Though “Fish,” the PBS spot he cut for Fallon, Minneapolis, won the primetime Emmy for Outstanding Commercial in 2003, this year marks editor John Smith’s first nomination specifically for his cutting skills. Smith, who is also a founder and partner at bicoastal/international The Whitehouse, is up for the Emmy in the category Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or a Movie on the strength of the HBO film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.
“It’s certainly great to be nominated, but I’ll be honest, I’d quite like to win it,” he remarked. His competition in the category is: Tina Hirsch, A.C.E., for Back When We Were Grownups; Kate Williams for Empire Falls Part 2; Scott Boyd for Faith of My Fathers; and Paul Dixon, A.C.E., for The Wool Cap.
Now Smith can also put the distinguishing letters A.C.E. alongside his name because he just became a member of American Cinema Editors (ACE). His invitation to join went hand-in-hand with the organization’s Eddie nomination of The Life and Death of Peter Sellers for Best Edited Miniseries or Motion Picture for Non-Commercial Television. Smith said he was “actually more proud to be asked to be a member of ACE” than if he had won the Eddie (which went to editor Michael Brown for HBO’s Something The Lord Made).
RESONANCE
In order to sign on for a feature, Smith, who has also cut films like Leaving Las Vegas, Proof of Life and Sliding Doors, has to find something within the script or a character in the story that resonates with him. In the case of The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, he lightheartedly related, “[Director] Stephen Hopkins said to me, ‘You should do this because there is a lot of you in it’ — I’m not saying I am as difficult as [Sellers]. I don’t think anybody could be, but I actually felt some compassion for the man.”
Though he enjoys cutting features when the timing is right, Smith said he is currently focused on spots and finds the ad assignments coming from the U.S. to be gratifying. A native of the London area, Smith is still based in the U.K. and only during the past four years has started to consistently work in the U.S.
Now he happens to be working on a Citroén spot for the European market with director Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international Hungry Man out of Euro RSCG, Paris, and a British Heart Foundation spot with Frank Budgen of Gorgeous, London, through Lowe UK, London. Next, Smith will head stateside to work with director Jake Scott of bicoastal RSA USA on a Ben & Jerry’s commercial through Amalgamated, New York.
For the American ad market, Smith recently wrapped three spots for Netflix–“War Movie,” “Children’s Movie” and “Foreign Drama”–out of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, with director Baker Smith of harvest, Santa Monica. In the humorous spots, people walk into their homes to find costumed actors from movies in their living rooms. The scenarios make the point that Netflix delivers movies you want, right to your home. The editor noted he is increasingly interested in the work coming from the U.S. and that, “[It] gives me the opportunity to work in different cities with different agencies and understand that advertising culture better.”
In addition to the desire to tell a story in a fun way that challenges viewers, Smith said his commercial cutting experience allows him to use shorthand when he works on features. “[From commercials] you have the confidence to be able to try, and the experience to try more radial things because you’ve grown up doing that,” he said. Smith also explained that he considers himself fortunate to be able to “dip in between” both features and commercials. Once he completes a film project, he is excited and desperate to do a spot because of the challenge and fun generated by working in the ad editing discipline.
