Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1279181
16 I M PS E . O R G MPSE PAST P R ES I D E N TS BY MARK LANZA MPSE MARK LANZA: What got you into the industry? RICK HINSON: I was in ninth grade and on Memorial Day, a local channel showed All Quiet on the Western Front. I had always liked current movies but now I discovered that I liked older movies as well. Channel 40 out of Sacramento showed a classic movie every night of the week during the summer. I spent all summer seeing everything, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and more… I was hooked. I went to USC film school and then got a job on a low-budget horror film. I was a PA and then got promoted to a driver position. I was a driver for a few companies. When I was working for Rich Harrison and they needed an assistant, they promoted me and got me in the union. I was admitted as a track reader as there were none available in the union, so that's how I got in. ML: What are you doing now? RH: Currently, I am doing an animated Dinosaur Train feature from home (in Tennessee). Also, I am a professor for MTSU (Middle Tennessee State University) teaching production and post-production. The creativity and enthusiasm the students bring to class every day has been reinvigorating and has helped me love the industry again. ML: How did you first get involved with the MPSE? RH: I joined because Ethyl Crutcher called and asked me to. I had just been nominated for an award and that's when I got the call. I became a Board member mainly because there were no TV people on the Board at the time, they were all feature people back then. I became president immediately after a problem time for the organization, and the first thing I did when I became president was to put the film voting rules and bylaws in writing (as they had never been in writing before), and had them approved by the membership. ML: How was it working with Hudson Miller? RH: Hudson and I were a perfect match because I liked doing all the stuff he didn't like doing and he liked to do all the stuff I didn't like. He loved to do all the behind-the-scenes stuff. And I guess I loved being the face of the MPSE and dealing with the members. ML: Ethyl Crutcher was involved in the organization for about half of your presidency, what was her influence on the MPSE? RH: Massive, for a long time. She lived it. The MPSE would have died without her influence. She was very opinionated, but she was incredibly important to this organization. A lot of the things that are still part of the MPSE are from her. The awards themselves could have slipped into obscurity without her. Having the big awards show in major places came from her. The MPSE was her life for about 20 years, we owe a lot to her. ML: What is your opinion of the MPSE's path since your presidency? Rick Hinson has had an extraordinary career in sound editing. Having spent 32 years in the industry, he has edited everything from The Sopranos and The X-Files to Duck Tales and Dinosaur Train. He has earned four Emmy Awards and nine Golden Reel Awards for his work. Two years ago, he moved from Los Angeles to Nashville where he continues to edit, but also teaches Film Studies at Middle Tennessee State University. Rick Hinson MPSE PRESIDENT 1997-2002