American Fiction


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Editor – Hilda Rasula, ACE

When AMERICAN FICTION editor Hilda Rasula ACE first got the script from her agent, the director attached to it seemed more than a little familiar.  It turns out that Cord Jefferson, Hilda’s casual acquaintance from the backyard barbecue circuit, would be helming his first feature.  Together the pair would create a movie that’s one-part social satire, one-part family dramedy and wholly entertaining.

AMERICAN FICTION follows frustrated novelist-professor, Thelonius “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), who’s fed up with an establishment that profits from Black entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, he uses a pen name to write an outlandish Black book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.

Hilda Rasula, ACE

When she’s not helping first-time directors launch their promising careers, editor Hilda Rasula is cutting films like VENGEANCE (2022) and MOVING ON (2022), as well as tv series such as OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH (2022), SMILF (2019) and TRANSPARENT (2014-17).

Editing American Fiction

In our discussion with AMERICAN FICTION editor Hilda Rasula, we talk about:

  • Trojan horse storytelling
  • Staying away from the dark indigo blue territory
  • Hilda and the traveling rug
  • How it’s tricky temping with jazz
  • That first act…why is it always the first act

The Credits

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