Kate Hackett is an independent filmmaker based in Los Angeles. She recently co-produced and designed a series of films for Portals, a multi-media concert featuring violinist Tim Fain. Portals is a Philip Glass premiere, with other collaborators including Leonard Cohen, Benjamin Millepied, and Nico Muhly.
A 2009 graduate of the UCLA Production/Directing program, Kate is the recipient of multiple awards for her short films as a writer/director, including the James Bridges Award, the Carole Fielding Award, the Deluxe Thesis Award, the FujiFilm Graduate Thesis Award, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Award for Excellence in Directing. Her first multi-media piece was a series of art films for the concert Ask Your Mama at the Hollywood Bowl, featuring the Roots and soprano Jessye Norman, which she co-directed with composer Laura Karpman. She also designed and directed films for The One-Ten Project, a new work commissioned by the Los Angeles Opera. Her work as a director and editor has been presented on CBS News, the Los Angeles Magazine website, the Carnegie Hall website, the PBS Newshour Website, and indieWIRE. She has edited two independent feature films, Homecoming, by director Sean Hackett, and Stealing Summers, by director David Martin-Porras. You can find out more about Kate at kate-hackett.com
What is the current project you are working on?
Right now, I’m touring with a series of films that I directed for PORTALS, a multi-media concert featuring violinist Tim Fain. It’s a Philip Glass premiere, with films inspired by the poetry of Leonard Cohen, and video choreography by Benjamin Millepied. It premiered at Symphony Space in NYC on September 24th, 2011.
I’m also enjoying following HOMECOMING, a feature film by director Sean Hackett and edited by me, make its wonderfully successful tour through the festival circuit. That’s part of the joy of being an editor—you get to sit back after you’re done and watch the film have a life of its own.
Did you always want to be an editor/director?
Almost everyone in my family is in the arts, from my great-grandmother, who was a California Plein-Air painter, to my sister, who is getting her PhD in Art History, to my mom and dad, who both work teaching and directing theater. So I guess I just grew up assuming that I would be involved in the arts in some way, and film was the art form that called to me most.
What inspired you to become an editor/director?
I think I may have control issues. I love the purity of taking all one’s messy surroundings, and condensing them into that one box that is the film frame.
What is the best thing about being one?
Getting obsessed with whatever your current project is.
What is the worst thing about being one?
Getting obsessed with whatever your current project is.
What is the estimated number of projects you have worked on?
Too many to count. I went to film school and we all had to work on one another’s projects.
Who is your favorite filmmaker?
Lately I have been inspired by the lives and work of people like Anita Loos, Mae West, and Ida Lupino, all of whom brought strong female voices to the screen in classic Hollywood.
How has your life changed since you became an editor/director?
Ever since I’ve started to work professionally, I’ve become much more disciplined as an artist. I’ve learned to treat creating something as my job, instead of waiting until I become inspired.
What is one piece of advice you can give to someone who also wants to make it in the movie business?
I am a strong believer that the best thing a young artist or filmmaker can do is to work on finding his or her individual voice. Better to fail on your terms than to succeed on someone else’s.
What do you like to do besides editing/directing?
Hmm. Pretty much the same as everyone. Friends, family, food…
Have you had any other jobs before you decided to become an editor//director?
Bartender, secretary, bookstore employee. All excellent jobs for people watching.
What are some of your favorite American films? Foreign films? Television shows?
Favorite Films: Lady from Shanghai, Rosemary’s Baby, Dead Man, Nights of Cabiria, and recently Dogtooth. Favorite Television Shows: The Prisoner, Twin Peaks, The Sopranos.
How would you describe your film education?
My college, the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, didn’t have an official film program at the time, but it did have a wonderful student run theater society called Mermaids. I started by doing plays there, and made short films informally with friends.
I used those short films as my reel, which got me into UCLA for grad school.
How would you describe the film "scene" where you live?
LA is a wonderful place to live if you love movies, because so does anyone else. On any given night you can see a premiere of a foreign film, a classic revival, or a new release in some of the most state-of-the-art venues in the country. Great directors give Q&A’s all the time, and you can meet 10 people working on screenplays just by going to Starbucks. It really is an industry town, which can be overwhelming at times, but also very inspiring.
How has social media changed the independent film industry?
Last night I attended a premiere of my multi-media directing work, and then was able to get an instant response from the audience via Twitter. It’s terrifying but also very exciting. The relationship between the filmmaker and the audience has become much more personal and immediate.
What's your opinion on crowdfunding?
I haven’t had the opportunity to give the crowdfunding thing a try yet, but I’m definitely open to it.
How often does timing affect artistic vision when editing a film?
I think timing and artistic vision are synonymous. The director and the editor have to make sure the pacing of the film fits the mood of the story and is true to the emotional life of the characters.
How does independent film differ from the mainstream?
I think the line between independent and mainstream film has become increasingly blurry in the past few years. It’s frequently the same people working in both worlds, and there are poor, mediocre, and excellent films made at all budget levels.
You could go back in time and see any film being made. Which film would it be and why?
Vertigo. I love the beautiful, hyper-real, seductive yet dangerous world that Hitchcock creates in this film, and it would be amazing to see the wires, as it were, that went into the construction.
What's your favorite movie quote and why?
“Everybody has a heart. Except some people.”—ALL ABOUT EVE That movie definitely deserves an award for the most and best one-liners.
You could have any super power. What would it be and why?
I would love to be able to read minds. But only for a week or so to see what it was like. It could get really awful after a while.
Do you believe in life on other planets?
The truth is out there. No, seriously—didn’t they just find a planet that is potentially viable to support life?
What is your opinion on movie remakes?
Have at 'em. I don’t think a bad remake can ever take away the power of a great original. And in a few rare circumstances the update is actually better!
What is your opinion on book to movie adaptions?
The best book to movie adaptations are the ones where the film writer and director are willing to create something that is in the spirit of the book, but manages to present a new take on the material.
How has computer technology affected the way films are presently edited?
With analog editing you had to plan and conceptualize the way that you would cut a scene before you actually physically cut it, because making changes was so much more labor intensive. Now it’s so easy to try something out, and throw it out if it doesn’t work, while still saving the old version. It’s two very different mental processes, like writing versus improvising music, but lots have things have stayed the same in terms of what feels good structurally to an audience.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Thank you John for such an interesting and extensive interview!
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