Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521235
62 M PS E . O R G Perry La Marca MPSE: Let's start with congratulating you and your company for three Golden Reel Award nominations this year and special congratulations to you and James Sullivan for your win on Hulu's Dave: Met Gala. Amber: Thanks! We are very proud of our team. We keep a tally of our nominations and wins on our website, and recently realized that Sharyn and I both now have 18 MPSE Award nominations. Sharyn: Yes! And we've both won four times. Perry: I know that you and Sharyn are business partners. Would you mind telling us a little about yourselves, how you met and came to work together and formed a company? Amber: Growing up, I was always doing something music related. I was involved in dance, played clarinet in band, and sang in choir. In my 20s, I learned to play guitar and also played bass in a rock band. I ended up attending the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Tempe, Arizona, to learn to record and produce music. The school requires an internship, and I decided that I wanted to work in post since film was my second love. I interned at a music editorial company in Burbank where I met Sharyn. I was hired at the company about a year after interning there and worked there with Sharyn for many years. Sharyn: Similar to Amber, I was into music at a young age. I started playing violin at age 9, and joined the percussion section of the concert band and marching band during high school. I was also into making videos with my friends. I was obsessed with soundtracks and had way more cassettes of soundtracks than cassettes of pop artists. I loved the way the music made me feel watching films and television, so I decided to pursue filmmaking, thinking I would be a film producer one day. I attended USC Film School as a production major. I took a sound class with MPSE's Board member Bill Dannevik, which had a field trip to Universal's scoring stage. They were scoring an episode of Picket Fences. That was the first time I met a music editor and learned what the work entails. I got goosebumps realizing a music editor combined my two passions of music and moving pictures. A few months later, I graduated and went to work assisting a music editor. I helped that music editor grow a music editorial company which is where Amber interned. Amber: I was actually intimidated by Sharyn when I first met her. She was music editing on big shows like ER and Ally McBeal, but also co-managing the company. I hadn't been working there long when, during pilot season, Sharyn went into labor with her first son. She was having back pains and I remember thinking she might be in labor. I had to insist she go home and rest! Sharyn: Yes, that's true. I didn't Sharyn Gersh & Amber Funk at the Create Harmony Media offices in Burbank, CA