell a story from a more marginalized voice, you know that hasn’t proven itself, that doesn’t have a track record. You know, I can’t demonize Hollywood for doing that because every other industry does that same thing. But there are certain people out there that are taking risks and I applaud that and I applaud them. And I feel like documentary is one of those places where there’s a lot of risk taking and a lot of first time filmmakers that can get involved and do their thing. And that’s why I love it so much because you can do whatever you want. Anybody can. You can pick up a 5D and some editing software; some of the best films — Tarnation, that guy was working on iMovie for god’s sakes. So, here you can do what you want and put it out there, put it up on YouTube or Vimeo and you know, maybe you’re not going to get some huge crazy audience, but you can have a voice, you’re in the game now.

H: Okay, so back up. The transition from sociology and academia, you’re kind of in this more structured — talk about that transition from academia into really going for it as an editor, how did that come about, what happened what was your first gig?

C: All right so I was getting my masters at San Diego State. I got it, finished that thesis, it’s now a great door stopper [laughs]. And then I was teaching at the time, I started teaching at San Diego State, teaching Sociology 101 and Introduction to Social Problems. It was fun and I enjoyed it, I never intended to teach but I’m really glad I had that experience and I did it for seven years. And as I was doing that, I kind of, that’s when the whole digital revolution happened. And Final Cut came out, and the VX1000 and MiniDV came out and things just became a lot more affordable and accessible for you to explore things more readily. And while I was teaching, I had a friend, Virginia Maggio, and she was in the English department and she knew I was really into documentary and I really wanted to do it. And she approached me with an idea to do a documentary on women revolutionaries from Guatemala. And that was kind of like the first official, okay, this is happening sort of thing and you know we went down there, six months after the war ended, we did interviews with probably 20 different women who literally fought in the revolutionary war and told us their stories. We went all around the country and just got amazing footage and stories and unfortunately, just had a hard time getting funding. Didn’t even really know what we were doing. I mean I never made a film before. I was so green, I look back at it now and just kind of laugh at all the mistakes, but we just had so much passion and excitement for it. We did end up making this 20 minute piece which we got to present at various academic conferences and place in different libraries and stuff. Never really got on TV or anything like that. I didn’t even ever think of it but it could probably go up on YouTube now, you know I never even thought of that, but it was good because it just taught us about the process, what you need to do, how you need to organize, story-telling, what you need to capture, I mean it was very much a trial by fire. And it was a heavy-duty subject and I feel like, wow, that’s a lot to bite off. A documentary, your first documentary, in a language you don’t really speak very well, and —

H: But you spoke it a little?

C: A little. You know but we had a translator and she did the interviews. And then furthermore, then coming back and I don’t edit, I’ve never written a script. You know, oh we gotta get transcripts, oh and we gotta get translations too. All these things. The biggest hurdle became the editing. And then, that’s where I’m like, maybe I just need to learn editing and then I can just do it myself, I can put it together myself. Well in the process of that, and learning it, and in that project and a few other projects that I did on my own, I began to really love editing. I was like this is really fun, I’m enjoying it, I’m like sitting here for five hours and like it feels like five minutes went by because you were actually like weaving these things together and you were the one, it was coming from you. Of course that was my footage and my stuff too, but you were making the stuff coming to life, essentially. And so, you know this is when I got my first final cut system, and you know I was doing a bunch of my own projects, I was living in San Diego at the time and I was meeting a bunch of people and other filmmakers and going to filmmaker groups and long story short it’s where I met Wolfgang Hastert, the documentary director that I told you about. He did documentaries for Arte, which is a channel in France and Germany, on different aspects of American culture. It was some great stuff. My friend Mary at the time she was like, “hey it’d be really cool if we could edit Wolfgang’s documentary, would you want to like work with me on it?” And he was like talking to her about editing it, and so it was a documentary on Internet dating and this was 1999. And I’m like, “yeah! That sounds awesome, I would love to help you and work with you.” Long story short, Mary couldn’t end up doing it, so then it was just me. And we edited the documentary out of my apartment in San Diego and that was the first film I edited and it was on Arte ZDF, in France and Germany, probably one of the best channels in the world.

H: And you quit your other job?

C: I did. Slowly but surely, as I gained more and more projects, I did, I quit. I quit my other job, it was kind of scary and I got some jobs in between. There was period of time where, I was going back and forth and getting other types of jobs and then even when we were in Chicago, I had a full time job, I was senior editor at a place. But once we got to LA, I was like, okay I’m going to really try to see if the freelance thing will work. And it has. You know it’s been awesome. Like I feel super grateful and lucky for the position I’m in and I hope it continues, you know. So we’ll see, knock on wood. [knocks the table]

H: What is your all time favorite documentary that you’ve cut. [laughs] Other than Waiting for Lightning [the doc we worked on together] because clearly that is your favorite.

C: It’s definitely Waiting for Lightning. That one is great. That one is a great film. I mean, it might be… That’s a hard call.

H: Obviously you like stuff for different reasons.

C: I mean Waiting for Lightning is really epic, there’s a lot of just, I mean I’m just going to say it’s probably when I look at all the aspects of everything, it has some of my most favorite things in it, in moments and I feel like it has a real scope and breadth and depth to it, that hasn’t been necessarily achieved with some of the other projects. So I’ll definitely say Waiting for Lightning, I mean….

H: [Laughs] Not that I twisted your arm into it.

C: You twisted my arm, no, I mean it’s a tough one, but I feel like, I think one of the things is also when you find certain material as an editor, it’s like literally you are digging for gold, you’re literally trying to find an needle in a haystack, you know because you’re just [thinking], “okay what can we do that’s going to be unique and interesting and emotionally powerful?” So when that story came about with Danny’s mom talking about China and learning that his name is engraved in the Great Wall of China and that she gave him these ashes right before he did his run and me wondering like, “oh my god, does that footage exist?” and then learning that that footage actually did exist, and not only did it exist of him showing the ashes to camera, he’s literally crying.

H: I’m going to cry now remembering it.

C: I mean it was like, striking gold times three. It was like, “oh god, you have to tell that story!” I really feel like that was just one of those moments in time and in life, where from that first conversation we had, you, me, Yogi, and Jacob [Rosenberg, the director], talking about wanting to make this something along the lines of Man on Wire and then learning about those details and thinking actually we might be able to do that in a certain type of way. So that was really, that was great. And then for me, one of the best moments was cutting together Act 5. Yeah, that was just like, you know when you’re cutting it and you’re crying yourself, when you’re having an emotional reaction to this person yourself, you just know there’s something really special there. And it takes obviously a lot of time for it to really get to its full potential, but it’s great when you are privileged to be able to see that raw material see what you have, it’s really cool. So that was very special, it was a very special project.

H: I have so many questions to follow on that, but I think to go back to that fact that it is real. How does that play into that, making it all the more powerful almost when you find those nuggets of gold?

C: I mean, yeah, you know what’s weird, is like you know documentary is about truth telling sure but it’s also about so many other things. You’re definitely making a claim, you definitely have a view and a vision on that reality and you definitely want the audience to walk away with a certain message or idea or feeling. And that means that you have to take those moments that find that you really connect with, that you think communicate your message and somehow heighten that. So that you get the point across and so there’s lots of like editing or manipulation, or whatever you want to say, that goes into it to be able to get those moments to resonate as deeply with the audience as they are with you. And so, you know that’s just something, like I put raw cuts in front of — not even cuts, assemblies and people just they’re not going to have the same reaction until everything’s done, until it’s cut the way it needs to be cut, until the music is there, until the sound design is there, you know. Even the color correction, all these things, and the graphics, they all make that story come to life and hopefully, your intended message comes across in the end, but it takes a lot for those moments to resonate. I think that’s the biggest thing, as an editor, as a documentary director or producer, you have to be really keen in seeing potential. You really do. You just have to be that kind of person, that you’re like, man that’s really good stuff and I really think we can make a story out of that, let’s do it. From the biggest level to yeah that bite in that interview is really good we’re going to use that.

H: What would you say your editing style is, if you had to describe it?

C: Like I feel like it’s funny, like I’ve worked with some guys in the past I’m like, that guy’s a power cutter. You know, they just like, boom, boom, boom. It’s flashy, it’s quick. I’m not a power cutter. I feel like. I feel like I can really bring the emotion out of a film, I feel like my best thing that I can do is like really make you feel deeply and connect with the person.

H: You go for the jugular.

C: I go for the jugular emotionally. I do. You’re right. I’ll be honest. I like to make people cry. In a good way, in a cathartic way.

H: I would also say, I don’t know if you agree, but I think that you have strong narrative impulses as well. Story arc is a very important element to your work. Whereas some people are more free-form, abstract whatever.

C: Yeah, I think you’re right. I think a big issue for me is clarity. It’s the story and it’s also that story has to be clear. Like I don’t want people, like you kind of want to be one step ahead of the audience, you want them to be engaged and interested and that’s something I feel like I’m even working on more now. But I also don’t want my audience confused and like, why am I listening this, I don’t understand. I just worked on a documentary. We did a cut down of it. We cut 20 minutes out of it and when I watched the version that I was about to cut down, there were a lot of scenes getting in the way of the story and it confused the viewer. Muddying the waters per se. So for me, I guess that’s in part coming from an academic background, I just want to get all that stuff out of the way as much as possible, you know so you can be engaged.

H: Yeah, and I think that makes good story telling.

C: Yeah. I think so. And I think what’s cool is then to experiment with it and push it too. Which I like to do a little bit. That’s kind of my next chapter.

H: Cool. Okay. Do you think that being a woman has influenced your career path and if so in what ways?

C: I think that, I definitely think that being a woman has influenced the storytelling of some of these films. I will say that. I feel like, the way, the material and the ideas and emotions that I brought out of Waiting for Lightning and Love Me, in particular I don’t know if they would have gone that way if a guy cut it. Or even another woman, but you know. But I definitely think there was a much more, whether you want to call that a female influence or not, but there was definitely a much more emotional core to those films

H: Richer, broader.

C: Yeah, it definitely tended towards that. And both of those films could have gone a much different way. Much different. And so, I do feel like I brought that to that and I definitely have to say that is my perspective as a woman and I also approach the world from an emotional way, more than, yes to a certain extent as an intellectual, but my first approach is through the emotions, I get intuitions and feelings and like a lot of that guides my way of seeing things and interacting with people. Rather than like the thinking function of the personality, and so lead with your heart sort of thing. So I feel like that’s my own personal perspective in a lot of ways. And so I have the privilege of being able to marry that with my work, which is really great.

H: So maybe partly a female perspective, but also just you?

C: Yeah, exactly. It’s easy, because, it’s easy to say women are more emotional

H: Right.

C: and blah blah blah. But —

H: Or maybe it’s whatever cultural reasons, like women are more in tune with our emotions or whatever.

C: But I also think…

H: Certain people just are more emotional as well.

C: Exactly. And that’s a personality thing. But in terms of like career path and discrimination. You know, I don’t know, like it’s really hard for me to say, I do feel. You know I don’t know if this is from any specific evidence or anything, but I do feel like, the it’s in a certain way, being a woman, you’re seen in certain light, and I do think like as I get older too, I’m not out there, I’m not an actress or anything like that, but you know, looks matter in this city, and I do feel like, you know, are you going to get the jobs that a younger editor is going to get, as readily and as easily. Particularly as a woman. You know this town has an obsession with youth. And so those are things I definitely thing are happening and impacting how people get jobs. And I feel that. I see it. So, that’s definitely something that in my mind, I do think about in terms about what are my next steps career wise and not having to be as dependent on other people and other situations and also starting to think about establishing things for myself.

H: Right so you don’t have to be at the whim of someone’s prejudices or just weird things.

C: Exactly. Weird proclivities and what not. But that’s also about growing and wanting to like make your mark and have your own voice, like sure I get a lot of creative controls as an editor, but at the end of the day if the director wants something its my job to give it to them. And I should. That is my job. I’m trying to do the best by them that I possibly can and so, it’s nice to be able to think about maybe doing a project in the future where, it’s my own voice and my own ideas and work with other people to kind of realize that stuff.

H: Describe your proudest creative career achievement to date?

C: Oh my gosh..

H: Sorry that’s kind of boring interview question.

C: No, you know what, there were two. It was really awesome getting into SXSW for Waiting for Lightning and then also for King of Luck. More specifically for Waiting for Lightning, I mean I just felt like we were like the little engine that could. We were just like, “oh my god can we do this?” And then going and like seeing that first screening at the Paramount and everybody just having an amazing reaction. It was just such a — that was a great moment. That to me was like, whatever frustrations or anything, those are the moments that just make it all worth it. Like awesome! We did it. Done. And then on top of that, getting Samuel Goldwyn to distribute it and that being in theaters and then getting to see that, oh I’m going to cry, and then getting to see that in the theater with my family and my Aunt Jessie, who passed away shortly after that. But she got to see it, she’s the person who got me interested in film and art and all that kind of stuff in the first place.

H: Like when you were really little or…

C: Yeah probably, when I was like pre-teen, teen and she just loved film so much she had a huge collection of film, she’d be like have you seen this, have you seen that? And invariably I never saw it and she’d be like, what’s wrong with you? You got to see all these things. And she was a feminist, and she definitely made a big, deep impact on me and my life. And so it was an awesome thing to be able to see a movie that I edited with her in a movie theater; that was like the pinnacle…. She passed away a couple weeks after that, so it was kind of neat to be able to share that, last really strong memory with her.

H: I’m glad you have that good memory.

C: Me too, me too.

H: Have there been women in the industry that you’ve looked up to or tried to model yourself after or if not women, that you’ve kind of tried to model yourself after, looked up to, always going to watch their work, and inspired you.

C: I had a really fortunate opportunity to meet Susanne Suffredin, who… was one of the editors on Hoop Dreams, and she’s gone on to have a really good editorial career in documentary filmmaking and when I was working in Chicago at see3 Communications and doing all the non-profit video and stuff, she was working on a huge project for PBS, titled The Calling about people who were called to religious service and so she was supervising editor on that. We didn’t get to meet very much but the times that I did meet with her was just really great because I was able to hear from her perspective and… I [saw] where my career could go. And she’s gone on to make her own films too. So I just I wish I had more of that, to be quite honest with you. Now, I see women coming up in the community, like a Lucy Walker and that’s really encouraging. I’ve never met her or anything like that, but I feel like that’s awesome. I really think, it’s exciting for me to see more women’s voices in filmmaking, because it is a rare thing. I mean most of who I work with is men. So even working with you on Waiting for Lighting, that was awesome because that’s great to have another woman on this team and you know we’re making a difference in that way. You know, just it feels like you’re opening up the field and it’s a very closed field now. Still. Which is crazy.

H: And documentaries is one of highest of percentage of women directors. It’s like I think 25% are directed by women as opposed to like 9, 8, 6 %, something like that.

C: It’s so low.

H: Something less than 10%.

C: It’s crazy. Like 1% cinematographers. How many editors?

H: Editors is a little more than directors, less than producers, which is still less than 30%. It’s kind of just a big sausage fest.

C: It is. It is a big sausage fest. [laughs] I’ve also had the privilege to work with people like Paul Crowder and Mark Monroe when I was an additional editor on Sound City. And that was a great experience to see their process and be inside that and just see another perspective and way of doing things, and also to get validation that oh, actually, I’m on the right track — like “I do that too!” [Laughs] So I do wish, it’s hard to get out of the editing room sometimes, but I do wish there was more cross-pollination, and maybe I had time to go to some of these events and meetings, took the time to do that I should say. Because I do think it’s really important and I get a lot out of it when I do that, because there’s so many different approaches not just technically but story-wise to things. And, I feel like it’d be awesome just to share that experience and knowledge. And I want to hear that from other people. How do you break down 500 hours? How do you deal with 30 interviews that are 3 hours long? I’ve done it this way, I’ve learned these ways, but tell what’s your secret? [pause] Lots of coffee.

H: Okay these are just kinda funny little questions… One piece of advice for young women in the entertainment industry.

C: Don’t take no for an answer.

H: One movie everyone should watch before they die.

C: All That Jazz

H: One really good place to eat in LA.

C: Bestia

H: One tool of the trade that you use the most? Other than Avid?

C: Okay, other than Avid. Procrastination, no I’m just kidding… I would say my instincts…

H: One place you would like to visit that you’ve never been? Anywhere, in the United States, in the world, in space, the moon, whatever?

C: One thing, and it’s not that exotic, but I just think the culture is so beautiful: Kyoto, Japan. And the geishas and that way of life, it just seems timeless in a way. And I think it’d be neat to see that.

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[reposted from The Trebuchet predecessor The Stairs on WordPress]