Today we’d like to introduce you to Salvador Pérez García.
Hi Salvador, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today. You can include as little or as much detail as you’d like.
For general context, I should mention that I am a film editor based in Los Angeles, but I’ve actually already covered the answer to this question about my story in a previous interview with you, so I would love to take this opportunity to talk specifically about the psychological thriller “Jagged Mind”, which is now streaming on Hulu and which I was lucky enough to get to edit.
I’ve always loved the idea of getting to tackle different genres and styles as an editor, and “Jagged Mind” was my first time diving into horror-adjacent thriller material. It was a project that was very unique and enticing from the beginning because the story is centered on a black lesbian protagonist and it is set in Little Haiti in Miami, and I had never really seen a story like this told from this very specific lens. In addition to that, it features a time loop element, which presented exciting editorial challenges, so I was immediately drawn to it on all fronts.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There’s no such thing as a smooth road while editing a film, but it’s always fun, roadblocks and all! The main challenge with “Jagged Mind” was of course the previously mentioned time loop element. Billie, our protagonist, is experiencing blackouts that are at the core of the film’s mystery, and she is living her life with varying degrees of disorientation as a result. On one level, we wanted the audience to experience that same confusion our hero is going through, living the same moments over and over, as one of the ways we were creating empathy and connection with her. On the other hand, we also wanted to avoid being repetitive and to preserve enough overall clarity within the narrative, in order to keep people engaged and continuously willing to go on the ride to figure out what exactly is going on. It’s tricky to balance all those ingredients, and we had to be really careful about what we were choosing to reveal at any given point, which differences and similarities we were planting within each of the time loops, how and when we were transitioning in and out of them, and also how exactly we were presenting the character of Alex, the mysterious woman Billie is dating.
We’d love to learn more about your work. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
What I’m most proud of is that I got to work on a project that represents Haitian culture in a way that is not often seen, and that features a lesbian protagonist whose homosexuality is not in any way the source of the conflict. The film does draw some inspiration from classic erotic thrillers in its depiction of love and desire, so sexuality itself is of course somewhat at the forefront, but from the opening scene we just dive right into a world in which women who love women are simply living their life.
I am also proud that I got to work with a wonderful team led by the lovely and talented Kelley Kali, and that I took the plunge to edit something in the horror realm. If there was ever a genre I never thought I would tackle, it was that!
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
My main advice would be to work hard, pay attention to detail, do your homework and just do the best that you can in each project and with each edit. Basically, give it your all! I think that if you do that, your work and your efforts will kind of speak for themselves, and that will in turn hopefully lead to the type of networking that develops organically and that is rooted in genuine human connection rather than in self-interest based on specific career goals. In short, be patient, engage genuinely, and let things happen naturally.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.spgediting.com
Image Credits
Hulu
