For each day in the month of February, the Committee will be highlighting African-American members, both past and present, and their accomplishments. We look forward to showing the contributions and influences African-Americans have had on the industry.
Name: Kyle Bond
What’s your job? Picture Editor
List the credits you’re most proud of.I’m proud of all my credits. Each one has helped shape me into the editor I am today, but if I had to choose a specific one, it would be “Scandal.” It was incredible to be part of a real-time cultural phenomenon. Additionally, it was the longest I spent on a show, and the place where I got the bump from AE to editor.
What are you working on right now? I’m on the upcoming Shondaland limited series called “Inventing Anna,” based on the story of infamous New York grifter Anna Delvey, with Julia Garner starring as Anna.
Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? Matt Ramsey was my editor for a number of years and I learned so much from him on the different shows and pilots we did. It was invaluable experience seeing how he would craft the story, give each show a unique sound and feel, as well as work a crowded room of producers, who at times could all be asking for different things.
Also, I’d be remiss not to mention Kobe. His legendary work ethic is something I try to emulate in my approach to the job. I had the chance to meet him and talk to him about the editorial process, which was one of the best days of my life.
What books are you reading, shows are you watching and/or movies you’re excited about? Given my last name I’m always excited for the latest Bond movie and can’t wait for “No Time to Die” to finally come out. I absolutely love a good fantasy novel and have been hearing good things about “Children of Blood and Bone,” which will be the next book I start up. I’m going to sneak in that I’m playing “Spiderman: Miles Morales.” I know it wasn’t part of the question, but I wasted enough time in my life making sure I got a PS5, so I’m including it.
What would be your superhero name? I take no claim to this, but I had a corny post supervisor who called me “Glue-Guy” cause I Bond everything together.
What are your Black History Month memories and any cultural or historical impacts on your life? I’ll absolutely never forget watching Obama’s inauguration with my family. The image of him walking along the parade route on his way to the white house filled me with joy and is something that’s ingrained in my brain forever.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? To have empathy and treat everyone with respect. We all have bad days and you never know what may be going on with someone so I try not to judge someone to quickly. You could say: This applies to editing as well, even though most scenes are from the point of view of the protagonist, having empathy for every character in a project helps find the truth of the scene.
If you could time travel, when would you go and why? Distant future. I want to see if all these movies ever got it right and we’ll have flying cars and hoverboards. Mostly I want to see if we ever leave earth and travel the stars.
What’s a little known fact about you? What are your hidden (or not so hidden) talents? This is not so hidden (and probably also not a talent) but I love singing in a falsetto. Some may say I’m tone deaf, but I don’t hear it. I’ll also add that even though it’s been a few years, I’m still going to claim I can dunk.
What’s your favorite (Black) television/movie moment? I have very fond memories as a kid coming home from school and watching shows like “Fresh Prince,” “Kenan and Kel,” “Smart Guy,” “Sister Sister.” I couldn’t get enough of those shows.
What’s your personal/professional mantra? Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder.
What’s the last show/movie that left you speechless? The Tulsa race massacre episode from “Lovecraft Country.”
What would be your dream project to work on? Not sure if I necessarily have a dream project, but I think it would be pretty cool to work on a Bond movie.
