An interview with Editor Micheal Horwitz of FUEL…

The press is alive with buzz about the Academy nominated films and if you want my two cents… I have to say I think they got it wrong this year. MY Oscar goes to Josh Tickell of FUEL. The heart, mind and message of this film are masterfully created and it is clear true filmmakers lie behind the celluloid (or tape).  I had the chance to catch up with Micheal just before the Academy made its decision.  Enjoy!

Hi Michael,

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with our readers. As I have told you, I am very impressed with your work on the Academy short-listed film FUEL. In many of my blogs I have written about the importance of an editor in documentary film. To me, the editor is the MOST important person on a documentary for the director to work with. So let’s begin….

Tell us a bit about your path to this point.

Thanks for the opportunity to share with your readers. So diving right in, my path to this point….If you had a time machine and you traveled back to 1997, UC Santa Cruz film school, found me wandering the halls of the communications building and said, Hi Michael, I’m from the future, and I’m here to tell you that 11 years from now you will be an editor and your first major film is an environmentally friendly documentary - I would have probably laughed in your face! At the time I never imagined myself as an editor. I wanted to be Spielberg or Coppola! The editing equipment at school rarely worked and when it did, it wasn’t properly maintained. But after graduating and doing a rather ambitious World War II love story for my thesis film, which was called Grand Central, I decided post production and editing was the best place to get a job. I started at the bottom and began as a runner and production assistant working for companies that produced movie trailers. I hung out with the editors, I learned to use the AVID and I was hooked.

How did you come to work on this film?

I came to FUEL from that world - creative advertising, editing trailers and TV spots for independent films and video games, a job I enjoyed and still enjoy very much but I was literally plucked out of obscurity. One of the producers I was working with at the time said he knew of this documentary project and it had something to do with oil and they needed a promo cut. I said sure, why not? I took the meeting, met one of the film’s producers and met Josh Tickell the director. When I first saw the footage, I was like, “WOW! This is amazing, truly eye-opening stuff, you guys are going to win an Academy Award!” I brought my bag of trailer editing tricks, cut the promo and when I was finished I wished Josh good luck with his film, never expecting to hear from him again. Apparently I made quite an impression, cause three months later, just when I was starting to feel a little job burnout, he called and asked me to come cut the movie.

I understand there were a few cuts. Even one after FUEL won the audience award at Sundance. Tell us a bit about that.

First off getting a cut to Sundance was no easy feat. Everyone talks about getting their film into Sundance and we were no different. And our presence at Sundance was huge! Not because we had celebrities with us, we just had a lot of volunteers - people on main street spreading the word, passing out schwag bags with buttons, beanie hats and coffee mugs and also the Veggie Van driving around was a big hit and so we were popular. (It’s fun to be popular, I was never the popular kid) Our film spoke to people, inspired people, educated them as well as provided entertainment, and even after winning the audience award, we knew would go back and tweak the film. What we weren’t prepared for was what was happening in the world outside of Sundance in regards to biofuels. Within 48 hours after the end of the festival there was a huge, world wide media blitz on the potential dangers of biofuels - biofuels are causing deforestation in the rain forests and starving children in Mexico and Africa. The topic of Food Vs Fuel was everywhere with the finger pointed at Corn based Ethanol. Suddenly it was bracketed by the media and even by environmental organizations that ALL biofuels are bad, including biodiesel. We didn’t address this in the film, we didn’t know! And in making a documentary, as filmmakers, you have a responsibility to provide people with the whole story as unbiased as possible. If we didn’t address this issue, we would not be fulfilling our duty as filmmakers. So we went back to re-cut, more research, more fundraising. And in the process, like a caterpillar emerging from its cocoon into a butterfly, the film went from a little happy, hippie biodiesel movie to a really beautiful, deeper, thought provoking conversation on alternative energy, sustainability and most importantly providing SOLUTIONS that all of us can participate in our every day lives today.

The first cut I saw was a few years ago and when I had the opportunity to see this version, there were only three shots I recognized. What was it like to see all your work on the cutting room floor?

Its a process. You get attached to some things and have to let them go. And the more I got invested in the footage, there were certainly things that got cut, that I really wanted to keep in. I fought hard for a whole section on Australia and what they’re up to with biodiesel, but in the end, you have to let it go. The Katrina rescue mission was originally longer and cut in a far more heroic and exciting way, but ultimately it didn’t serve the story acurately. (I saved it for my reel) There are a number of things to consider and you don’t want to make a three hour documentary. We had well over 800 hours of footage, we had enough footage to make six different films - and I’ll bet you all of them would have been really good. But only one would have been great, and that is the one you see in the final cut of FUEL.

Josh is a very passionate individual and incredibly smart. What was it like to work with such a director? 

First off, I’m very grateful to have worked with Josh on this film, not only is he my director, he’s my friend and he’s my teacher. I’ve gotten a SERIOUS green education from working on the film with him, more than I ever would from any college course. In the beginning the process is always rocky because you’re testing the chemistry with your director, you’re pushing each other, you challenging each other, you argue, you agree, you try things that work, things that don’t work, etc. And you have to work out those kinks because an editor / director relationship is one in which you’re gonna be spending a lot of time with one another, more than your own girlfriend or family. There were quite a few marathon editing sessions that lasted 24 hours straight! The secret? Chocolate covered Espresso Beans and those keychain 2GB USB flash drives! Needless to say we got to know each other pretty well. I am also a very passionate person and I bring that to the table in any film project I commit to, but Josh’s passion is for green energy, being an environmentalist and an activist. My passion is for filmmaking, storytelling, movies, music and so we balanced each other out.

What is the message FUEL is delivering?

FUEL is delivering the message that sustainable green energy is not only possible, its available today and you reading this very article right now can get involved. Through Josh’s incredible journey, we learn that everyone has the ability to do something in their lives and in their communities to make changes to get us away from petroleum based, pollution fuels and gasoline to clean burning, green energy technologies and fuels to create a better world for our children. The one technology we explore in the film that I think is the most amazing is fuel from Algae! Yeah, the stuff that grows in your pool or the side of your aquarium if you don’t clean it. Fuel from algae, who knew, right? Ultimately though, the message of the film is one of compassion and hope. I am always amazed how after screenings people feel so personally inspired.

How has working on this film directly affected your life?

I was in the dark on these issues prior to this film. I was locked up in my happy little trailer editing cave and then suddenly it was like KABOOM! Welcome to the revolution. I’ll never forget Josh’s words, “so Mike, are you ready to take the green pill?” And even though I still drive a gas car, my next car will either be a used 2006 Jeep Liberty CRD (Common Rail Diesel) or if I go brand new, it will be the 2009 Jetta TDI wagon, a diesel car which I can run on sustainable biodiesel - there’s no question about it. I may have to go out of my way initially to fill up, but I think its more than worth the effort.

Do you have any advice for up and coming editors? 

Don’t do a documentary for your first film! Haha! Unless you are ridiculously ambitious like me! Seriously though editing a documentary is a nightmare because you have so much footage that you will be driven to the cliffs of insanity! (Anyone get the movie reference?) Luckily we brought on a co-editor, the lovely Tina Imahara who had come out of AFI grad school and cut documentaries before me. I learned a lot from her and couldn’t have done my job without her. But I would advise any up and coming editors to really get hands on with film, if you can. Go out of your way to learn the old school ways and then apply what you learn to the digital world. I had the benefit of learning to cut actual film on a moviola in film school and I’m very grateful to have learned that process. Now with digital editing as the standard, the creative results are enormous. I I don’t know how many film schools still have the old flatbed editing systems around but if you can dig one up, research where to take a class, learn that and benefit from that, I think you will feel more like an editor and a filmmaker for having that knowledge. I say it often and I know a lot of people agree with me, just because you have Final Cut Pro and a laptop, that doesn’t mean you’re an editor. This new generation is standing on the shoulders of the great filmmakers of today so we can be the great filmmakers of tomorrow and I think its our responsibility in some part to use their tools and methods to enhance ours. Spielberg still cuts on a flatbed, okay he’s the only one in Hollywood doing it, but I think holding the actual film in your hands and working with it gives you something Final Cut Pro or AVID can never give you - humility for the evolving art of editing.

When I saw Cassavetes film Shadows, I knew I had to become a filmmaker. Was there a film like that for you?

Is it too cliche to say “Raiders of the Lost Ark”? There are just so many films that have inspired me, so many different filmmakers that to choose just one would seem unfair to another. Like so many I grew up fascinated by Spielberg’s body of work but even more so by watching his craft mature into balancing historical and serious subject matters with popcorn entertainment. I love Hitchcock for his classical style, Cameron Crowe for his witty humor, Alfonso Cuarón for his sense of wonderment, Ridley Scott for his epic vision and hands down anything that comes from Pixar.

Thank you Michael!