Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Petersen.
Hi Jessica, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Born and raised in Munich, Germany I have always had a love for the arts. My brother and I were very involved in music and dance at school and even at home; my mother shared her love of books and stories, and my father his of photography and art. Of course, I grew up watching and loving movies and TV shows, but it wasn’t until my summer internship at the Bavaria Film Studios in Munich when I was 15 that I realized that it was something I could pursue as a career. After graduating high school in Zurich Switzerland, and being very inspired by the film festival world there, I decided to come to America and study Film and Television at Drexel University in Philadelphia. During my time there, I found myself learning and trying every field of film, from hair and makeup to assistant directing to producing and even directing my first short film, which won Best Narrative Film of 2017 at my university’s annual film festival. Even though I was very excited by all the different forms of filmmaking, a trailer-cutting class drew me into an editing room very early on, and I quickly found my love of storytelling through editing.
After graduating from my undergrad, I worked as a freelance editor in the Philadelphia and New York area, and I got the opportunity to edit my first indie feature film, The Place We’re Going, which received international recognition at film festivals in the US and in Europe. As incredible as that experience was, it also showed me that I had so much more to learn. I decided to pursue my dream and apply to graduate schools over in the city of angels, and I was accepted at The American Film Institute as an editing fellow in 2019.
Due to the pandemic, a two-year program turned into a nearly four-year program, but I was honored to have been able to continuously learn and work on so many short films with many incredible collaborators, including one of my thesis films, Shedding Angels, which won a Student Academy Award in 2021.
This past year, I have been working in the trailer industry in Los Angeles, getting to collaborate on many incredible campaigns. Most recently, I won a 2023 Clio Entertainment Award for my work on the digital campaign for A24’s Past Lives.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think the road to a career in the arts can ever be smooth, and I didn’t expect it to be. I think overcoming challenges and facing our struggles is what makes us even better artists. When listing out all of your accomplishments, it may seem like it has been a smooth road, but most people don’t include all of the “no’s” they’ve gotten along the way. My biggest struggle has always been my own confidence in myself. When I first came to the United States to pursue my undergraduate in film, I knew absolutely nothing about the industry, whereas a lot of my fellow students had been attending arts high schools or have had a lot more knowledge and experience than me. Immediately I felt as though I was behind and had a lot of catching up to do, which then turned into me biting off more than I could chew and burning myself out.
It’s hard-working in a creative field where judging if something is good or bad often just comes down to personal preferences. I found myself doubting myself and my ability a lot, and I think that came across when I was first trying to collaborate with others, meaning I was turned down and underestimated a lot. Especially because I was an entire ocean away from my family, I felt very isolated and lonely at first. I am so grateful for all of the support my family was able to give me, even when it meant moving even further away from home when I came to Los Angeles, and I am eternally grateful for the friends, mentors, and collaborators I have found along the way that helped me gain confidence in my abilities. Being supported and taught by other women in the industry really helped me believe and set boundaries for myself. Not overthinking and just trusting the process was a huge leap for me.
It took me a while to find the right work balance and to be honest, I still find myself struggling with that at times today, but with every project and every step I take in my career, I hope to become more confident.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an editor, which means I am the one that puts all the pieces together. I’ve compared editing a lot to doing puzzles, which is something I love to do, except you don’t actually know what the final picture is going to be, and the pieces can go together in multiple different ways. It sounds impossible, but that’s the fun of it. I love playing in an editing room and seeing what comes out on the other end. Even when you have a script, a story and specific footage, there is always so much more to explore, and I want to make sure that every single frame counts. If someone watches something that I’ve cut and has any kind of physical or emotional reaction to it, whether it be laughing or crying or even just those tiny goosebumps, that means I did my job well and that I can be proud.
Some of the things that I have been most proud of is my work in advertising. I have had the pleasure of working on multiple TV and digital campaigns for companies like A24, Disney, Netflix, Apple+, Hulu, Max, Searchlight, etc. Ranging from TV spots to product adapts, I am always so excited to cut things that is being consumed by such a large audience, especially when it’s for films and shows that I know I would be excited to see myself. Working on the Past Lives digital campaign was one of my highlights part of this past year. I was extremely proud and honored to have won a 2023 Clio Entertainment Award for it and that two other of my spots were shortlisted as well, with having a combined 100K views across Instagram. For only having been working in the industry for a year, that was definitely a huge accomplishment and validation that I was doing the right thing.
Beyond my work in advertisement, I am also really proud of the mentorship work I have been able to do. Not only have I been able to do a few guest lectures back at my undergraduate school, Drexel University, but even at AFI, I am part of the mentorship program and was able to be a part of the YWIF, Young Women in Film intensive program. This program is a nine-week filmmaking workshop held on the AFI Campus in Los Angeles for 50 female-identifying high school students, where we as AFI fellows and alumni get to work with other young women to create a series of short films and provide a fun, inclusive and educational environment for them to start their journey as filmmakers. I wouldn’t be the editor I am today without the mentors that I have had along the way, and I am so proud to be able to hopefully be that same kind of mentor to young artists to support and inspire them to pursue their dreams in this industry.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
My biggest advice is that it’s ok to ask for help. Even though it seems like such an obvious answer, I found myself having this need to prove myself without the help of anyone, and that really just made it more difficult for myself starting up in this industry. Filmmaking is a team effort, and I have found that, more often than not, people in the industry are so open to helping others by giving them advice or answering questions because we are all striving to achieve the same thing: creating beautiful stories together. Even today I am constantly learning new things from my coworkers and other filmmakers, and whenever I do feel stuck it is the support of others that really helps me through it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10184221/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-petersen-39b9ba122/
Image Credits
Kasey Orthmann Shamus Hays
