We had the chance to speak to editing veteran, survivor, producer, and writer/director John-Michael Powell. Known for his editing work on Dear White People, John-Michael’s career has spanned shorts, music videos, documentaries, television series, and features. He won’t Best Editing at the Ouray International Film Festival for his work on Women is Loserswhich starred Lorenza Izzo and Simu Liu and premiered at SXSW 2020. In addition to editing, John-Michael also produced the thriller Hiding Places, directed by Brad Barnes. The film just wrapped up shooting and is set to premiere in 2023.
Most recently, John-Michael wrapped on his debut film as a writer and director, The Send-Off, which is set to premiere at the Cinequest Film Festival next month. Read on to learn more about John-Michael’s journey, process, and what the future holds for him.
What did your career journey look like that has brought you to where you are today?
I feel extraordinarily fortunate. I came to Los Angeles from Texas when I was just out of college. I knew nobody in town and did what everyone does — I sent my resume, which at that time only included PF Chang’s busboy and local news station intern on it, to everyone who would even accept it — hoping to get a bite. I eventually did get a bite to be a night logger on a reality TV show. That paid the rent while I started responding to ads on Craigslist looking for films that needed editors. I got extremely lucky and randomly emailed a director who ended up meeting me for coffee. That ended up being Diane Bell and she was directing her first film, Obselidia. We hit it off and I joined the film. Obselidia went on to premiere at Sundance where it won the Sloan Prize and Best Cinematography and further garnered two Spirit Awards nominations. I was twenty-five at the time and the first film I cut actually launched. Go figure. Diane and I ended up making three films together and I’ve since cut probably ten to fifteen features, countless shorts, commercials, music videos, and the Netflix series Dear White People. All because of a random Craigslist email.
How do you see your role as an editor — do you see it as more artistic, technical, or as a mix of both? And do you find that there is room for your personal touch on a project?
Certainly both artistic and technical. I don’t think you can ever fully separate the artistic from the technical side of editing, even if you’re cutting how-to videos for your Aunt Rita’s Etsy start-up. Anything that requires rhythm becomes art at a certain level, for the simple reason that we all have our own unique rhythm. I think rhythm is one of the most basic forms of self-expression. It’s a fingerprint. How fast you walk, how slow you talk, how fast you eat, these all say something about you as a person. Likewise, how you edit says something about you. Imagine if Ringo Star was editing a scene versus Keith Moon. You can already picture what they’d sound like and the different energies they’d have. Actually, now that I think about it editors really are the drummers of the film world. And if art is self-expression then editing is, at its most rudimentary, artistic; it is all about rhythm. My role as editor is to bring my rhythm and storytelling instincts to the table in order to help the director or show-runner express his or her vision. Personally, I probably skew less technical than more artistic. I grew up a musician, so self-expression plays a huge role in my “style”. In oversimplified terms, my job is to know what a good performance looks like and know when not to cut.
You edited the film Women is Losers and won Best Editing at the Ouray International Film Festival (congrats!) How did it feel to be recognized in that way?
Thank you! It’s very flattering to ever be noticed for what you’re doing. Especially as an editor. It’s a craft that’s meant to be invisible, after all. So there’s an immense amount of validation that even being talked to give you (thank you!), let alone winning an award. And I’m very grateful to Ouray International for taking the time and care that they did with Women is Losers. Having said that, editing is a confluence of a myriad of artists’ efforts. The edit is only as good as what those artists hand me. So, any accolades I receive are their accolades as well. Lissette Feliciano did a wonderful job directing that film and Farhad Dehlvi and Susan Alegria did a fantastic job bringing 1970s San Francisco to life. Then when you have performances from talented actors like Lorenza Izzo, Simu Liu, Bryan Craig, and Chrissie Fit — my job becomes infinitely easier.
When you are working on a new project, what is the first step in your process?
Every project is different, but one consistent thing is that I’m a research-oriented person. My first step after attaching to a project, whether I’m editing or directing, is to find references and kind of immerse myself in films that lead me down a creative path akin to what we’re trying to accomplish creatively. I also listen to a lot of music. I’ll build playlists on Spotify and just kind of create a vibe that I can burn into my subconscious. I’m a 90’s kid, so mixtapes are still in my DNA. I’ll sometimes just sit in my office and listen to music and do nothing but think. It sounds weird, I know, but that kind of helps build a foundation and a sort of true north for me. After a while, those films and tunes work their way into my bloodstream. Then when I roll up my sleeves and actually start the dirty work, I leave that stuff behind and never come back to it. This allows me to branch off and find exciting new discoveries, but ones that are always rooted in intent. When I’m writing or directing — I’m all about mood boards. Mood boards are the lifeblood of everything creative for me. I can see one image and it’ll spur a thousand ideas. I’ve written entire scripts just based on a photograph. I saw a photograph of a banana yellow 1976 BMW 2002 parked in Malibu the other day and Paul Simon’s Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes was playing in the background — thirty minutes later I had a rough outline for an entire script. That happens a lot with me. Right now I’ve got Tom Waits playing in the background. We’ll see what happens.
Who is your dream creative to work with?
This is terribly hard to narrow down to just one. It’s like asking me what my favorite song or movie is. Right now, I’d say it would be Mike Mills. I think he’s one of the most exciting American auteurs working right now. For me, his work is the perfect blend of subtle, sardonic, nostalgic, and hopelessly hopeful. Beginners to 20th Century Women to C’mon C’mon is one of my favorite three film runs of any filmmaker over the last decade or so. I think all three are gems. But C’mon C’mon — I mean, c’mon! Talk about knowing when not to cut. There’s such a freedom in all those performances, yet they still feel cohesive and very cinematic. Sometimes “naturalistic” performances can tread over into this messy territory that almost feels like bad theater. Mike Mills never lets it go there. C’mon C’mon is a great example of dialed-in naturalism. Yeah, I was smitten by every note of that film. If I could mail a write-in vote for Best Picture to the Academy this year — it’d be for C’mon C’mon. And for Robbie Ryan’s cinematography!
Your transition from editor to director has been a long-time coming. Can you tell us what sparked your interest in directing?
Long time coming is an understatement. It feels like making my first film has taken half my life. I always knew I was going to write and direct my own films. I had a great uncle who was an actor turned director. He directed a couple of notable films. One was a solid WWII submarine film called Enemy Below with, probably my favorite actor of all time, Robert Mitchum. The other was the infamously bad John Wayne movie, The Conqueror, where Wayne played Genghis Khan. I needn’t say more about the film, but the production became famous for many of the cast and crew dying from cancer, including Wayne and my uncle, because they shot the picture on a nuclear testing site in Utah for Mongolia. His name was Dick Powell and though he died before I was born — I grew up watching his films. I think a little part of me fell in love with cinema because of him, even though I grew up completely detached from Hollywood in Little Rock, Arkansas. Then, when I was nineteen I saw a restored print of George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and my whole world changed. It was the first pre-1980 film I had ever seen that really rocked me. I became infatuated with George Roy Hill and his films and from there my love of cinema took off and kind of never looked back. I became an insatiable watcher of films. And truth be told, I became an editor because I wanted to know how films were made. I figured if you knew how to edit a movie, you knew how to finish a picture. That was the best decision I ever made. For the last decade and a half, it allowed me to edit and learn alongside some fantastic filmmakers. But the time was long overdue for me to make my first film. I’ve had some tragic, cliché Hollywood stories of false starts. I was literally about to board a plane to the midwest to make my first film only to see the project fall apart before I got on the plane. Those stories are a dime a dozen though and all that matters is that we finally got the first one made. I’m very excited to share it. It’s called The Send-Off and will be making its festival premiere very soon.
What upcoming projects are you able to share with us?
Right now I’m producing/editing Brad Barnes’s latest feature Hiding Places through my production company Cinaptic with my producing partner Undine Buka. Brad and his brother Todd directed The Locksmith which won an Audience Award at Sundance in 2010. It’s a darkly funny thriller that stars Chris Marquette. I’m hopefully going to be editing Michelle Morgan’s next project later this year. I cut Michelle’s first feature, It Happened in LA, which was at Sundance too. I can’t say too much about it, but it’s a very hilarious television series set up at one of the major streamers. I was just approached about editing a horror-comedy called The Invisible Raptor (seriously) that is a brilliant take on the monster genre. I’m laughing just thinking about it. That film is being directed by a filmmaker named Mike Hermosa. Then I’m working on narrowing down what my next film will be as a director. I’ve written a few scripts since The Send-Off, but we’ll see what picks up and takes off. Right now, based on everything going on in the world, I’m feeling the urge to make something very quiet and human. We’ll see where that and Tom Waits lead me.
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Thank you for reading! You can learn more about John-Michael Powell here.
