Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1529890
46 W I N T E R 2 0 2 5 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y opinion, Netflix kickstarted the need and desire for more exciting documentaries and docuseries. While these were scripted dramas, the newly founded binge-watching "Netflix and Chill" that was available with House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, for example, changed how we ingested these shows. Viewers could access shows instantaneously and plow through everything in a day or two. The documentary is where it is today as a result of the streamers' viewership and the rise of more content. In 2016, ESPN's O.J.: Made in America was nominated for a CAS Award in the Motion Pictures – Documentary category. It was the Cinema Audio Society's first year recognizing this category. It was also my first actual award nomination, and a tremendous honor to be recognized. It truly felt like real validation for all the countless late nights and hours in the studio. O.J.: Made in America was 8½ hours long, and because of the project's large scope, I could have a dialogue editor and pre-mixer as part of my audio post team. We threw everything at it sonically. Director Ezra Edelman listened to the famous Nicole Brown Simpson "kill scene" we designed and tore it all apart. It was too heavily mixed, too heavily panned, too sound designed. From his critique, we stripped it to its bare minimum, and it became super impactful. It was a valuable lesson that, while we have come to a certain point of creative ability coupled with the power of technology, the story is always king. Sometimes we can let the art of sound get in the way of telling a story. Since that epic project, it has been full steam ahead. O.J. blurred the lines about a film versus a television production. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and received six Emmy nominations. The Emmy rules for entry were changed soon after that production. There were many projects in between, but O.J.: Made in America led to The Last Dance, which led to working with Chris Smith on HBO's 100 Foot Wave. My team kept growing with each larger project, and after seeing the rough cut of 100 Foot Wave, I knew it would be a truly epic project. My immediate response was, "This is going to be a ton of work, we need to gear up the team, and we probably won't be sleeping anytime soon." My gut reaction was to watch the work of re-recording mixer Tom Fleischman CAS and Ric Schnupp's work on Free Solo, as I felt the projects were in a similar vein. Man vs. nature and, more specifically, man vs. him or herself. Significantly different than my earliest shows, 100 Foot Wave was a team of six. I was the supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer, and we had a dialogue editor, two sound designers, and two FX editors cutting every episode. Believe it or not, it wasn't enough. Unfortunately, we didn't receive personal accolades for Season 1, but the series was nominated for an Emmy, which was extremely rewarding. That made us push harder going into Season 2. Through the years, I have been lucky enough to be a part of projects both big and small, union and nonunion, one- person to two-person tag team mixing, 20 tracks as in A&E Biography, to around 300 tracks as in 100 Foot Wave. And when we could, we threw everything at the wall in Season 2. Everything was almost on scale with a union scripted feature. " " Typically, it was three days in and out for a 45-minute program. That contained a full dialogue/B-roll edit, all ambiences, and as many FX as you could add to make it all work. This also included an almost final mix to present to the client.