HOLLYN-wood (Norman, that is)

Norman Hollyn has been described as a “media expert,” a reference to his experience in a wide variety of media types – in both the old media and new media worlds.

He is a long-time film, television and music editor (HEATHERS, THE COTTON CLUB, and Oliver Stone’s WILD PALMS, are among his extensive credits) who is presently an Associate Professor and the Head of the Editing Track in the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. He has also been a CEO of Hollyn Rinsler Consulting, a company specializing in entertainment and media Internet development, with projects for large entertainment companies and municipal school districts.

He is a frequently published author. He has written the standard editing textbook, THE FILM EDITING ROOM HANDBOOK, and has published nearly 100 articles in many magazines and journals. His latest book – THE LEAN FORWARD MOMENT – came out from Peachpit Press/Pearson in January 2009. He has recently signed a contract with Peachpit for a new edition of THE FILM EDITING ROOM HANDBOOK.

He has delivered papers at the 2005 and 2006 NAB Conferences and the 2005 BEA Convention. He has participated on panels at the 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007 UFVA Conferences and at the 2004 international CILECT conference in Helsinki, Finland, where he delivered a paper titled “Direct Guidance, Indirect Guidance and Misguidance: Teaching Editing in a Portable Non-Linear World.”. He presented a film-in -progress to the 2008 CILECT Conference in Beijing, China. He  was a featured panelist at a conference sponsored by the Institute for Writing and Thinking at Bard College, New York.

He was recently featured on the cover of the EDITORS GUILD MAGAZINE, where he was interviewed about teaching editing at the university level. He has also been interviewed for various other articles, web sites and podcasts. He lectures widely on editing theory and collaborative techniques and has organized and led seminars at major companies such as Dreamworks Pictures, Pixar Animation, Philadelphia Inquirer and Forbes.

At present he is co-directing and editing a documentary on architecture, OFF THE GRID.

He also has worked as an expert witness in cases involving the aesthetics or history of editing.

As a teacher, he has worked internationally. He has organized and participated in a series of workshops for the Royal Film Commission in Jordan. He has also worked with Vietnamese filmmakers in a program sponsored by the Ford Foundation. At the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 Sundance Film Festivals he developed and ran a series of short editing workshops for filmmakers focusing on storytelling techniques. He has also taught at the AFI and UCLA Extension.

In his position as Editing Track Head at USC, he is part of a variety of new technology initiatives and has relationships with companies as diverse as Adobe, Apple, Avid, Fox Searchlight Pictures, and Sony.

At USC he has sat on the Executive Board of the university’s Academic Senate and is on many school and university committees, including the Provost’s Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies and the University Committee on Curriculum. He has served on both the graduate and undergraduate admission committees, and has served on several curriculum committees for the School of Cinematic Arts. He was recently appointed to run the Communications Pathway Task Force, a university-wide initiative.

He is a member of AMPAS (the motion picture Academy) and A.C.E. (the American Cinema Editors).

As an entrepreneur, he has developed web sites and business practices for a number of small and large companies, including Universal Music Group, Fox Video, eveo and Bluecow.