Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1081428
www.postmagazine.com 13 POST JAN/FEB 2019 WOMEN IN POST right teams and leading them. They're all incredibly talented and committed and just helping them, where my own skills and experience are applicable, and just making sure that they have a really safe, supportive and stimulating technical and creative environment so they can get on with their jobs and not worry about all the other stuff." Anderson says that once the project moves into post, "that's when all the chickens come home to roost. Post pro- duction is about working with what you've got, as opposed to what you think you might have had. It's also just surrounding yourself with really good people. I have an incredibly good core team here who work with me on all of the different pro- ductions. Then we have post production teams wherever we're shooting and some very good people who we've worked with over several projects who bring their best people and skills and talents and it's really just building best upon best." With each and every project, Anderson says that the team keeps getting better at the post production process, perfecting it for the way they like to do movies, while also supporting the filmmakers each time. "I really enjoy the whole problem-solv- ing aspect of the job and finding really creative solutions, balancing budgets and schedules on tight ropes," she says. "That's something that's deep in my DNA and it's all part of the fun of the job. But I'd be fibbing if I said it wasn't hard at times and that I wasn't working at night thinking, 'how do I solve this conundrum?' But all in all, it is that energy that makes me want to make the film the best it can be by getting with the team and the filmmakers and all getting together and solving it in as 'outside-the-box' type of way as we can." As for being a women in what's still a male-dominated industry, Anderson says that she's fortunate to be a part of a studio that is actively working to change the landscape. "One of the things I absolutely love about working for this company is that more than 50 percent of the LucasFilm leadership team are women, led by Kathy Kennedy and Lynwen Brennan," she says. "These are all incredibly strong and talented female executives who work closely and collaboratively in so many ways, across so many divisions, and covering not only post, but really diverse roles such as legal, finance, HR, publicity, marketing, visual effects, animation, production, etc. I'm really honored to be part of that group and because it means that the company as a whole is keeping up with the technology, and on top of that, there's such a commitment to diversity and it certainly makes us a lot stronger as a company." She says that for herself, it was both harder and easier to come up in the in- dustry as a woman. "In some ways, being a woman was great because I could kind of do it my way. For a very long time, it was a very male-dominated environment, and because of that, I didn't have to fit in with the rules of the guys or go with how things had been done. I could figure out my own path and embrace my own way of doing things. Of course, always in conjunction with the most efficient ways to do it. And that was the good, easy part, if you like. The harder part, was literally then having to find my way and find a position where I would be respect- ed. And, of course, to actually find the opportunity. It was about being really determined and tenacious in carving out those opportunities." She continues that we're still having many of the same conversations about women in the entertainment industry because, "the industry has been going a long time, and for all good reasons, and it's a slow moving beast. It will take time to make all the changes we want to make. And, just like technology, you don't want to have technology for technology sake. We need to promote the best people for the jobs, whether they are male or female. What we've been missing is the oppor- tunity for women so they can actually get the skills. That way, the best person for the job can be selected from a much broader group. It's helpful that we're talking about it now." Anderson ends our discussion with a few words of advice for anyone coming up in the industry. "Number one, trust your creative instincts. Number two, get a mentor, or the very least, start early to make friends and communicate with people in post or other parts of the industry and find out what you don't know. That enables you to keep moving forward. Last, keep a sense of humor. However hard it is to say, it's just a movie. Put it down at the end of the day, do something relaxing and have a laugh." Solo: A Star Wars Story Anderson with some of the Skywalker Sound team Strange Magic