For Paul Rogers, whose work on Everything Everywhere All at Once won him the Oscar in film editing on Sunday, the night was particularly special because he spent it with dozens of people who helped make the A24 hit.
“Everyone who was nominated [from Everything Everywhere] used their additional tickets to bring crew members. So we had a ton of crew at the Oscars, which is why whenever you would see Everything Everywhere announced, you would just hear this eruption,” Rogers says on the latest episode of the Behind the Screen podcast. “We had, I don’t know, 40, 50 crew members in the audience.”
Following the Governors Ball, the team boarded a party bus for the “surreal” Vanity Fair party, followed by the A24 celebration.
He admits he’s still “pretty starstruck” around best actress recipient Michelle Yeoh and “it’s been really nice to get to know her through this whole process, and she’s so nice and so sweet and so cool.” He adds that when Ke Huy Quan won the supporting actor trophy, “right when they announced his name, the tears started flowing and I was so happy for him.”
In the podcast, Rogers also talks about the importance of creating an industry that supports work-life balance.
“The industry is not conducive to the diversity that we’re trying to achieve,” said Rogers. “I’ve talked to so many people throughout the awards circuit, and I’ve talked to a lot of women in particular who are like, ‘yeah, I loved picture editing. I did it as a career, and then I had my kids, and I just realized that it was impossible.”
Rogers, who took home one of the film’s seven Oscars, called on the industry to figure out better systems for work-life balance.
“Why are we standardizing 10- and 11-hour workdays?” he asked. “It’s not sustainable, it’s not humane. We have to figure out a way to restructure, in my opinion, in a larger sense, just our attitude towards work as a culture.”
Everything Everywhere hails from directing duo Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), whom he said worked to find that balance for the crew.
Said the editor: “They’re very conscientious of how people are feeling, what’s going on with them that day, and [there’s] just kind of a general humanity emanating from the top down. ‘We will listen to you. We’re not gonna prioritize the movie over the person. The person always comes first.’ “
You can listen to the full podcast below.
