local storiesMay 30, 2023

Meet Jessica Torres

Local Stories

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Torres. Jessica was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Frank Ruiz.

Jessica, can you walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As some of you may know if you’ve read my first two interviews, I’m a Jersey girl, born and raised with a Colombian background. I was lucky enough to fall into the TV and film world at a young age, starting with being an anchor for morning announcements in elementary school to getting behind the scenes of the TV and film process in high school. That’s where I found my calling for storytelling and editing. Thanks to my teachers and mentors throughout high school I was fully prepared to enter the real world, or better yet, college. While in college I explored my options with studio TV, field production, animation, acting, and some marketing. Still, my calling was editing through and through. I still didn’t feel fully prepared to enter the work force though, so I took another leap of faith and decided to move to Los Angeles for grad school. This was by far the best decision ever because I learned that my true passion was to be on set as an assistant director and that I also had talent as a writer and director. I was also able to break out of my shell more while also experiencing connections I would have never expected to have in my life.

Let’s talk about your work and career – what else should we know?
Fast forward to now, I’m currently working as an assistant editor, which was an inevitable career path for me. It just happened to be what I fell into right as the pandemic hit and the most consistent job I could keep. I have tried several times to get myself back on set, but every effort was short lived. It’s not to say that I don’t currently love my career as an assistant editor because I do. It’s given me so much opportunity to also live my best life. I’ve worked on some fun shows, the latest being “Smartless” airing on HBO Max. I should probably update my IMDb, but with how busy I keep my life it’s always pushed to the back of my mind! Thanks to my current career, I have the flexibility to travel and really enjoy life to the fullest. I got to travel for 5 months and meet up with some of my friends from grad school living in Europe. To clarify what an assistant editor does, I prep the footage that is shot for the ACTUAL editors to edit together. This is a common misconception I get from friends and family who ask me what my job is. I do NOT do the actual editing, I just prep things to make the editor’s life easier and I take the finished product and prep that to send to the finishing teams. Everything I do is technical and there is very minimal creative work from my part. Despite how I made my road to this point in my life seem so smooth, it was anything BUT. I’ve gone through those down moments, times of doubt, unemployment, and times where things seemed great but my emotions weren’t on the same page. My advice for everyone is that you keep that one goal at the forefront of your mind and proceed to reach it while also remembering to do things that make you happy. Don’t be afraid to change things up a little because maybe that’s all you need to push a little further.

Frank Ruiz has been a great friend to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Frank and your experience with them.
Now for the part that we’re really here for, my friend Frank. We met at one of my first assistant editing gigs after grad school, he was the sound editor for the company and still is. I had the night shift and many nights I’d notice that he’d still be at the office late finishing work. I couldn’t help but notice how dedicated he was to his job. I knew what that must’ve been like for him because I too was one of those people who worked hard and often pushed through long hours to get things done. Having been in his shoes I knew exactly what he needed and I’d extend a friendly gesture every time asking him if he needed anything to drink, eat or even work that I could help him with. Eventually I left the company, but we decided to remain in contact as friends.

At some point during our hang outs the topic of my grad school thesis film came up and I was telling him how disappointed I was in it sound-wise, color-wise, etc. He was the one to give me the encouragement to finally push through and finish it and to let him fix the audio for me since that was his specialty. After letting him take a look and give me a short sample, I was hooked! He made my project sound ten times better and that helped me find the motivation to finish recutting the picture and fixing the color. He even went as far as having me come in to help him make foley for my project. It was INCREDIBLE how dedicated he was to my project. Despite us being friends, he made it super professional by still making me sign a contract and giving me a solid rate, hahaha! I mean, we should all learn this lesson, both of us are true to our word, but it’s always a good lesson that no matter who you work with on a project, YOU NEED A CONTRACT!

Once my project was officially complete, I submitted it to film festivals and it did so much better than I had expected. Without Frank, I would’ve never finished my project properly and to its fullest potential. He’s someone I will continue to recommend to anyone who needs a sound editor because he goes above and beyond to make sure his work is above and beyond.