ROAD TO EVERYWHERE editor Ed Abroms is literally a “chip off the editing block”. His father Edward M. Abroms was an Academy Award-nominated editor for BLUE THUNDER and one of the founding members of ACE, the American Cinema Editors. Ed talks to Michael and Joe about his long career as a film editor.
Ed, how did your interest in editing begin? Did you always want to be in the movie business?
I was between 8 and 12 years old, and I was always going in on the weekends with my Dad, sitting behind him, watching him edit. When I would get bored, I would grab film cores and roll them up and down the hallway. Whenever a show was done in those days, they would throw the unused film into 50 gallon oil drums. I would take this leftover film… it was just going to be thrown away… I would take those rolls to school and sell them to kids on the playground for 25 cents because no one had ever seen 35mm film. But one day, my dad got called into the principal's office because one of the rolls of film had a girl bathing nude in a pond. Needless to say, that was the end of my livelihood selling little rolls of film on the playground.
Dad and Steven on the set of “Sugarland Express”. Years later I took a picture of them at the American Cinema Editors awards where I was the official photographer.
Did you start making films as a kid?
My dad bought me an 8mm camera, and I actually started shooting little stories with my two sisters and their friends. The first one I shot was a film about a bank robber. The story wasn't exactly complex, but it did give me a chance to learn editing when I was 8 years old.
Peter Falk with me, my sister Lynn and my Dad. Roddy McDowall with me and my sisters Lynn & Cindy.
Were there movies or TV shows that really influenced you at that point?
One of the most influential movies I saw was Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid. Seeing that made me realize I wanted to be a filmmaker. The montages… I just thought, God, what an amazing way to put a story together with images and music. The ending of the movie where (Redford and Newman) come out, guns in the air, and 200 of the Federales are out there waiting for them… When they burst through the doors, they’re obliterated. They’re freeze-framed. All you hear is the sound of the gunfire. It gave me a great appreciation for the power of editing. My dad and i went to a lot of movies. Saturday Night Fever… I was amazed by Apocalypse Now..
In college, you trained as a photographer, but you ultimately turned to editing.
I have always had a love of photography. I was a photographer at Thousand Oaks High School on the newspaper and yearbook. I was accepted into Brooks Institute of Photography. While at Brooks for a portrait assignment I photographed my dad while he was editing "Blue Thunder" for John Badham. It was nominated for best Editing, lost to "The Right Stuff".
I was assisting advertising photographers, managing a studio on Melrose, right down the street from Paramount Studios. I decided this wasn’t the life for me. My Dad gave me a contact at Universal Studios, and said to call every Friday to see if they had anything. About six months went by and one Friday I called and he said, "We need an apprentice in the film library -- could you start on Monday?" And so that's what I did. I started in the film library.
Ed photographed this portrait of his dad while at Brooks Institute of Photography.
Was it difficult moving up the ranks to becoming a film editor:
Yes, it would take me 11 years before I got my first solo credit. When I got into the union in 1985, you had to be an apprentice for 3 years, then an assistant editor for an additional 2 years (5 years total) before you could even be considered as an editor. In those days there was no non-union work like there is today. After I spent a year at Universal, I went to work at MTM on “St. Elsewhere”, “Hill Street Blues”, “Newhart”, “Remington Steele” and “Beverly Hills Buntz”. My job was to move film around the lot from shipping to the assistant editors and the mixing stages. This is where I learned how to sync film.
After spending two years at MTM, my dad hired me as his apprentice editor on a USA network movie “Nightlife.” Then I went on to work on my 1st TV series “Almost Grown” as a first assistant. While on this show I designed a codebook program on my MacSE30 using FileMaker Pro. A codebook is where all the information about the picture and sound was stored. Up to this time this was always handwritten. This program got me noticed by Richard Chew (one of the editors on “Star Wars.”). He referred me to editor Bonnie Kohler who hired me on my first feature “Iron Maze”. I spent the next 10 years as an assistant editor.
I made this flyer and sent it to editors with my resume
In the editing room in Lowell, Michigan on “Genesis Code” starring Ernest Borgnine
What have been some of your career highlights?
Editing on the “CSI:Miami” series was an amazing experience,. It was my first first # 1 network rated series. On the feature “Checking Out” I got to work with Peter Falk whom I had met when I was a child. Editing the “Teen Wolf” series for MTV and eventually “Teen Wolf: The Movie” for Paramount+ was an experience of a lifetime. I was on all six seasons, editing 32 of the 100 episodes. I was paired with director Russell Mulcahy who directed “Highlander” starring Sean Connery. “Charmed” was a lot of fun because of the great post production team. In fact, the associate producer and I have worked on 4 other projects together.
Peter Falk, me and my son James.
Editing the “Teen Wolf” series for MTV and eventually the “Teen Wolf: The Movie” for Paramount+ was an experience of a lifetime.
Your Dad, Edward, was an Academy Award-nominated editor who spent many years in the business.
Everybody loved working with my dad. He was one of the most respected editors at Universal Studios. Back in the 60s and 70s, a lot of editors were known to take what they call “Three Martini” lunches. They would literally come in, work for a couple hours in the morning, go to lunch, have their three martinis and come back. And a lot of the editing rooms had a cot. So they would lie down and take a nap for two hours and then get up and cut. Needless to say, they were not very good editors. My dad was meticulous at showing me and other people the craft. He would work the film until it was perfect. That’s how he got to be noticed by the studio. (Universal executives) Sid Sheinberg and Lou Wasserman took a liking to him and always put him up front to do their MOWs, movies of the week. I believe one of the first ones was YOU’LL LIKE MY MOTHER (1972) with Patty Duke.
Talk about the way he worked…
My dad would do something that editors in the 70s weren't doing. He would start on an insert shot and work his way out. In those days editors always wanted to start with the master shot to show the geography of the scene. My dad wanted to start in tight and work his way out because he thought that would intrigue the audience. That technique got him noticed by Steven Spielberg who asked my Dad to edit his first NIGHT GALLERY episode, and later his first feature film, THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS with Goldie Hawn. After he showed the SUGARLAND cut to the studio, Steven went quiet and my dad asked him: “What’s wrong?” Steven said: “You cut the movie like you directed it.” And my dad said: “Well, what's wrong with that?" And he told him: “I’ve never had an editor do that.” It was such a compliment because Steven had been cutting his own movies since he was a child. The only reason my Dad didn’t go on to do JAWS was because he started directing COLUMBO. He was nominated for an Emmy for his directorial debut.
Peter Falk & my dad on location at the Palm Springs Aerial Tram.
Talk about your experience on ROAD TO EVERYWHERE.
I had seen DRIVEN back in the day, so when Michael and Joe called me, I thought "Oh my God there's a sequel to this movie." And I had always wanted to do a road movie. I definitely wanted to work on it. It had guts. It had heart. Whip Hubley and Robert Mirabal – it was great seeing their banter in the car scenes. Dez Baa, who plays, Bethany, Jake's daughter… I had seen her in the TV series DARK WINDS. She's a phenomenal actress and did an amazing job.
What was different about working on ROAD?
This experience was unique because I had the whole movie in my lap. I could literally start at the beginning of the movie and work my way to the end, which is different from any other feature I've been on. Normally you start on day one and edit whatever scenes they shot the day before. You don't shoot in order for the most part. You're cutting all over the place. In this case, I got to cut the movie in order. Michael and I would meet every day, review the dailies for a particular scene and then Michael would step away for a day and let me cut the scene and then we would come together and work on the scene together, review all the different choices for line readings and different angles.
ROAD TO EVERYWHERE is a film about people at a certain point in their lives.
Because I'm around the same age as these guys, it really resonated with me. I'm thinking… did I make the right choices in my own life? It did make me think about where I’m headed in the next twenty or thirty years.
Ed, at this point in your life, how do you feel about your Dad and his legacy and how it’s going to influence your son James who is an editor and a writer and making his own films?
My Dad was always proud of me. When I got on CSI Miami, when I got on Teen Wolf and I was on for it for so many years, he got to come to set and sit with me, give me pointers on my scenes. He got to watch me go up the ranks and was very proud the whole time. About 15 years ago, I got into ACE, the American Cinema Editors. I think he was one of the founding members. He was super proud that I became an ACE member and can place “ACE” after my name on my credit. He got to see all that happen before he passed away in 2008. He even got to see his grandson’s short films that he made in college. He was very proud when it looked like James was going to be following in the “family business”.
What would he say to you if he were alive today?
Help out James as much as possible! I don't know, it's a scary time now with the strikes we've all gone through and all of the productions leaving the U.S. to shoot everywhere else in the world. I think he'd be appalled by what has happened. But I think he would be very grateful that James is multi-faceted, multi-talented. Unlike me. James is a writer, director, producer, editor. He's more like his grandfather. My dad was a director and an editor. His other grandfather, my wife’s Terra's dad, was George Mair, a novelist. So he probably gets the writing from Terra's dad. So he has a little bit from both his grandparents. I think they would both be very proud of him.
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