Lunch with Jerry Hofmann

Our next lunch guest was recorded in Estes Park, Colorado, during a recent trip to visit with Jerry Hofmann. During his 33-year professional show business career, he has become an award winning theatrical actor, TV and film editor, writer, director and producer. Over the years, he has produced hundreds of TV commercials, and industrial films for Fortune 500 companies, Hollywood studios and advertising agencies.

A true pioneer in the technology, Jerry received one of the first Avid non-linear disk based editors in Los Angeles. He now teaches part-time at the Colorado Film and Video Instructional Studios. He is a team leader in the Final Cut Pro forum at www.creativecow.net, and is the leading contributor to Apple Computer’s own discussion group for Final Cut Pro and is a frequent visitor of 2-Pop’s discussion groups. He also has his own company, jlh productions, and he is a partner in Bat-Mann Productions, both located in Denver, Colorado

 

Introduction  0’ 52”

Career Start  1’ 58”

Dinner Theater  2’ 37”

Move to LA to be an actor  3’ 16”

Moving into Production  3’ 58”

Most production is not for entertainment 6’ 02”

Introduction of Avid  7’ 51”

Final Cut Pro X   9’ 17”

Producing the Lunch shows (technology) 10’ 41”

Rate of change and democratization  11’ 23”

More of Jerry’s history   (and early Avid Media Composer experience) 13’ 52”

Final Cut Pro 1 and the effect on Jerry’s business  18’ 26”

Embracing change   20’ 15”

The explosion in production is going to continue  24’ 09”

Adapting to, and embracing, change  25’ 09”

Why faster tools are better tools (FCP X 40% faster) 26’ 04”

“Keeping in sync – an explanation – in FCP X”  27’ 21”

Jerry’s two periods of “fame” – actor and online guru  29’ 37”

The life of an adjunct professor  33’ 10”

“Appropriate” production  33’ 45”

Why I never owned a camera  and what it means  34’ 10”

Why it’s a great time to enter the industry  36’ 45”

Human communication 37’ 32”

The three biggest changes in society or technology over Jerry’s career  38’ 46”

How the future will change  41’ 48”

Career advice to younger self  44’ 28”

Do we need more skills now?  45’ 58”

Loss of vision – 47’ 03”

Comparison of NLEs and why speed matters most  47’ 14”

Contacting Jerry and The Colorado Film School  48’ 40”