Editors – Jess Brunetto, Susan Vaill ACE, Ali Greer
Hacks editors Jess Brunetto, Susan Vaill ACE and Ali Greer each find themselves nominated for an Emmy® award for their work on Season One of their hit series. For those not familiar with the show, Hacks is an American comedy-drama series created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky that streams on HBO Max. The show tells the story of two very funny women at different points in their careers. Deborah Vance, a legendary Las Vegas stand-up comedy diva, is struggling to maintain relevance while the head of the casino where she performs tries to pare down on her performance dates. Ava is a Gen Z comedy writer who is unable to find work due to being “canceled” over an insensitive tweet. The two reluctantly team up to freshen up Vance’s material, while learning to respect each other’s differences along the way.
JESS BRUNETTO
Jess Brunetto is a director, writer, producer and editor. Her film work has screened at Cannes, Venice and Sundance. Her directorial debut Sisters (2021) premiered at SXSW and was nominated for the Grand Jury Award. In addition to Hacks, her other editor credits include; Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens (2020), Broad City (2014), American Vandal (2017) and Jordan Peele’s The Last O.G. (2018), on which she also served as an associate producer.
SUSAN VAILL ACE
Susan’s love of music-driven storytelling has led her to be described as ‘a legendary music supervisor masquerading as an award-winning editor.’ After assistant-editing documentaries and feature films like The Last Samurai (2003), Susan edited over 70 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy (2005) which won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series in 2008. Susan also directed three episodes of the series, one of which featured an Emmy-winning performance by guest actress Loretta Devine. In addition to Hacks, her other television editor credits include; Space Force (2020), Grandfathered (2015), Me, Myself and I (2017), This Is Us (2016), and Lodge 49 (2018).
ALI GREER
In addition to her Emmy® nomination for Hacks, Ali was twice nominated for an ACE Eddie award for her work on the series, Portlandia. In fact, Ali’s editorial career is highlighted by several standout series in the comedy genre. Her time as an assistant editor was punctuated with a stint on Kroll Show (2015) as well as the aforementioned Portlandia (2015). From there she went on to edit such shows as Dream Corp LLC (2018), Black Monday (2020) and Schmigadoon! (2021).
Editing Hacks
In our discussion with the Hacks editing team of Jess Brunetto, Susan Vaill ACE and Ali Greer, we talk about:
- The money is no object approach to needle drops
- The danger of checking your email on a Friday night
- Breaking the rules of network television
- Honoring When Harry Met Sally
- Doing mixes over Zoom…in a car
The Credits
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