Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1359892
31 S P R I N G Q 1 I S S U E F E A T U R E inspired by seeing industry veteran Anna Behlmer using a digital film console while working as re-recording mixer on "Kung Fu Panda." "I looked at Anna doing her pre-dub pass on that film and I thought, this is what I want to do," Wild said. "I got trained on a DFC in England where I worked, and then moved to America spe- cifically to try to get to Skywalker Sound. I was eventually offered a job in digital editorial services, an engineering role, and started there." Those are just two examples of prom- inent women audio professionals who were inspired or guided by those who came before them over the years. Today, the company believes that b u i l d i n g d i v e r s e c re w s m a k e s b o t h good sense and is creatively beneficial, according to VP and general manager, Josh Lowden. "Ideally, we want all the people involved in telling stories to be speaking from their own experience and bringing different perspectives," Lowden explained. "But more diversity also enables our teams to solve problems in unique ways. By growing diversity in our teams, we ensure that they come with different perspectives and solutions." Thus, Skywalker Sound is a facility where some of the audio industry's lon- gest-tenured and most highly decorated women are headquartered—where Jones (five Grammys and eight nominations); re-recording mixer Lora Hirschberg (a 29-year Skywalker veteran and the first woman to share an Oscar for achieve- ment in sound mixing for "Inception" in 2011, one of two Oscar nominations in her career); and others have achieved major industry distinction; where internship and apprenticeship programs are active- ly seeking women and other groups to enhance diversity; and where the audio work on "Mulan" (2020) was handled by what that film's sound designer, Krysten Mate, called "the most female-heavy post-production show I have ever been on. I went from sometimes being the only woman on a stage earlier in my career to working with a sea of women." In other words, over the years, Sky- walker Sound has become a place where, as Wild put it, "a roomful of guys is not perceived as a normal thing anymore." How this came about is due to a con- vergence of factors that the 10 women surveyed by CineMontage point to—in- cluding an active camaraderie shown by an informal "sisterhood" at the facility, as Wild refers to Skywalker's close-knit team of women professionals. 'Priceless Guidance' Kim Patrick, now a supervising sound editor, sound designer, and re-recording mixer started at Skywalker in 2012 in t h e c o m p a n y 's i n te r n s h i p p ro g ra m under sound designer Randy Thom and re-recording mixer Leff Lefferts, and was then asked to apprentice for supervising sound editor Gwen Whittle right out of her internship. Just ahead of her in Skywalker's internship program was current supervising sound editor Baihui Yang, who also interned for Thom before he guided her into an apprenticeship and the world of assistant sound editing. In both cases, the two women took advan- tage of formal entry programs, but once they got inside Skywalker, they found themselves receiving priceless guidance from experts. "Toward the end of my internship, Randy offered me an apprenticeship position on a sci-fi movie," Yang said. "Through that, I was able to join the AWARD WORTHY: Dave Acord (left) with Baihui Yang, Ronni Brown and Kim Patrick in 2007. P H O T O : S K Y W A L K E R