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BITS & PIECES www.postmagazine.com 11 POST NOV/DEC 2022 GWENDOLYN YATES WHITTLE TO RECEIVE MPSE'S CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. HOLLYWOOD — The Motion Picture Sound Editors (mpse.org) will honor two- time Academy Award-nominated supervising sound editor Gwendolyn Yates Whittle with its 2023 Career Achievement Award. Whittle, whose more than 150 film and television credits include Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace, Minority Report, Munich, Iron Man, Cloverfield, Jurassic World and Fight Club, will receive the award at the 70th MPSE Golden Reel Awards on Sunday, February 26th, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. "An extraordinarily gifted sound artist, Gwen has lent her talents to an amazing diversity of films and television shows," says MPSE president Mark Lanza. "She has been a true pioneer since her earliest days in the industry and has served as a mentor, role model and inspiration to countless aspiring sound editors. The MPSE takes great pride in presenting her with our annual Career Achievement Award." The MPSE Career Achievement Award recognizes sound artists who have distinguished themselves by meritorious works as an individual and fellow contributor to the art of sound for feature film, television and gaming, and for setting an example of excellence for others. "This award reminds me of how lucky and grateful I am to have had the opportunities I've had," adds Whittle. "I have huge support from my family and my colleagues that allows me to thrive in a very competitive industry, still be in the thick of it, and work with the most creative people from all over the planet. Huge thanks to all the people who have mentored, supported and encouraged me through the last 30-plus years. I am eager to see where this takes me next." Based at Skywalker Sound in Northern California for more than 30 years, Whittle has worked on well over 120 films, from small indepen- dents to blockbusters. Starting as a PA in the art department on the Sundance film Smooth Talk, she later made the leap to sound on The Unbearable Lightness of Being and never looked back. Specializing in production sound and ADR editing, she has collab- orated with directors and sound designers from all over the world. Much of 2022 was devoted to final mixing on Avatar 2: The Way of Water in Wellington, New Zealand. Whittle's two Academy Award nominations came for Avatar and Tron: Legacy. She received an Emmy nomination for her work on WandaVision. Additionally, she is the recipient of six MPSE Golden Reel Awards (Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Super 8, Epic and Carne e Arena), alongside 20 nominations. Along with MPSE, Whittle is a member of AMPAS, BAFTA and SAG. She received an honorary PhD from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and often gives talks about her ex- periences. She even made an appearance in the documentary Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound. MILL STREET STUDIOS COMING TO MISSISSIPPI JACKSON, MS — Mill Street Studios (MillStreetStudios.com), the vision of Monte and Charlotte Reeves, is expected to open in Q4 of 2023. The 5.5-acre MSS campus is being developed by Dallas-based architect Arnold Hernandez, who is converting massive silos and grain storage shelters into two 17,000-square- foot sound stages, along with two 6,000-square-foot studios. The campus will also feature more than 40 office suites, a commissary, café, equipment rental, screening rooms and set fabrication mills. The property was once home to a cottonseed oil mill that the Reeves pur- chased. Located less than a mile from Mississippi's State Capitol, the mill once employed hundreds of workers. And less than two miles from the MSS cam- pus, the Mill Street Movie Ranch is being designed on 20 acres of raw land in a federally designated Opportunity Zone for exterior production locations. The city-owned cargo and private jet airport Hawkins Field is less than three miles away. "The response from real estate developers and investors to our RFPs has been gratifying," says Charlotte Reeves. "They all recognize the profit potential of this dramatic urban renaissance." As part of the current design and engineering phase of the project, MSS is being developed as environmentally friendly. Its 216 average annual days of sunshine guarantee solar power as an energy source, supplemented by the electric grid. It's located on an elevated plain, which provides a natural barrier to flooding; and it's above an underground aquifer well to provide pure, sweet water to recycle for the many fountains and waterfalls planned for the property. The studio expects to hire a full-time staff of over 250, providing job growth and an economic boost for the state capital and surrounding region. According to Nina Parikh, director of the Mississippi Film Office, "The addition of a pro- duction facility with multiple stages in central Mississippi would increase our ability to draw larger productions which have often located in surrounding states with established studios. Our cash rebate has been an exceptional re- cruitment tool, but infrastructure to support the industry is essential for contin- ued growth. Mill Street Studios has the potential to meet this critical demand." The MSS waitlist was launched October 1st and the first to sign up was Oscar-winning producer Gerald Molen (Schindler's List, Jurassic Park). Molen is currently preparing the southern romantic thriller Sweet By and By for Los Angeles-based Movicorp Media. In addition to producer Molen, the waiting list includes sign-ups by former CBS marketing exec Paul Friedman, currently planning the miniseries The Unexpected Danny Green, and CPA William Crim, former board member of Ridgeland, MS-based accounting firm GranthamPoole. Crim will provide on-site production accounting services and help producers qualify for Mississippi's rebate incentive programs. MPSE honoree Whittle