Growing up in the 1980s, I idolized George Lucas.  He fostered my childhood imagination with Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

 

Lucasfilm & the visual effects company, ILM, were located near me in the Bay Area and I was in awe that such a prestigious Hollywood institution was located so close to my home.

 

In 1994, I worked at a radio station in San Francisco and met the fire chief of Skywalker Ranch.  My father was a fire chief at the Shell Oil Refinery in Martinez and I introduced the two of them.  A few months later, I got my first tour of Skywalker Ranch with my Dad.  I was in heaven.  When we left the ranch, my Dad said to me, “Someday you might work there with George Lucas.”  I laughed and responded, “In your dreams…” 

 

Flash Forward 15 Years.  

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In March of 2010, I moved back up to the Bay Area and started working at Lucasfilm Animation, just over the hill from Skywalker Ranch. The studio was starting production on an animated musical that George Lucas

had been developing.

 

From 2010 - 2012, I worked as the Supervising Editor on a

project called, Primrose.

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I worked exclusively with George Lucas in the editing room as we built the story for Primrose.  Working side by side with George Lucas on a daily basis in my office was a dream come true.

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Working on a musical was also a dream come true for me as I have always had a love of musicals.  The project required a lot of research of the musical genre.  George shared with me his insights on filmmaking as well as his stories from before the days of Star Wars and working with Francis Ford Coppola.  He talked about the struggles he had as young filmmaker in Hollywood.  We would also talk about the art of film and visual storytelling through editing.

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As an Editor, the experience that I had with George Lucas was a rare opportunity that any filmmaker would treasure.  I feel very fortunate to have had this time with him and feel that the experience only made me

grow even stronger as an Editor.

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In the Summer of 2012, George Lucas decided to retire and I returned to L.A.   Lucasfilm was sold to Disney Studios and the film was completed and distributed under Disney's Touchstone Pictures.

 

In January of 2015, the film was released as Strange Magic.

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I will always look back at the days I spent with George Lucas with great fondness.  The talks we had about filmmaking and

life in general were priceless. 

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In the end, Strange Magic was the most perfect name for this film as it summed up the time I spent at Lucasfilm Animation.