Transitioning from Docs to Drama

Join us for a podcast with host Isabel Sadurni and New York’s top Editors, about how they consistently and successfully bridge the worlds of non-fictional to scripted editorial. Followed by Q&A.

PANELISTS:

ALLYSON C. JOHNSON

(The Namesake, Vanity Fair, Monsoon Wedding)

SAM POLLARD

(If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise, 4 Little Girls, Clockers)

TIM SQUYRES

(Life of Pi, The Armstrong Lie, Syriana)

CRAIG McKAY

(Sin Nombre,Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia)

ALAN OXMAN

(Control Room, Happiness, Welcome To The Dollhouse )

Many established narrative editors have turned their hand todocumentaries, while others have worked in the oppositedirection working as documentarians who crossover intonarrative territory. Whether working within fictional or non-fictional worlds -- we as visual storytellers are instinctivelydrawn to elements common to both genres, yet thefilmmaking communities often exist separately.What are the strengths, strategies and strokes of luckrequired to bridge the two worlds successfully?

BIOS

ALLYSON C. JOHNSON’sFeature Film work includes: MiraNair’sAmelia,The Namesake, Vanity FairandMonsoonWeddingwhich received the Golden Lion for Best Film at the2001 Venice Film. Her television work includes NBC’sSmashandThe Slap, The Wire, QuanticoandMarco PoloforNetflix. She is presently editing Baz Luhrmann’s seriesTheGet Downfor Netflix. Johnson received an Emmy Nominationediting the documentaryThe Who’s Tommy: The AmazingJourney. Other rockumentaries includeUp From theUnderground(Quincy Jones),Say It Loud(VH-1) and herTriptych short filmKick Out the Jamsappeared at theopening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. She hasalso collaborated with such filmmakers as Spike Lee andGriffin Dunne and Bill Moyers.

SAM POLLARDis an Emmy and Peabody Award winningfeature film and television video editor, and documentaryproducer/director whose work spans almost thirty years. Herecently completed as Producer/Director a 90-minutedocumentary titledAugust Wilson: The Ground On Which IStandfor the PBS series American Masters. His firstassignment as a documentary producer came in 1989 forHenry Hampton's Blackside productionEyes On The Prize II:America at the Racial Crossroadsfor which he received aPeabody Award. Between 1990 and 2010, Mr. Pollard editeda number of Spike Lee's films:Mo' Better Blues, JungleFever, Girl 6, Clockers, and Bamboozledand co-produced anumber of documentary productions for Spike Lee PresentsMike Tyson, Four Little Girls, When The Levees Broke.

TIM SQUYREShas edited several films fordirector Ang Lee;Pushing Hands,The Wedding Banquet,EatDrinkManWoman,Sense and Sensibility,The Ice Storm,Ride with the Devil,The Hulk,andCrouching Tiger, HiddenDragon.The latter earned Mr. Squyres Academy Award,BAFTA Award, Hong Kong Film Award, and [AmericanCinema Editors (ACE)] Eddie Award nominations, as well asthe Golden Horse Award (Taiwan's equivalent of theOscar).He was an Eddie Award nominee for hisworkonRobertAltman'sAcademyAward-winning,GosfordPark,whichalsoearnedMr.Squyresan American Film Institute (AFI)Award nomination.His other feature credits as editor includeStephen Gaghan'sSyriana,starring Academy Award winnerGeorge Clooney; Paul Auster'sLulu on the BridgeandTheInnerLifeofMartinFrost;andGeorgeButler'sdocumentaryGoingUpriver:TheLongWarofJohnKerry.HehasalsoeditedtelevisiondocumentariesforBillMoyersWhatCanWeDoAboutViolence?andAddiction:ClosetoHome)forMichaelMoore,ESPN,andVH1.

CRAIG McKAY isanaward-winningfeaturefilmeditor,storyconsultant,director,andexecutiveproducer.DirectingcreditsincludeEmmy-Award-winningBubbeMeises,BubbeStoriesforPBSandHBO’sTheRedShoeswrittenbyJohnGuare.DocumentarycreditsincludeBravo’sHaiti:DreamsofDemocracy,Academy-Award-nominatedMandela,andPBS’saward-winningWitness:Voicesfromthe Holocaust.AwardsineditingincludeanEmmyfortheNBCmini-seriesHolocaust,aswellastwoAcademyAwardnominationsforRedsandTheSilenceoftheLambs.OthereditinghighlightsincludeCopland,Philadelphia,MarriedtotheMob,SomethingWild,MelvinandHowardandmanyothers.McKaywasalsoanExecutiveProducerontheaward-winningfeature-lengthdocumentaryANormalLife.

ALAN OXMANisafilmeditorandproducerwhohasworkedonavarietyofnarrativeanddocumentaryfilms.AsaproducerAlan'srecentcreditsincludeAMatterofTastewhichscreenedonHBOandwasnominatedforanEmmyAwardandPageOne:InsidetheNewYorkTimeswhichwasdistributedbyMagnoliaFilmsandwasalsonominatedforanEmmyAward.HewasaproduceronEdetBelzberg’sTheRecruiter,whichwonthePeabodyAward,aswellasonChildrenUndergroundwhichwontheSpecialJuryPrizeattheSundanceFilmFestivalandwasnominatedforanAcademyAward.Alanrecentlyservedaspost-productionsupervisoronInsideJob(AcademyAwardforBestDocumentary,2011)andproduceronHotCoffee(Sundance2011,HBOSummerDocSeries).Hewastheco-producerandsupervisingeditoroftheAl-JazeeradocumentaryControlRoom(GrandJuryPrize,FullFrameFilmFestival).HiseditingcreditsincludeWelcometotheDollhouse(GrandJuryPrize,SundanceFilmFestival),Happiness(InternationalCritic’sAward,CannesFilmFestival)andStorytelling(CannesFilmFestival),allfordirectorToddSolondz.HewasaconsultingeditorontheOscar-nominatedNoEndinSight,whichalsowontheSpecialJuryPrizeatthe2007SundanceFilmFestival.Alanco-edited  Unzipped(AudienceAward,SundanceFilmFestival),whichwontheA.C.E.AwardforBestDocumentaryEditing.HewontwoEmmyAwardsforOutstandingDocumentaryEditingonthePBSseriesCityLife.