How Our Members Juggle
and Edit at the Same Time

by Linda Dove

When picture assistant Sheila MacDowell and sound editor Hugo Weng became the proud parents of Maggie Mei they were well prepared. The baby's room was painted, they had Motion Picture health coverage and money in the bank from Sheila's work

Sheila MacDowell and Hugo Weng with Maggie Mei

on 'Braveheart' and 'The Fan', and Hugo had just finished 'Fool's Rush In'. But as Maggie grew and the grandparents' visits were over, Sheila began to think about working again. Hugo had started 'Troopers' at Sony. How on earth, Sheila wondered, do industry people manage to work and care for children? As an assistant on 'The Fan' she'd worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week. How do you fit a baby you love into those kind of hours?

Everybody seems to have a different answer to that conundrum. Back in the 80s, music editor Joanie Diener had a live-in nanny for baby Brook and worked on episodic TV which had civilized hours. Brook's in high school now and Joanie works on features on a ProTools at home. Picture editor Lynzee Klingman often works as a second editor in the hopes that she can be home at a reasonable hour for Remy, now 15, and Jack, 8. Because her husband, director Richard Pearce, travels so often, Lynzee tries to work near home and will not take a job that requires the editor to work on location. Good help is essential to coping, she says, although she doesn't feel she has found the definitive solution.

Beepers and Faxes

Assistant and Board member Jeff Burman has a toddler in the nursery at Universal and his six-year-old in an after-school program. His wife works in real

Studio Nurseries Several studios have nurseries these days, including Paramount, Universal, Disney, Sony, and there's the Samuel Goldwyn Children's Center on Sepulveda in West L.A. However, many of our members are freelance and the nurseries' waiting lists last longer than the jobs. Note that if you decide to stop working you need to check on your status with the Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan or you may lose your pension, even if your health coverage continues through your spouse. Some assistants are talking about the possibility of job-sharing. The Newsletter would like to hear your opinions. Phone (310) 450-1226 Fax (310) 399-1011 or e-mail

estate so their family life is quite manageable. Sound editor and Board member Bruce Fortune is married to a director, former Guild member Elodie Keene. The way they cope with their two children, now 9 and 12, is by employing a housekeeper/nanny who often works long hours and is a real proxy parent. Bruce also has a beeper and sometimes helps with homework via fax. The most difficult times are when he is spending long hours on the dubbing stage and Elodie is away on location.

Sound editor Jayme Parker has a novel solution. His family is now living in Colorado, so when he's in town working he's totally focused, then when he goes home for months at a time he can be focused there too. He can imagine a future where he'll be able to work on his Fairlight at home and fly in to L.A. with backups of his work for the dub.

Sound editing Oscar nominee Bub Asman's family lives in Kentucky. Bub lives and works in L.A. in the spring and fall so he can be at home with his wife and two boys during the summer and at Christmas. His wife has nine brothers and sisters, and she and Bub grew up in Kentucky, so there's no shortage of support when he's away. Cincinnati is just a short drive from their home so there's also work there for Bub when he's home, with regular hours not the 7-days-a-week marathons he puts in on films like 'Eraser' when in L.A. Oscar-winning feature editor Mike Hill lives in Nebraska when he's not away on location or cutting for Ron Howard in Connecticut.

A Career on Hold

Assistant Barbara Dixon took eight years off to look after Natalie and Gracie while husband, Paul Dixon, edits TV movies. She's discovering just how hard it is to re-start her career after that long break, becoming proficient with the new digital equipment and looking for a job with reasonable hours.

The key, of course, is reasonable hours and they seem to be as rare as snow on Venice beach. Sheila and Hugo may try taking turns working or Sheila may hunt for a less demanding, undoubtedly less well-paid, job. For the moment she's teaching the Lightworks assistants class - with baby in arms. Only one thing is certain, they've got years of trying to co-ordinate their irregular schedules before little Maggie goes off to college.