Creative editorial house Final Cut has promoted Dillon Stoneburner to the editor roster in its Los Angeles office. Stoneburner had been an assistant editor at Final Cut for six years.
Hailing from Detroit, Stoneburner made the move to Los Angeles just out of college. He landed his first job as a runner at Final Cut, then began to climb the ranks, becoming vault manager before moving to the cutting room.
The young editor found mentorship and encouragement in the editing bays at Final Cut, honing his skills under the tutelage of Jeff Buchanan, Zoe Schack, Rick Russell, and Joe Guest, Stoneburner’s relatable personality and dedication to his craft have led to work with global brands such as Amazon, Doritos, Xfinity, Squarespace, Audi, Uber, and Budweiser. His passion for exploring character-led stories and documentary-style campaigns is also evidenced in his editing for television series and in multiple short films. He most recently co-edited a DoorDash campaign with Buchanan, which aired during last Sunday’s big game. Featuring actor and performer Daveed Diggs and some of Sesame Street’s most recognizable residents, the campaign was the delivery service’s first-ever Super Bowl appearance.
“Every editor I’ve worked with has taught me something that has helped me to grow in my career,” said Stoneburner. “I hope I’m able to pay it forward in the same way in the future. Final Cut gave me a chance–a kid from a small suburb outside Detroit who’s had to work for everything he has–and they are like a giant, ridiculously talented family to me.”
Review: Director/Co-Writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ “My Dead Friend Zoe”
Even for a film titled "My Dead Friend Zoe," the opening scenes of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes' movie have a startling rhythm. First, two female American soldiers are riding in a Humvee in Afghanistan 2016 blasting Rihanna's "Umbrella." They are clearly friends, and more concerned with the music coming through loudly than enemy fire. Zoe (Natalie Morales) tells Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) tells that if they ever set foot in "some dopy group therapy," to please kill her. Cut to years later, they're sitting in a counseling meeting for veterans and Morales' character has a sour look at her face. She turns to her friend: "Did we survive the dumbest war of all time just to sit here all broken and kumbaya and ouchie-my-feelings?" But after this rush of cavalier soldiering and bitter sarcasm comes a sobering moment. Merit blinks her eyes and is instead staring at an empty chair. Zoe isn't there at all. "My Dead Friend Zoe," co-starring Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, confronts a dark reality of post-combat struggle with as much humor and playfulness as it does trauma and sorrow. It comes from a real place, and you can tell. Hausmann-Stoke is himself a veteran and "My Dead Friend Zoe" is dedicated to a pair of his platoon mates who killed themselves. The opening titles note the film was "inspired by a true story." Audience disinterest has characterized many, though not all, of the films about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the output has pretty much dried up over the years. "My Dead Friend Zoe" feels like it was made with an awareness of that trend and as a rebuke to it. This is an often breezy and funny movie for what, on paper, is a difficult and dark story. But the comic tone of "My Dead Friend Zoe" is, itself, a spirited rejection to not just the heaviness... Read More