They're telling me everything
I ever wanted to know. It was
amazing. I learned a lot on
that show."
His next film was Hearts in
Atlantis, directed by Scott
Hicks. The Australian crew
did not bring in an apprentice
editor, putting Teese in the
right place at the right time.
Once again, "I was the only
guy in town, so I got the job."
When the film wrapped, with
no other project on the horizon,
Teese filled his time editing a
short movie for a friend and
putting together highlight reels
for local football coaches. He
also directed, shot, and edited
a DVD of performances for a
local band.
Hearing that Ridley Scott
was set to direct Black Hawk
Down, with Scalia serving as
editor and Sewell as associate
editor, Teese lobbied for the
apprentice position. While the
film was shooting in Morocco,
Scalia used an apprentice out
of London whom he had previ-
ously worked with. When the
film returned to Los Angeles,
Teese was offered the job.
Beginning in August 2001, he
worked 6-day, 75-hour work
weeks until the end of
December. He drove home to
Virginia for Christmas, and
had been in town only five
days before receiving an offer to work as the projectionist for the
DreamWorks feature Ring. Finishing up in early summer 2002, Teese
returned to Virginia to edit some low budget films for friends, hoping to
soon work again with Scott, Scalia, and Sewell.
"Take advantage
of the opportunities that
arise. I've known a
couple assistant editors
who, when the show is
over, won't have anything more to do with it.
Every once in a while, they'll be asked to
come back and [do additional work on the
film] and they'll say, `No, no, I really can't
do it.' You have to make yourself available to
help whenever you can."--Rex Teese
Set goals: "I set goals for myself. When
I started working at the Film Office, I said,
`Within seven or eight months I want to get
a job working on a film or television show.' I
did it within four. When I was hired on
Legacy, I set a goal to be working editorial
within seven months. Within three months, I
was working editorial. When I first started
editing, I set a goal to edit a movie or TV
show by the time I was 29. I turned 26 and
had already edited a movie. Again, I beat my
deadline by half."--Rex Teese
Find a good mentor: "I have been lucky
in that I've had extremely good teachers.
George Kelly, who was the editor on Nothin'
2 Lose, taught me a lot. The two Canadians,
Robin Russell and Don Cassidy, who were
the editors on Legacy, were kind enough to
let me just sit behind them and watch them
work for three or four hours every night.
When I'd ask them questions, they'd always
answer them for me. I was lucky to work with
Wes Sewell. He designed a lot of the classes
that Avid used to teach other editors, because
he was one of the first people to use it.
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