Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1339678
60 C I N E M O N T A G E C O V E R S T O R Y Wilcox at his Los Angeles home: "It's really important to diversify your career." P H O T O : C H R I S T O P H E R F R A G A P A N E it's totally useable, except we wanted to play the loop group in case you thought we could improve ourselves. And he said, "No, let's go back to what they had. That worked brilliantly." And so, they're in the movie. D o y o u m e n t o r y o u r A s s i s t a n t Editors as you work with them in the cutting room? Absolutely. Ulysses is working with me currently on a new season of "Genius: Aretha." Nolan will call me and ask me advice. On "Hillbilly Elegy," they were sitting in a master class listening to Ron give notes, and learning the rationale and execution behind the notes. I've been in the business a long time, so they were learning from me, learning from Ron. I volunteer all the time through ACE, the Television Academy and the Editors Guild Diversity Committee. When I'm not working, I'm usually mentoring somebody somewhere via the Ujima Entertainment Coalition. I'm trying to start a partnership with MPEG and some historically black colleges to expose film students to editing and careers in post-production. We're working on cur- riculum right now. Also, I think it's really important to diversify your career so you can't really be type-cast as an editor. Choose differ- ent projects. Make sure you exercise all those creative muscles to get a lot of experience in different genres. I think it's important to be prepared for opportuni- ties and navigate career transitions. And with career changes, come life changes. I am happy that my son, who wants to go into animation, was able to serve as our unofficial intern in the cutting room. It was great talking shop with him on walks back to my apartment. He grew a lot from being in New York City. It's great, the life that has now been afforded to us. It's really wonderful. ■ A.J. Catoline is a picture editor and is on the Editors Guild Board of Directors.