Story and photos by Dan Ochiva
The Manhattan Edit Workshop (MEW) continues to grow its reputation as the top spot on the East Coast to learn the editor's craft. So it’s perhaps not unusual that it offers a great service pulling together panels of top-notch working editors who provide insight into how they pull off the latest reality TV show, miniseries or feature. This year’s “Sight, Sound & Story” one-day summit of post-production panels was held June 13 at the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway.
In the first installment of our coverage of the panels, we will look at the interview with Oscar-winning editor William Goldenberg, ACE (Argo). Coverage of other panels will be posted in subsequent installments.
William Goldenberg’s One-on-One Interview with Bobbie O’Steen
Many attendees to the anticipate the final reveal, too, where noted author of the editor’s trade Bobbie O’Steen (The Invisible Cut, Cut to the Chase) invites a veteran, talented editor — in this case Goldenberg — to the stage for a casual talk and screening. As a film historian and a familiar presenter at conferences on the East and West coasts, O’Steen has perfected a light yet controlled touch. She’s a welcome presence who puts aside personal theatrics to instead take her selected interviewee and attendees alike through a journey that connects each editor’s personal history to that of the directors with whom he or she has worked, and the exciting — if sometimes exasperating — industry that both director and editor serve.
After Goldenberg and O’Steen took their places on the director’s chairs set on a bare stage, she began with this comment: "Billy Goldenberg is a truly gifted editor who not only has a unique sensitivity to nuance and subtext but also the temperament and flexibility to move easily among vastly different working relationships and genres."
When O’Steen chose Goldenberg for one of her trademark one-on-one sessions, she had someone whose work — covering a wide range of topics and working with top-tier directors — would be known by everyone in this audience of film lovers, from student editor to pro.