Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/933783
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y W I N T E R 2 0 1 8 15 It blew my mind when I learned that being a re-recording mixer wasn't your clear and immediate goal. It is so competitive, how do you find yourself here? I was at Todd-AO working with Gary Bourgeois and Chris Carpenter as their recordist. We had just finished a film directed by Penny Marshall. At the time, there were no female re-recording mixers working in feature films. So Gary, with the support of J.R. Delang and Chris Jenkins, encouraged me to be a part of the mixer training program. Todd-AO had a program where the recordist "mix tech" on a stage could complete their backroom duties and then sit on the mixing panel and learn from the mixers they worked for. The program was 90 days and after completion, you either returned to your recordist position or moved to a mixing position if one was available. Many of the mixers today started in that program. And it was never your goal as a recordist to become a re-recording mixer? No, not really, I was very young at the time and I was just so happy to have a good job [and] to be making good money. My husband and I had just bought a house and things were great, so it never crossed my mind. Besides, making a move to mixing would have meant working less at first and that worried me. Were you aware that you were actually breaking glass ceilings? Not at all, I was so busy just trying to be the best mixer I could be. I felt like I had to work harder and be better. It was a boy's club and I just wanted to be accepted; that was my main focus. I wasn't thinking about breaking ceilings or being a role model. When I came to LA, I found that there was so much competition to mix that many studios were as concerned with how many clients I could bring to their studio as they were interested in my level of service or mixing ability. Did you have to generate your own clientele coming up? No, it was a different environment then. Todd-AO was a very successful facility with many fine mixers and it I said, 'No, I will take my chances.' I ended up bouncing around [Todd-AO] and working with many different mixers. It was a great experience. Richard [Portman] was an artist and a storyteller. I learned a great deal from him. The Zookeeper's Wife Anna Behlmer, Terry Porter, and Becky Sullivan on the dub stage for The Zookeeper's Wife.