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: Mike Jones
What’s your job? Assistant Editor
List the credits you’re most proud of. I’m proud most of my work as Editor on “5 South” an independent feature, my first editing of a feature, directed by Christopher M. Boyd. I’m proud of editing two episodes of “A Whole New Irving.” Also I’m proud of my assistant editing work on “Ready or Not” with a mentor and friend Terel Gibson, ACE
Who and what are your influences and/or mentors? Mentors Terel Gibson and Lillian Benson, ACE both took the time to offer me important career advice and included me into an industry where before I didn’t see any people that looked like me at all. Terel also gave me scenes to cut on “Ready or Not” and then explained why it was or wasn’t working. James Wilcox is another influencer of mine: to see a black man win an Emmy in my lifetime is amazing. My dad and my uncles had the biggest influences on me in my life so far. My Dad was a track all American. My uncle won a Grey Cup and was the MVP of the game so through them I saw early that if you work hard and treat people the way you want to be treated you can accomplish amazing goals.
What books are you reading, shows are you watching and/or movies you’re excited about? I’m currently finishing the last book of “Wheel of Time,” and really excited about the series of it coming to Amazon. The TV shows I’m watching are “Fleabag” and “The Outsider.”
What would be your superhero name? My superhero name would be Wonder Twin. As a superhero, I’d have eight identical mes running around being able to get more stuff done, kind of like Mr. Manhattan.
What are your Black History Month memories, and what cultural or historical impacts have they had on your life? One of fondest memories of Black History month was my senior year of high school. My school offered a black history class for February but decided to keep it for the rest of the year. It was so amazing to learn for more than just a month about African American history, because before then all I really knew about was Martin Luther King Jr. and when slaves were freed.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? One good advice I was given at an early age was to treat people the why you want to be treated. And it’s so true because you never know when that PA will become a Post Supevisor or Assistant Editor will become a Lead Editor.
If you could time travel, when would you go and why? If I could time travel I would go about a week back with the right powerball numbers.
What’s a little-known fact about you? What are your hidden (or not so hidden) talents? A little fact that some don’t know is that I have an identical twin brother. Also In high school I was in DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) emphasizing in marketing. I place 2nd place for the Central region in advertising. And I won a KFC script writing commercial contest for the southern region of the U.S.
What would be your dream project to work on? My dream project would be to work on an animation feature.
