Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500189
8 M PS E . O R G Golden Reel Awards Did everyone enjoy this year's Golden Reel Awards? I know I did! What an absolute thrill it was to see everyone in person again after such a long break. We have the best members and celebrating with all of you made the night truly memorable. If you weren't able to make it to the show, here's a little recap. The evening kicked off with a cocktail party in the stunning old Hollywood salon at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre. The party was brimming with delicious hors d'oeuvres and an open bar, and was a perfect prelude to the evening. Guests spent time visiting with one another and admiring the gorgeous, historic 1920s venue, while enjoying the live pianist's catalogue of popular movie theme songs. Once inside the theater, our fabulous host, Patton Oswalt, opened the show in his signature style, bringing the laughs and getting the crowd warmed up for all the fun that was yet to come. Backstage, Patton was wonderful and gracious. He was very interested in the MPSE and what we do. We chose Patton because of his vocal support of the sound FROM THE MPSE OFFICE Greetings, wonderful members! Here's what's been happening at the MPSE office… community after the Oscars decided to leave us off the telecast in 2022. His support was no doubt one of the many factors that spurred the Academy to reverse that decision and bring back all 23 categories for the 2023 Oscars. Thanks, Patton! We were so fortunate to have an outstanding collection of presenters for the show, starting with past MPSE President Tom McCarthy, who presented all three of our Animation categories. He was followed by longtime Jerry Bruckheimer supervising sound editor George Watters II, who presented our Documentary categories, and had some very lovely things to say about our Filmmaker Award honoree. The original plan was to have none other than Tom Cruise present this award to Jerry Bruckheimer in person, which Tom was very excited to do. In fact, I got a call one night after hours because Tom said he couldn't sleep until he knew what the dress code for the show was. He was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, a last- minute change in his shooting schedule whisked him away to Italy and forced Tom to present via recorded message instead. C'est la vie! In Tom's place, we were ecstatic to have the director of Top Gun: Maverick, Joe Kosinski, who also gave a lovely speech, and was on stage to hand the award to Jerry. Jerry Bruckheimer was effusive in his love and respect for the sound community. He talked about finding the worst seat in the house whenever he's mixing a project to make sure that everyone in the theater can hear and enjoy the film. Jerry gets it! He understands that a quality sound job is absolutely critical to the movie-going experience. He was incredibly generous with his time and attention that night and stayed to enjoy the after party and mingle with our guests. Prolific supervisor Mark Mangini was next on stage to present our three Gaming categories. This was our first year having the Gaming category split out into each discipline: Music, Dialogue/ADR, and Effects/Foley. This change came about because our members requested it, and it has been very well received. We treasure our gaming brothers and sisters! Our Career Achievement Award honoree was introduced by Skywalker's own Al Nelson and Lora Hirschberg, in what was one of the most memorable speeches of the night. Al and Lora put together a "trivia drinking game" that was equal parts touching and hilarious, and had the audience howling with laughter. What a team! The MPSE was incredibly proud to present this year's Career Achievement Award to celebrated sound editor and supervisor Gwendolyn Yates Whittle. Gwen gave much credit for her success to all the colleagues who helped and supported her along her career path, and praised them for sharing their passion, time, and advice with new talent. Gwen's body of work is an inspiration, and we look forward to enjoying more outstanding projects from her in the years to come. Next up was recently retired Foley legend John Roesch, who presented both of our Short Form categories. It was an especially great night for John, as he also went home with a statue for his work on Top Gun: Maverick in the Feature Effects/Foley category. John left some very big shoes to fill on Skywalker's Foley stage! We were honored to have veteran actor Michael O'Neill ( Seabiscuit, Dallas Buyers Club, Transformers) on hand to announce all three of our Long Form categories. Having recently starred in the Jerry Bruckheimer series Council of Dads, Michael was very happy to have TRACIE M. COSTABILE BUSINESS AFFAIRS OFFICE MANAGER