Submissions are open for this year’s Filmsupply Editfest, and Union Partner/Editor Marco Perez is among the industry leaders serving on the jury. Editors worldwide compete for over $60K in prizes and invaluable feedback from industry VIPs. Filmsupply is the global leader in cinematic footage licensing, and this is its annual celebration of the editing craft. Perez is no stranger to the process: each year, he serves on the jury of the International Emmy Awards, and he served on last year’s Young Director Award jury at Cannes.
The festival sponsor interviewed Perez, who has become one of the most sought-after talents in filmmaking, not only as an editor, but as a co-writer and storyteller. His high-profile work in commercials (Spotify, Bulgari, Lego, Ford) is complemented by longform documentaries (DIANE VON FURSTENBURG: WOMAN IN CHARGE) and narrative features (IN THE FIRE, THE PARADOX EFFECT, A BEAUTIFUL CURSE, EDGE OF THE WORLD), each of which allows Perez to play a unique role in the process.
Perez got his start as an apprentice with Italian editor Roberto Perpignani. In the Filmsupply article, he recounts his transition to commercial editing, which came on a worldwide campaign for Pirelli. “The job started in LA, but most of the editing was scheduled in Milano,” he says. “I came to LA as an assistant, and as the creative team liked me, the Executive Producer gave me a chance and told me, ‘If you can cut the agency version before we get back to Milano, I’ll present your edit to the creatives.’ I spent 72 sleepless hours in the editing room, but in the end, the agency loved my edit, and so did the client.’”
Of his history with Union, he says, “After many years of working all around Europe, and thanks to the encouragement of many US directors I was (and still am) editing for, I decided to move to the US. I was lucky to meet with Union Editorial and felt at home. The Union team quickly became like a family for me, and I was honored to be offered the partnership after two years of being with the company. It’s an incredibly talented and hardworking group, and I’m proud to call all of them my friends.”
Perez’s latest feature effort is FRAGMENTS OF A LIFE LOVED, Chloé Barreau’s honest, enchanting, and resonant exploration of her own past relationships, as told by her ex-lovers. The film was recently named Best Feature Documentary at the 48th Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco.
On the commercial front, Spotify’s tribute to Taylor Swift’s Bead Mountain, directed by Floria Sigismondi, and the worldwide LEGO campaign Play is Your Superpower, directed by Ellen Kuras, “made me proud this year,” he says. “LEGO was also a highlight because it was a project I could share with my six-year-old daughter. She liked it so much that one day, she saw the billboard of the LEGO campaign in a tunnel leading to the subway and started stopping commuters and passers-by, telling them, ‘My father did this.’”
To the aspiring editors, Perez imparts, “Never stop working. Grab every opportunity. Ask your supervisor to stay overnight to work on an art project, a short, or a pitch for a feature film or a series. You must be impeccable both on your day job and side projects. If so, your hard work and passion will be rewarded, and opportunities will open up.”
Filmsupply Editfest accepts work in three spec-piece categories: Title Sequence, Advertisement, or Movie Trailer. Their submission requirements state: “Get creative—we won’t accept edits created for existing real-world brands, movies, or TV shows.”
As Perez notes in his interview, “Limitations are crucial to the creative process. Complete freedom is often detrimental, and breakthrough ideas often come from constraints. Each creative choice you make limits your ‘freedom,’ but art can sparkle in these choices and in these constraints.”
Submissions for Filmsupply Editfest opened September 4 and close October 4, 2024. Voting for People’s Choice will run from October 14 through October 18, 2024. Category winners (People’s Choice. Best Ad, Best Trailer, Best Title Sequence) will be announced on October 30, 2024.
About Union
Union Editorial has offices located in Los Angeles, New York, Austin, and London, where it maintains an alliance with Marshall Street Editors. The company also develops and produces original content. Other Union companies include Hunter, which provides finishing services, vfx, graphics and mix for commercials, features and gaming. Union is presided over by Partner/Managing Director Michael Raimondi alongside Executive Producer Joe Ross and Head of Production Dani DuHadway in LA, Partner/Managing Director Caryn Maclean alongside Executive Producer Melissa Lubin in NY, Executive Producer Vicki Russell in Austin, and Logan Aries, Executive Producer of Hunter. The Union roster is comprised of Partner/Editors Jim Haygood, Einar Thorsteinsson, Jay Friedkin, Sloane Klevin, Marco Perez, Merritt Duff, Graham Turner, and Chris Huth, editors Daniel Luna, Laura Milstein, Jason Lucas, Karen Kourtessis, Kevin Ray, Rachael Connelly, Zach Kashkett, Andrea MacArthur, Amanda Perry, Justin “Q” Quagliata, Vinnie Hobbs, Rodrigo Brazão, Rick Lawley, and Jono Griffith, as well as select projects with Guicho Flores, Teddy Gersten, Tim Thornton-Allan, Matt Chesse, John Mayes, Spencer Ferszt, and the Marshall Street roster.
