Meet Josh Sasson | Video Editor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Josh Sasson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Josh, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I’m honestly pretty bad at taking big risks, but last year I left the relative stability of a staff job at a post house on the hunch that I might be happier working in a different corner of the industry. At the time, it felt like a big risk, and definitely paid off like one. One of the immediate benefits of that was how much it freed me up to make my own creative work.

I think sometimes what feel like the biggest risks are just the times when you’re forced to advocate for yourself and your happiness. And so often working in the industry, it feels like there’s built in expectation that you should be willing to sacrifice some aspect of that in order to be competitive. But ultimately I was able to treat see that risk as an investment in my long-term happiness.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My fiancé, Claire and I are part of a Video Art Collective along with several of our friends called Dream Video Division (DVD for short). Our work mostly streams on Twitch, but has also been commissioned for live screenings by film fest like Overlook Film Festival and Fantastic Fest. The backbone of what we do is re-edit existing films and TV in “exquisite corpse” style. We split a film into pieces that get divided among a roster of editors, each editor then twisting it into something completely new. This can mean changing virtually any aspect of it: music, color, visual effects. Once everyone’s individual work is done, it all gets stitched back together into one wild, completely transformed narrative.

I’m a big fan of working collectively and I find a lot of inspiration in being oftentimes surrounded by unique and inspiring creative voices. I’d also like to think we represent a positive model for creating art outside the traditional system.

We’re one of a handful of groups who work in this niche art space, and there’s a larger and active community that’s been built around everyone’s art. And the relatively low barrier to making that art continues to inspire other people to express themselves through video, which is amazing to see.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I rarely go west of Vermont these days, so if I’m showing someone around LA, we’d probably be spending some time in Glassell Park and Highland Park. I love that bar The Hermosillo, Permanent Records Roadhouse is cool and I’m lightly obsessed with the old-school soda shop Galco’s on York. We would definitely making time for Burgers Never Say Die in Silverlake, Jitlada in Thai Town and Wanderlust Ice Cream in Atwater Village. If there’s something good playing at Los Feliz 3, check that out and get late-night pancakes at Fred 62 afterwards (inevitable that my itinerary would be tilted heavily towards food).

Griffith Park and Elysian park are nice and fun to explore, and if you can bear to trek all the way to the westside, driving along that coastline is awfully nice.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my partner Claire, who constantly encourages me to make choices that she knows will improve my life. I’m not sure I would’ve found to the courage to make necessary changes in my work life if she hadn’t been there to help guide me.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giuseppe_sassollini/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/senorsasson

Image Credits
image 1 was taken by Nadine Allan image 2 was taken by me (Josh Sasson)