- 6/7/2025
Mohamed El Manasterly is an Emmy Award-winning bilingual video editor known for his work in documentaries, narratives, commercials, and talk shows. Originally from Cairo, he moved to Los Angeles after winning an Emmy for Best Picture Editing for The Square, an Oscar-nominated documentary. His films have earned accolades at prestigious festivals such as Sundance, Toronto, and Dubai. El Manasterly has also worked on projects with Legendary Pictures and the Konwiser Brothers, contributing to a docu-series aimed at promoting innovation and STEM in America. His editing style blends cultures, making his work accessible to diverse audiences.
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PeopleTranscript
00:00hi this is dan akroyd he's progressive he's beautiful he's thoughtful he's intelligent
00:08he's powerful he's positive he is stephen cuoco on power 98.5 satellite radio
00:14we don't play the social game we are social power 98.5
00:21empowering listeners from the u.s to the uk live on air with stephen cuoco
00:29good morning good afternoon or good evening no matter where you are in the world you are listening
00:38to live on air with stephen cuoco on power 98.5 satellite radio power 985.com download the app
00:46tune in on alexa power 98.5 is available on apple music i've got an incredible amazing person with
00:55us today i'm excited three emmys muhammad two emmys and one eddie two emmys and one eddie
01:05we've got uh muhammad el manisterly he's an editor and producer some of the projects you best know him
01:14buy are welcome to rexin someone somewhere the square and your your list goes on and on and on
01:23we've got what two projects in post-production yes uh you have largo uh free diver back in 2024
01:35everybody's watching editor co-producer i'm proud of you thank you thank you for having me excited to
01:42be talking to you today you as well i this what a backdrop man what an incredible backdrop and
01:50do you do trading i see three screens no this is just editing you know that's just for editing yeah
01:58yeah okay because that's what traders are doing they've got like three four five six i've seen up
02:02to 20 screens yeah i mean we have a lot of windows and we watch a lot of footage so you need to be
02:10organized so you need the screens it's perfect and this is just designated in your own space like this
02:17is your room where everything is polished and put together yeah this is my new house i just moved
02:23here uh a few weeks ago so still not the setup is not ready 100 but uh like since covid uh there's
02:32this uh shift that happened in the post-production industry where uh where editors are able to work
02:39remotely uh it's it's been great for the past few years uh just just being able to wake up and just log
02:46into the system and work uh gives you a lot of time to you know be at home with the family and the kids
02:52but at the same time you know like work it becomes like an extension of your life you're more of a
02:58writer you can like find an idea and go back to your edit bay and just do it uh which has been like
03:04very exciting but also like gives you time to you know pursue other passions you know um and just have
03:12the time for it it's beautiful any i wouldn't say you wouldn't do posters but anything on a wall that's
03:20going up at all or i like it the way it is to be quite honest yeah i don't i don't like to add a
03:26lot of stuff i'm a very simple person uh same way how i approach stories uh and storytelling uh my
03:35mantra is always less is more than everything uh like the scenes should be as short as possible
03:43what we're trying to say in the scene should be as short as possible you know everything should be
03:47like nice and sweet uh uh in egypt we have the egyptian so i have an egyptian saying i'll try to
03:54translate it to english uh let's see if it works it's like try to be like a light visitor or like a
04:01nice visitor where you don't you know oh over say you're welcome basically so that's what i always try
04:08to do with my stories where you just give people enough so that they're interested and want more
04:15more rather than uh giving a lot where it's like sometimes overwhelming i agree i agree besides this
04:23backdrop that i use only for something to express as i told you before we went live my personality
04:30because of working in an industry that's all about people i have nothing on my walls at home nothing i'd
04:37like my walls to breathe absolutely nothing not even on my refrigerator no magnets no family photos
04:46nothing just simplistic simplicity just like your walls it's perfect yeah yeah i agree with you
04:53especially in this time where the clutter of everything you know the clutter of products
04:59the clutter of content that everything is so much you know like all like the short videos scrolling
05:04is just like you know a lot of craziness so you need emptiness to preserve your sanity yeah oh you do
05:12we're gonna go right into it once again for those that are tuning in with us today and if you happen
05:18to not catch us on the live here on power 98.5 you can listen to live on air with steven quokal on any
05:24one of your favorite podcast platforms that's apple amazon music spotify i heart radio but we want you
05:32here you know listening to the live so we will re-air this episode again and you're going to love it
05:39even more why only listen to it once when you can listen to it twice so i'm going to go right into it
05:45muhammad uh so once again muhammad manisterly he is an editor producer you guys have got to know his name
05:54look at those awards right there i mean how much more can we talk about a lot more
06:02your work blends different editing styles seamlessly how do you approach crafting in an emotional arc
06:10through editing and what techniques do you use to make a story resonate
06:15i'm exactly like you you know i'm all about people and i'm always looking for these
06:26you know emotional personal beats that resonates with people um uh i moved to the us 10 years ago
06:34and the reason i moved was because the documentary that i did about the egyptian revolution it's called the
06:40square um and it was one of the first netflix documentaries and one of the hardest uh
06:48thing about this film to make it to work for international audience is to find these personal
06:54moments from our egyptian characters and things that help relate like foreign audience to the egyptians
07:03and that's what i always try to look for what are the universal
07:06incidents what are the universal scenes that you can experience and really connect with the character
07:14on a deeper level and really want to follow them throughout like a 90 minute or 40 minutes
07:21the technique itself is not as important as the substance and the quality that i always try to reflect from
07:30my characters because that's what really make you want to sit around and watch because like fancy
07:38editing fast cuts sound design you can do that but what makes the story really really special
07:45is the personal arcs and what you're trying to convey with that and being able to design an emotional
07:54experience for the audience where you're taking on a roller coaster with like it's highs and lows and sad and
08:01laughs and happiness and and let and let them leave this journey with something in their mind that they'll be able to
08:08keep thinking about um so and and that's what i always always thrive to achieve with my work
08:15i like that winning an emmy for the square was a monumental achievement looking back what was the
08:25most defining moment for you during the editing process and how did it shape your career
08:35i mean the there's a lot of moments in this because uh again like the square was about the egyptian
08:42revolution and the egyptians went and protested in 2011 against the government for social justice
08:50women empowerment and a lot of problems that were facing at the time and uh i was part of these people
08:58i went there and i protested um and i saw this woman who looked like an american egyptian that was filming
09:06and i went and i talked to her and i was like what what are you doing like i'm doing a documentary
09:10about the egyptian revolution and it turned out to be jehan nojaim the director of the square um
09:17and i offered to you know jump on board to help out and they needed an editor that speaks arabic
09:23because everything everything was in arabic and they need someone to help bridge the gap
09:28uh so i jumped on the square for three and a half years and it really really changed my life um this was
09:36something that i did out of fashion uh this is a story that i followed because i wanted this story
09:42to go out um even though we were as a production were struggling in the beginning because it was an
09:48indie film with budgets and everything and i had to leave my i had like a very good commercial career
09:55back home doing uh commercials and music videos and talk shows i used to make like good money at the time
10:01uh but to have faith you know in a story and leave everything behind and dedicate three and a half years
10:10of your life to just tell one story and really bank on everything um it really worked for me the film
10:19got one sundance audience awards uh it got uh nominated for an oscar it won for emmy it won for emmy's
10:29um and i was invited to attend the oscars and i went uh arrived at la and i really fell in love
10:39with the city with the weather with the people with the whole idea of it being you know the center of
10:48film industry which i hope it stays that way uh and i just i just felt like this is this is the place
10:55that i can live in and and and uh you know and continue living my life and and and tell as much
11:01stories as possible to expand from that how do you keep yourself grounded because i would assume
11:09especially in your career muhammad is it can be very past uh very fast uh i'm assuming maybe sometimes
11:17you have to have certain haste in the way that you have to maneuver through certain things how do you
11:23bring it back in into that that foundation of structure and calmness how do you find your calmness
11:36they're doing different levels to it is your question about
11:39story structure itself or you're talking about my life in general i would say both because they're both
11:45part of you yes i mean if i talk about story story is like you know the idea that you accept that you
11:54don't have all the answers and you would never have all the answers at once and it's a trial and error
12:00process and you have to start with what you know first and then work with it and then it will speak
12:06to you like for example you start by watching the footage and you start by marking or adding notes of
12:12the stuff that you like this is something that you know that you like and then you start finding these
12:18themes you know and scenes and points that you love and then you have them and then you okay how can i
12:25put this together in a structure that has a beginning middle and end and then you start doing that and
12:31you put it on a board and from it you start creating some sort of a map and this map is what preserves
12:39your sanity later on because when you create this map and you have this plan and you pitch it to the
12:44director and the producer and everyone agrees in a way and then you start when you start digging into
12:51the footage and try to achieve each and every scene of these sometimes you get lost sometimes you are
12:56like oh so what are we doing now why is this scene here what are we trying to achieve with that
13:01that so having a plan and having a structure that everyone agrees on early on is very important and
13:09what i try to do is i try to tell them the producer and the director if you like this let's as much as
13:16possible hang in there until it's done because every scene where it is it is cut in a certain pace and has
13:25a certain mood and a feel for a reason if you move it from where it is it doesn't it doesn't have the
13:31same meaning because sometimes i always talk about variations variation in space and feel you can you
13:41should i think you shouldn't have fast editing all the time because it becomes jarring and you can't have
13:48slow editing all the time because it becomes boring but if you have like a fast scene and a slow scene and a
13:54fast scene and a medium scene you create the symphony it's like a song you know the song usually
14:01doesn't it's not fast all the time it's like there's an intro to it and there's a climax and that you know
14:07concludes so just being able to plan this early on and go in the edit and achieve that but stick to it
14:16and having this plan helps preserve your sanity that's work wise
14:21and the personal aspect of it is to as much as possible because you spent a lot of time with
14:29technology as much as possible i try to not interact with it in my normal life you know try to go climbing
14:39or go surfing go camping sit by a fire just be able to really you know get out of it because editing is
14:49it really engages you really engages your mind and and i always say like you're always working even if
14:54you're not because it's a puzzle and you're trying to put it together so when you're not working this
15:00is actually where the ideas come in and if you're bombarding your mind with media and stuff you don't
15:07let space for these ideas to come together but when in my vacations or in my weekends um you know
15:14hanging in camping by a fire or by on on the beach or something this is where you start taking a step
15:22back and see all the dots and try to and things start to link together what i heard and the way you were
15:31moving with your hands muhammad you're creating a heartbeat a heartbeat for moments a heartbeat for
15:39for integration and sound and movement and partnership that's 100 yeah i like that
15:51yeah and it's there's a big aspect in what we do and it's very important that makes the
15:56things work it's called like like a setup and the payoff okay you can be like
16:02like in the underground or something you're in a public transportation you see this guy sitting
16:11and then you have seen his kids doing like crazy sounds and you can look at him and be like how
16:16come this guy is leaving his kids do that way you know like come on have some respect for the people
16:22try to control your kids he's not doing anything you know but if i told you that this guy
16:28his wife died 30 minutes ago you would have a whole other experience watching this guy right
16:36you'd be like okay oh i understand why this guy is silent right now and why he's leaving his kids
16:42and you'd have sympathy for it you know and that's that that's the whole idea of like
16:48planting these seeds about the characters early on so that you know what's behind that now when you know
16:56this little story be about some little but this one story be about his wife and you can look at his
17:04face while his kids creating all this chaos now there's there's depth to the shot there's much more
17:13deeper deeper deeper meaning than than what you're watching and and that's that's the beauty of cinema
17:20of you're able to plant these seeds and establish ideas so that the footage itself
17:29is way bigger and much deeper than what it is it's also the beauty of your artistic value
17:39hundred percent yeah it's um that's also something that i think is is beautiful and what we make
17:48is that each one of us is coming from a different place each one of us has like different set of
17:55values backgrounds and when i was cutting the square we had editors that are not egyptian
18:05and what's very interesting to me is each one of us see a shot differently
18:10like for example a shot of an old guy walking in the street for me as an egyptian i see him every
18:18day he's like to me it's like it's like doesn't mean anything to me it's like it's not nothing unique
18:24about but another editor from new york jeremiah cigar was like a great director right now he's like oh my
18:32god look at his face look at the beard look at the clothes because it's foreign to him and he for him
18:37he's like oh my god this shot looks like a painting you know then this moment you're like oh my god you
18:43know it's just like it's crazy you know how we see things differently and and you think of the idea of
18:51you put things together in in a way that means something to you but how what what what means to you
18:59can mean things for other people not necessarily exactly what means to you you know it's so abstract but
19:05this is how it is which i think is fascinating about the job and it can change at any time and
19:11depending on when you're watching it it can change just like let's say there's a music artist who comes
19:20out with a song now 10 years from now if that person never heard that song it would be brand new and
19:28fresh and real as though they heard it back in 2025 100 yeah the nostalgia and and what what the kind of
19:39memories that the music carry in and what it brings back and what it means you know sometimes like you
19:48know i'm egyptian and when i was young i grew up watching american movies and not necessarily you
19:52understand all the english and i'm also a very slow reader so i couldn't keep up with the subtitles
19:59but i still went through the journey i still still felt the emotions without understanding what's being
20:05said because the tone and the feel and the pace really affects you and you really feel something
20:13in this journey um because it's crafted right and it has these highs and lows and ups and downs
20:19even though there could be like a needle drop that everyone in the u.s connect with and they know it
20:23so much but because it works you don't know you don't know if it's an needle drop you don't know if
20:28it's this is like a commercial song that everyone knows but because it works in the story you still react
20:33to it you know um and and this always like a back and forth between myself and producers where a lot
20:41a lot of producers want to be on the safe side i want to explain more let's explain here let's explain more
20:49know that i want to understand this so and i'm always pushing back and i was like you know like
20:53if we if we know this character well enough you know if you understand their journey let's have time
20:59to you know just be there and observe and live the moment with them you know i don't want to keep
21:06trying to hold people from their hands and try to explain everything to them and let them experience
21:12things and let them get lost a little bit and try to figure things out because in this process
21:17even though if they're a little bit confused their brain is working you know and they're trying to
21:24figure things out this means that they're interested and and the process the experience is a little bit
21:29different they're becoming interactive a little bit with it do you ever find getting the timing
21:36timing is not as much as important to figure out how to make it perfect but it's the timing that
21:47it will come together correctly and in a way that is going to embody and embue some sort of collaboration
21:56and synergy going back to when we were pulling this together to get this live i felt that before we started
22:03is that timing is exceptionally
22:10something of high value to you and when we think about interpretation and connection
22:20it really was something that stood out that i was extremely aware of that not too sure if you
22:29knew how live radio worked or or putting this together but what i appreciate with you muhammad is
22:38you value time for yourself what time means to you but also you respect other people's time
22:46and we live in a world right now that that is not taken into consideration maybe even not thought of
22:52with care as much not only what what time is supposed to do for you and how it's to benefit you but where
23:01it relates to in the marriage the friendship the relationship with someone else and it's something
23:07i i constantly seeing and feeling and hearing in your expression is that it's all about time
23:15it really is about time and goes back to our one conversation it's not about perfection it's about
23:22progress what does that mean to you for me to say that it's not about perfection it's about progress
23:30and about time and to dance with it in a way that you're able to synchronize who you are and what you're
23:38doing but know that it's once again it's not about you having to get something perfect it's just
23:45looking forward to that alignment yeah yeah it's a it's it's tricky because you know like
23:53i'm someone who you know sacrificed a lot for my career like i left my parents back home and my dog and
24:01everything pursue my career and i worked so hard to be able to stand on my feet to be able to break
24:11into the industry to be able to build the name and trust and be known for my quality and integrity and
24:18build these relationships throughout the years and the more success you have you're always like
24:26oh i can sacrifice all this just for that i need more i want to achieve more i want to do more i want
24:32to do more but at the same time you know you look back and you'd be like oh my god i've been working all
24:40this time i've been spending all my life working years are passing by and i'm just working and it's just
24:47like trying to find like the balance between moving forward on these new things but at the same time
24:54i'm still perfecting your work uh it's tricky balance especially when you have kids and you
25:02have deadlines and and things sometimes take longer than expected and and and you need to meet these
25:08deadlines but at the same time you want to find time for your family but at the same time you're kind
25:12of tired because you're working so much um and it's i'm 40 years old now and i'm having all these
25:20reflections about like the past 40 years and what's next um and and trying to find your you know what
25:29you really want to do with with with the next phase of your life and to be able to create a balance between
25:36work success and and the quality of life and and that's that's like that's a big question then
25:42i'm still trying to answer honestly yeah i want to ask if you have any regrets but i don't even want
25:51to ask that because i don't see that in you so what i'm sure you probably would think well maybe
25:58what we discussed before would have been nice if maybe something happened earlier like 20 years ago but
26:05look at the body of work you have look at how refined and seasoned they may be
26:13just trophies to someone else however that those are not just trophies that is physical
26:23artwork that has been amalgamized it's been immortalized
26:28because of passion and time because you as you said you left your family you left your dog you made
26:38lots of sacrifices and that's what i see i see immortality with those awards that is something of
26:48emotion and intellect and experience and knowledge that we cannot physically see
26:55until it's been put together as it's clearly right there and i appreciate that thank you for that
27:04and and going back going back to the idea of like good things happened earlier um i don't i don't know
27:12you know because i i feel like things happen at the right time because you could have gotten these
27:18opportunities but you weren't ready for them you know like i before coming to the us i had about like
27:2780 years of experience back home you know um working in egypt is is different than here uh
27:35you need to be very fast very very fast crazy deadlines work like crazy hours
27:40so i was technically proficient and and using the you know the avid and premiere and everything in a very good way um
27:54documentaries were in very aren't very popular in the region for some reason uh not as here um but coming here
28:02you know and we're also working on the square and and and and and and the idea of like you're you're writing
28:10you're writing with the with the material and and just the craft of like finding the story and putting it together and
28:17everything that we've been talking about and the more time passes and the more projects i get
28:25it really prepares you for the next step you know um i worked on as i said like a lot of music videos a lot of
28:33commercials um and and it really it all it all all these different skills you know came together um
28:43during what we used to call it like this was like six seven years ago like the golden age of documentaries
28:50where docs started to transition from being a subject matter it's in the you know it's about
28:59certain idea we tried to create change which is great which i love that about it 100 but the fact
29:06that there's a shift that happened that it's it's started to become an entertaining medium more of it you
29:11know but at the same time it to to make it entertaining it started to try to make it fast and snappy and funky and
29:23uh you know and it teases you and you you say less and you know so all this stuff is in for example in in
29:32commercials and commercial editing where things are fast and try to tell it's like try to convey certain
29:38ideas in a very short time or in music videos where you try to tell the story it was just visuals
29:45or or just try to create a feel you know just just the feel you know and and this started to become
29:51needed in in this era of the golden age of documentaries um but at the same time the speed that i got from
29:59working in egypt you know and to be able to craft scenes really quickly and show producers and stuff
30:04um if these opportunities came before that would have maybe i wouldn't have been able to
30:14you know do a good job with it i don't know you know um it's just the biggest question steve is um
30:22is what's next you know what i mean like you you reach this with docs and everything but
30:26what's next that that's the biggest thing and and just being able to keep pushing as well you know
30:35keep pushing because uh we are in times that there's a lot of uncertainty you know around the industry
30:46and it's been for a while right now um and you just you could be working and busy and everything but
30:53there's always this question of life okay what's what's going to happen you know with ai with you
30:59know the tax incentives in california you know there's a lot happening and and there's always this
31:07big question about okay what's the next step my honest response to that if you are asking me
31:14consciously subconsciously subliminally you have to prepare now you're doing exactly what you're doing
31:21at the right time as i said to you before privately uh i said um you are on time
31:29you are on time i hope so don't wait don't be waiting to ask what's next go out there and make it
31:35yeah yeah i mean i mean that that's that's what i'm doing right now because i have been um you know
31:41i have very i had very little very little mentors in my career i had mentors back home but in the
31:47documentary world and stuff i have very very little mentors i i taught myself and i learned by doing
31:53mistakes um and there's very little information about how to write for documentaries how to use the
32:01footage to you know to to just tell a story without the script and that's what i'm doing right now i'm
32:08i'm creating a documentary editing course that is based on storytelling uh and i'm using some of the
32:16award-winning shows uh that i worked on to show uh people the way to watch footage and do selects and
32:29and be able to craft the whole structure for a 90-minute film or for a tv series and be able to do that
32:36and in a way i want to give back uh i don't i don't want it to be difficult for people to be able to
32:42experience that because like getting a chair and edit bay in a big production is not something easy to
32:49break in and to really interact with these amazing editors and producers because the competition is so
32:56high so breaking in is so difficult so i would love to at least make the you know make the the journey a
33:04little bit shorter for people who are passionate about editing docs and and be able to give them
33:10like this kind of knowledge on a golden plate uh to make things a little bit easier for them if you
33:17ever do a speaking engagement or any sort of events do not insult yourself by paying to be there make sure
33:28that they're paying you like if tedx once ever like knock on your door they need to be paying you
33:35you not pay them i don't like the whole thing of of people doing speaking engagements i'm finding out
33:41they're spending 10 15 25 000 just to get on stage to talk to people oh oh wow yeah
33:50being bilingual in arabic and english you've edited films that connect diverse audiences how does
33:57language and cultural nuance influence the way you structure a story
34:06yeah this this was my uh when i moved here this was like my blessing and a curse but i learned that
34:13was a still still a blessing because it because hollywood is very competitive so they try to categorize
34:20you okay he did the square so this guy's you know does political middle eastern documentaries which is
34:27great uh i i proud my pride myself that i'm able to bridge the gap between cultures
34:35and clarify some of a lot of the misconception that hollywood was imposing on the region
34:41and on arabs in general uh and just me coming in and being able to find the similarities rather than the
34:50differences and and like in very simple terms you know like sometimes all these films were shot in
34:58arabic so it's much easier to get someone who speaks arabic to edit them um and sometimes i worked like on
35:05the subtitles and everything and and sometimes when i try to translate the subtitle word by word
35:12does it make any sense the idea of like okay this is what they're saying and this is what this these
35:19are these are the actual words but this is what they're trying to say made a huge difference and a lot of
35:26times people are like oh that makes sense now that makes sense so again just like try to find the universal
35:36aspects of people you know as people that makes you connect to them on a deeper level that that's all
35:44what it takes you should write that down put that on your uh put that on your course seriously
35:53every editor faces moments where a scene just isn't working can you share a time when you had to
36:00completely rethink and edit and what that process taught you every time every time it's a big part of
36:09the process like you can as i talked about earlier like finding this plan and like finding the structure
36:18and go and follow the structure this is great because this is again going back to the same idea of like
36:25start with what you know and then it will speak to you a lot of the times some of these things won't work
36:31you know a lot of the time something could work for you and you love it so much and then you get a note
36:37from the director or producer uh that they want to change it or you know restructure or whatever
36:43um i at first when i was young i was like oh my ideas and try to protect it as much as possible but
36:51the more you grow the more you you mature in the craft you learn how to preserve your initial thoughts
37:02or initial direction but at the same time be able to integrate their notes and to make it something
37:08better not necessarily you take the scene and steer it in a whole other direction but really be open
37:15minded and and try to see like you know where where this note is coming why there is a note here where
37:21this note is coming from and not not more like 80 of the time the suggestion to solve the note from
37:27anyone else is not the solution uh usually the solution is somewhere else but if you understood
37:36the essence of the note you'd be able to solve it and and craft the scene that you're happy with but
37:43at the same time the studio or the network or the director are happy with at the same time
37:51the that's the best aspect of the job is working with people with different perspectives and ideas and
38:02backgrounds and we're all coming together in this one in this piece of art how are we able to take all
38:10these thoughts and let it work smoothly together to tell a coherent story
38:19you've worked with visionary directors and producers what makes for a truly great collaboration
38:25and how do you balance your creative instincts with the director's vision you touched on it but
38:31could there be more that you could elaborate on yeah i mean directors are so different in their
38:39approach like some of them are very well like prepared they know what everything scene is about
38:45you know and they give you like clear direction from the start and then they might leave you to do
38:52whatever you want like that's that's what i want go and do it some of them have a different approach
38:57they come and give you broad ideas and they let you go do it and then they come and then they see
39:02what you did and they work with you on it you know some of them are it depends on on the flexibility and
39:09and the way they like to work you know i'm more than happy to work in any way you know i always say
39:15i'm the kind of editor who can give me a drive that has like 300 hours of footage and give me a deck
39:21and i'll meet you in four months with a film i can do that but at the same time if you have like
39:27a storyboard and you have paper cuts i can work with you on that um it's just being open-minded
39:34right and always always doubt yourself in a good way like don't have no matter how awards anyone has
39:43you should always have to have the humility of like i could be wrong on this one or maybe that's an
39:49idea you know that it didn't have maybe they're right maybe i'm wrong let's always say let's try
39:54it that's what i always do let's try it and see how it feels instead of like trying to push back
40:01instead of trying to push back um and it honestly to me like the best moments were
40:08like something that i thought it's not gonna work no no it's not gonna work and then we do it and
40:13it works you know and that's and and and i i think that's that's the fine line of like from my
40:22experience good editors are the ones that are unlike chameleons you know we change your colors
40:28depending on where you're at or like with the director or with the network and everyone works
40:34differently everyone's style and story is different like some people love like slower paced some people
40:40like faster paced some people like to explain more some people are more visual some you know and
40:47each project is different you know sometimes you'd be like on on for example welcome to rexum
40:53which is a little bit fast paced and stuff and then you go to a different project and
40:58you can't help it but you're just you're just happy you're just anything welcome to rexum so you
41:05was acting fast but you can't help it to be acting fast on the next project and for them it's like
41:09like oh that's too fast let's slow it down you know what i mean so you have to
41:16you know change keep changing and have this open mind i would say that that's a great thing that you
41:23go in into a new project from another project and you brought some of that essence with you
41:30because it shows and proves that you're in it yeah you found it
41:36a hundred percent for those looking to break into the industry what's the most unconventional yet
41:45valuable piece of advice you would give to an inspiring editor
41:50uh just be able to deal with people you know it i always i always say like you can um watch movies
42:05and learn you know the craft and everything and you can create the beautiful rough cuts but if you can't
42:14deal with different minds different perspectives and work under pressure you'd never be able to make it
42:26you know that's it i mean some i've seen in my career like super talented editors but they're a little
42:36arrogant they can't take a note because they think that their work is great but so no one knows
42:43better than them you know but if you still do great work but at the same time are as able to
42:50take these notes and incorporate in a way that makes the work actually better not because you gave me a
42:56note that i don't like uh okay i'll do your note to show you that it was wrong no you take the note and
43:04try to make something beautiful with it and this is when people want to work with you again you know
43:10because you took their ideas and make something even way better than it than your initial
43:16than their initial idea and what your original scene was
43:22yeah i don't think i would want to do that not when someone's the one who's writing the check
43:34looking ahead what kind of stories do you dream of telling next and how do you hope your work
43:43continues to shape the industry
43:48uh i any good story like i i want to do like i don't have preference on anything you know as long
43:57as it's a good story and it's a great collaboration with with like-minded people you know i am into it
44:05because again again like every every story you enter it's its own world it's own visual language
44:12own music it's all its own pace and you just live in it for four five six months and it becomes your world
44:21for a while um so the more the more the merrier the the big the the bigger the difference the better
44:30i'm always seem to you know experiment and try new things and blend between genres as much as possible
44:40um i am working uh with uh an apple show that i can't talk about but it's in the immersive media
44:51which is very very very exciting it's something that is beyond it's just like if we're worried about
44:59the future of the industry no this takes storytelling to a whole other level really you
45:06know yeah because i experienced vr before which is like oh you they put you in the sea and you look
45:11right and left and after a while it's fine but to be able to tell a story with it and to be able to that
45:17it's just you're just in it if everything is so magnified it and i see my work on it and it's like
45:24i i keep telling telling them this is the new big screen this is it and it's personal and it's here
45:32it's you're in it uh and i'm very very excited about that if i may ask muhammad how do you feel about
45:41ai should anyone in your field be concerned of where we're going with technology is that something
45:49you can answer yeah 100 i um i kind of like the aspects of it like it can save a lot of time like
45:59i'm working on this app it's an early version of it uh but it will help with a lot of like the
46:05heavy lifting of preparing for editing a documentary you know a big part of what we do is watch
46:11interviews and go through transcripts and uh you know create assemblies and try to find stories you
46:17know if if there is like a tool that could cut this time with half and and and like let you edit right
46:24away you know i'm all for it you know it's it's good for it's better like more time for us to spend with
46:32our families you know less less uh mind work less uh hours uh so you know i i i think i think the
46:46the if we were able to adopt it and integrate it in our workflow early on i think it would be very
46:53beneficial for us um even even though sometimes i use ai to sift through transcripts and stuff like that
47:02it still doesn't i still doesn't find everything that i would have found found maybe maybe it will
47:10get better later i don't know but uh but but for now i i feel like there's there's still hopefully
47:18it will still be this human aspect of it that is uh that will make it make it unique
47:24anything you would like to close with at all that we haven't covered
47:35i know man you covered everything thank you so i did my job as promised yeah yeah this was great i
47:41really enjoyed that thank you but we you've got we're talking about the app you've got a new uh virtual
47:48reality immersion hopefully later on we can talk about hopefully yeah yeah yeah my course would be
47:55i would i'm working on uh i'm working on like uh a tease for my course and i'm working on like a
48:04one class that i want to put out to the people to you know get get early feedback and see what is
48:12working and what is not working and what do i need to improve on before i go full on and and just
48:19finish the course uh i'm very excited about that um yeah i try to spread the knowledge to you know as
48:26much people as possible and and you know help as much people to be good at the craft because it's a
48:33beautiful craft i agree thank you so much for this thank you thank you thank you all right bye bye
48:42thank you to everyone who's tuned in to live on air with steven cuoco on power 98.5 satellite radio
48:50wow mohammed l monasterly editor producer google him head on over to his instagram mohammed what's your
49:00instagram uh good question uh i think it's uh michael underscore editor i think so okay if i remember
49:11correctly we'll give the details okay i'll text it to you i'll find it i'll text you thank you yes
49:19please cool all right god i appreciate all of you have a great day god summer's coming up enjoy it
49:27love it live it and uh yeah wow what an awesome episode what an awesome episode with mr mohammed
49:39hey you're listening to power 98.5 once again download the app tune in on alexa power 98.5 is available on
49:49apple music and you can head on over to stephencuoco.com s-t-e-v-e-n-c-u-o-c-o.com for all things
49:58public relations media and more and power 98.5 satellite radio power 985.com take care everyone
50:19public relations media and more and more and more and more and more that's how you do it
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