Editor Marco Perez has joined the staff of bicoastal Union. He comes over from Mad River, having just completed a run of new work for HBO, Tostitos, Microsoft, and Levi's and recently was nominated for an AICE award. His first project at Union is for American Family Insurance via Element 79 and directed by Michael Haussman.

"With the state of the economy, and with all the shifts in the industry, it seemed like a good idea to have another Italian by our side," mused Union Partner/Executive Producer Michael Raimondi. "In truth, Marco's a really astute and intelligent editor, and when he became available, people were recommending him to us from all sides. It was just meant to be."

“Union is the best fit for my personality and my talent,” explained Perez, who began his career in his native Rome and has since cut all over the world. “I feel at ease with all of the people at Union and the level of work that the editors do.”

Perez also cited the company’s bicoastal presence and its new arrangement with Marshall Street Editors in London as a draw. “I’m a director’s editor, and I have many directors in London and across Europe with whom I love to collaborate,” he said. “When I was based in Europe, I would work all over – Amsterdam, Barcelona, London – it’s the future of editing, and Michael understands that completely.”

While he counts newer work for Tostitos (“We Wait”) and Levi’s (“Onion Peel” and “Knock Out”) among his favorites, Perez also considers his “Singing in the Rain” video for Usher a high point. “We did this a couple of years ago, as part of a series of pop stars offering an homage to movie music,” the editor recalled. “This number was the only one fully produced into a music video, and it was just a marvelous recreation and update of the song.”

It’s no coincidence that a tribute to movie musicals would strike a chord with Perez, who traced his origins in editing to his childhood experiences at the opera, and his subsequent role as an assistant director in the theatre. “I was working on a show that had a lot of projection involved and I began looking into it and learning about it. And I came to love film as a means of capturing and sharing a beautiful experience, which I’d wanted to do as an excited kid coming home from the opera.”

Mentored by the famed Pielguigi Samaritani, Perez spent seven years working in major Italian and international theaters, before studying film at Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (the National School of Cinema) in 1996. He moved to Milan and began work as a commercial editor for directors such as Wim Wenders, Michael Haussman, Mathias Zentner, Laurence Dunmore, Federico Brugia, Luca Maroni, Owen Harris, and many others. A move to Paris followed, and Perez traveled to London, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Auckland, Cape Town, and more to ply his craft. He relocated to New York in 2006.

Perez has complemented his spot work by editiing documentaries, television shows, and independent short films, some of which have appeared in various international film festivals. Balancing editing with writing, Perez co-wrote the screenplay “Ferdinandea” with Luca Maroni and Suzanne Reyenke, based on an idea from Wu Ming. “Ferdinandea” won the National Prize for Best Screenplay from the Italian Ministry of Culture in 2006. Perez made his directorial debut in 2007 with “Cose che facciamo per amore” (“Things We Do for Love”), which earned a commendation from the Jury at the 51st London Film Festival. It has since been featured on TMC Classic Shorts.

“We couldn’t be happier with this marriage,” Raimondi concludes, “Marco’s reel makes us a stronger more dynamic company, and I really enjoying being with him.”

Union has offices in Santa Monica, CA, and New York City. Its New York office opened in 2008, with Partners/Editors Sloane Klevin and Geordie Anderson, and Executive Producer Caryn MacLean. In addition to Perez, Klevin, and Anderson, the Union roster is comprised of Partner/Editors Jim Haygood, Einar, and Jay Friedkin, and editors Nico Alba, Jinx Godfrey, Nicholas Wayman-Harris, Adam Jenkins, Pablo Piriz, and Paul Plew.