How “unconventional school” brought this film editor fame
Longmont-based Ryan Brown has gained a reputation as one of the more sought-after creatives in Hollywood for his work as an “invisible artist” — also known as a film editor.
And though it may seem rather rude to call Brown “invisible,” in the case of film editing, it’s a compliment — film editors spend hundreds of hours choosing screen transitions, adding sudden sounds, quickcuts and off-screen audio to weave footage into a cohesive, easy-to-follow narrative. And for viewers, that hard work is meant to go unnoticed.
Christopher Osborn, a University of Colorado Boulder Cinema Studies post-production professor — who taught Brown as an undergraduate student — explained it best:
“As an editor, if you’re very good at your craft, your imprint on a film should be invisible,” Osborn said. “You don’t want audiences to know that the material has been manipulated in any way. You want the whole thing to be a seamless experience.”
In some cases, a film editor is selected before cast members or screenwriters, and in others, the film editor is asked to be on set with a director to help organize the flow of a shoot. In the way that some directors constantly use the same actors (think Wes Anderson and Bill Murray), some directors also choose to work with the same editors, knowing that the work of a skilled editor can make or break any film.
Brown, who graduated from CU’S film program in 2001, has become the preferred editor for many directors and producers, including Jeff Baena (“Horse Girl,” “Joshy,” “I Heart Huckabees” — or, Aubrey Plaza’s husband), Tim Robinson (“I Think You Should Leave,” “Detroiters”) and most recently, Jake Johnson (“New Girl”).
From his home studio in Longmont, Brown recently edited the entirety of Johnson’s new film, “Self Reliance.”
The movie, which was released on Hulu on Jan. 14, is Johnson’s directorial debut. The comedythriller follows the story of a middle-aged man named Tommy (Jake Johnson) who is invited into a limo by famous actor Andy Samberg, where Tommy’s drab life takes a dramatic turn.
For a directorial debut, “Self Reliance” is impressive — but perhaps owes some of its success to Brown’s deft hand.
“Anything you watch on TV has been manipulated by an editor,” Osborn said, with a laugh. “If you’ve ever gone out and shot your own stuff, and you play it back, you look like a dork. Editors help people not look like dorks. And that’s really what it comes down to. There’s no difference between a professional actor or some 13 year old with a webcam. An editor can make either one look badass.”
When gearing up to watch a couple of scenes from Brown’s extensive resume, the research task turned into viewing 300 minutes of film that Brown edited — totally on accident but with absolutely no regrets.
Throughout his impressive film reel, Brown’s editing constantly weaves together a flawless storyline, creating moments that are sometimes hilarious, sometimes tense, sometimes jarring — but always engaging.
This same mastery can be seen in “Self Reliance” where, despite the film’s goofy characters, not a single one of them looks like — in the professor’s words — a dork.
We caught up with Brown to learn what it was like to make the move from Los Angeles to Longmont, make a film with Jake Johnson and how it feels to see his work on the big screen.
Q: So it seems like every successful person in Hollywood has a story of their big break. What was yours?
A: It’s been a long road. I graduated from CU in 2001, and I always knew I wanted to focus on editing. I moved to L.A. two weeks after 9/11, which was a super cool time to be getting a job. And I didn’t really know anyone, so I got a job working in a postproduction facility in Burbank, basically where my job was to receive actual film canisters and file them away and bring them up to the colorists upstairs. One night, I was working a graveyard shift, from like 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., and this guy came in with a big stack of film from “The Simpsons” — and remember thinking to myself, “OK, I picked the right job.”
I eventually worked my way up in that company and did some editing on the side. One of my colleagues, Nick Jasenovec, started doing some directing on the side, and he happened to be friends with this guy named Bill Hader from community college. We did some short films together, and Nick ended up getting some money to make a film called “Paper Heart.” We ended up getting Michael Cera on board, and we got that film into Sundance in 2009. So that was my first big break.
Q: What drew you to film editing?
A: I used to make skateboard videos. I had a camera, back before non-linear editing existed. In the early days of making videos, I was literally hooking up two VHS players together, hitting play on one, and hitting record on the other and mashing together these horrible skate videos. But it also taught me that I could tell a story in all of these different ways, using the same source material.
When I went to CU, it used to be more of an experimental-based sort of program, so we weren’t making narrative kinds of films. It was a whole lot of stuff like putting paint or leaves or scratching up film negatives and running them through the projector. It was a very weird, unconventional film school, but it gave me a different outlook on what film could be, as opposed to something I would have learned at a traditional film school. It was just fun and weird and goofy and opened my eyes to my creative side.
Q: How was that move for you, going from a major entertainment hub like Los Angeles to a more quiet, slow-paced town like Longmont?
A: In March of 2020, I was working on a show called “The Other Two” on HBO, and then COVID came and everything shut down, but we were able to quickly switch to editing remotely. Nobody knew what they were doing or how to go about it, but over the course of the next few years, things caught up and we figured it out.
I love Los Angeles, but my wife and I were considering a move. We have two young kids, and we saw the pandemic as an opportunity to make that change.
It’s so funny — since the move, I would be working with some famous people on the computer … like Jake Johnson or the guys from The Lonely Island (comedy trio) would hop on a Zoom call to talk to me and give me notes, and it would be like I was back there in L.A. Then I would log off, and it would be a bit weird to go out and eat dinner with my family on Main Street in Longmont. It is this weird kind of dichotomy, still having one foot in the door in Los Angeles and one in a small town like Longmont.
Q: What was that like, working with Jake Johnson on his very first film as a director? Was it nervewracking?
A: I’ve known Jake for a long time. We met (working) on “Paper Heart” — he was the protagonist in that film, so he and I have known each other since 2008. We hadn’t worked together professionally much in between that time, but we kind of reconnected a couple of years ago. With first-time directors, trying to establish a rapport with them can be kind of tricky.
You’re working very intimately with one person for months on end, and sometimes it can be difficult if you don’t vibe with the director or they don’t vibe with you. But as it turns out, Jake was an incredibly collaborative director, and he’s always open to me trying new ideas. He was excellent to work with and was always pushing me to try new things.
In working with Jake — we were very meticulous. We showed cuts of the film to friends, and to colleagues, and kept refining and refining. We had four or five test screenings to see what people were responding to, or not responding to. It was hundreds of hours of footage, and having to make a million choices. Movies can really, really change in the editing process. You can have a great script and you can completely ruin it with a horribly edited film, or vice-versa — you can have a weak script, and you can elevate the storytelling in the editing process.
Q: Before the film was released on Hulu, there was a limited one-night premiere in theaters on Jan. 3. Did you go watch the film?
A: Yeah, I did! I got a bunch of friends and we all went to see it at the AMC Flatiron Crossing in Broomfield. To be able to watch it in a theater was one of the best feelings because you finally get to see how all of the jokes are landing, or how they’re not landing. I had been working on this film for over a year and a half, so it’s nice to finally have it out in the world for people to see.
Q: With this film, was there any performances in particular that you had fun bringing to life onscreen?
A: The best advice that I give to people who want to get into the industry is that if you want to get ahead in Hollywood, you just gotta get out and start making stuff. That’s what I did!
Q: Maybe you should go teach a class or two at CU.
A: I have a secret desire to teach a class or two at CU if they’ll have me. I feel like that would be something that I could help students out with. There’s not a ton of people like me wandering around the Front Range, and I would love to just help students get out there and get comfortable making stuff. That’s the best way to do it.