Episode Details

Finding a mentor in Hollywood is an elusive process that few really understand, but when you find a mentor that really understands your challenges and wants to help you succeed, it can change your career (and even your entire life).

So then how do you find a mentor?

In this episode I have the pleasure and honor of chatting with my very first mentor Academy Award nominated film & television editor Dody Dorn, ACE who has worked with such acclaimed directors as James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Baz Luhrman, David Ayer, and Ridley Scott…to name a few. We talk about how and why I reached out to Dody in the first place, why she chose to respond and become my mentor, and how our relationship has worked as mentor & mentee over the last seventeen years.

But more interestly, we also chat about the major transition in our relationship when Dody went from being the mentor to becoming the mentee after realizing that…

“Keeping your head down is not the road to a healthy life”

…and is in fact the path to an early death. Like so many in her field of editing blockbuster features, Dody struggled with major health challenges, both mental and physical, and we chat about the mindset shifts and lifestyle transformations she made to become more active, energetic, and creative.

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Here’s What You’ll Learn:

• How Zack connected with Dody and cultivate a mentorship relationship with her.
• The tragic series of events that led to Dody calling Zack about “Fitness in Post” and work-life balance.
• Dody shares valuable insights with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight on her career in editing.
• Her flexible approach to gradually bringing more self-care into her busy schedule.
• How to stay connected to the rest of the world when internal and external pressures put you in front of a screen most of the time.
• Why “Keeping your head down” is not the road to a good, healthy life. In fact, it might be the road to an early death.
• The realities of ‘working in isolation’ and the impacts on our health, wellbeing and relationships.
• The “how to boil a frog” analogy and how easy it is to get so focused on work only to realize the negative health impacts once we’re already “boiling”.
• A key shift in mindset after working with a nutritionist for just one day that led to her losing 30 pounds without even focusing on weight loss but instead on lifestyle.
• On long hours: Dody shares valuable insights on how she overcomes the ‘gravity’ that draws so many of us into long hours at the expense of our wellbeing. HINT: We often have more control than we think we do.
• Why we editors are “horrible bosses” to ourselves.
• Dody’s process for preparing for the time when the director’s going to be in the room.
• On shooting ratios: How the shift to digital has led to “pushing the work to the other side of the camera”.
• The key to getting a mentor is simple. You need to ask and know what you’re asking for.

Useful Resources Mentioned:

Article: How I Became a Curmudgeon at 25 Years Old

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This episode is made possible for you by Ergodriven, the makers of the Topo Mat, my #1 recommendation for anyone who stands at their workstation. The Topo is super comfortable, an awesome conversatio