Multiple Awards puts in limelight

Toronto native Gillian Truster won the award for Best Picture Editing in a Dramatic Series at the 2014 for her work on the television series Orphan Black. She was in good company, as many of her co‐workers from the new series also took home awards in other categories such as: best series, direction, writing, production and acting.

“Being recognized by my peers is a huge honour and I couldn’t be more thrilled” said Gillian when asked about her recent award. She is excited about the exposure that Orphan Black has been getting at recent award shows. “Orphan Black is getting a lot of attention now. It did really well during its first season, but now because of Tatiana (Maslany) and her success…there has been a lot of press.”

When asked if she gets to spend time with the show’s stars such as by being on set during filming in , Gillian says she could be on set, but she would rather not. “For Orphan Black my work is mostly post‐production. I actually don’t want to be on set. My goal is to be as objective as I can about the footage. If you see what’s going on behind‐the‐scenes, you bring what you saw on set to your attention when editing. I don’t want to cloud my objectivity.”

Gillian credits her parents for her love of film, as they often took her and her sister to the movies when they were young. Despite her love of movies, her foray into film was not typical. When she was still in high school at A.Y Jackson Secondary School in North York, she found out her cousin’s friend was attending York University to study Film, which surprised Gillian. “I didn’t even know that studying film was an option at the time. I thought why not go to York to study film? If it doesn’t work out I could always go to Law school”.

After finished her film studies at York, she went on to write, produce and direct a short film called The Absence of Emily. She credits her short film with opening up doors in the industry, where she went on to work as an assistant editor for the hit TV show Degrassi: The Next Generation as well as Instant Star. Between seasons of Degrassi she was able to hone her editing skills for some made‐for‐TV movies where she was able to transition from assistant editor to editor.

Unlike many Canadians who are eager to move to the lucrative film industry south of the border, Gillian isn’t too concerned. She says she just wants to be recognized so she is given the opportunity to work on projects she enjoys. When asked if she would like to transition from television to film, she doesn’t see a reason to choose one over the other, since television has evolved over the last decade to attract top talent and larger budgets. “It feels like we’re living in the Golden Age of television” she said.

Gillian is currently finishing up editing work on season 2 of Orphan Black since filming wrapped up in February; she is also editing the popular television series Bitten. For her next project she is dipping back into the world of film with a new movie titled The Christmas Horror Story.

Orphan Black airs on the Space channel in Canada and BBC America in the United States. Season two premieres on April 19 2014.