Big Picture, Little Details: How Catie Cacci Pieces Together the Full Story
Catie Cacci is calm and considered. When discussing the fruits of her labour, she radiates quiet confidence and contentment, fulfilled by the creative pursuits of her last two decades as an editor. Having worked with every creative brief imaginable - long form, short form, feature films, commercials, documentaries - the TBD Post teammate is well versed in the varying demands of the industry, and has every reason to feel accomplished.
Starting out in programming, it didn’t take Catie long to realise the path she was treading didn’t promise as many opportunities to be creative as she had hoped for. Having always wanted to work with technology - albeit preferably with a creative edge - she became interested in the role of storytelling.
Pursuing this interest led her to discover editing, a historically female role within the film business. “I started learning about female editors and how editing was originally a female job,” she tells LBB. “They were considered the sewers of film, physically cutting and sewing the picture together. Once it was realised how enjoyable the editing process is, it became a more male dominated field.”
This origin story piqued Catie’s interest in editing, and she contemplated a career spent carefully piercing together the plot points of a story. Looking back at this time, she remembers feeling it “in her bones”, deciding to venture down this new creative path, keen to explore what the craft had to offer.
Initially interning for production companies in Austin, Catie went on to make her mark in the industry as a freelance editor. During this time she tried a variety of creative briefs on for size, working closely with directors of documentaries, narrative features, TV series and commercials.
Catie’s work in the commercial field saw her editing major campaigns for big brands like EA Sports, Whataburger and Bacardi. The very specific editing requirements of an advertisement varies greatly from other creative formats. Weaving the narrative together for short 30’, 60’ and 90’ spots calls for discipline, an understanding of timing and a keen eye for emotive visuals. Engaging with an audience through TVCs and branded content is an entirely different beast, and Catie gained invaluable experience editing for adland which helped finetune her storytelling abilities.
She was snapped up by TBD Post in 2014 and it was here, at the Austin-based posthouse, that Catie would go on to accomplish the most fulfilling work of her career so far.
The time spent freelancing ingrained a number of hard-earned skills and values onto Catie, namely, a great appreciation and respect for the symbiotic relationship between director and editor. Based almost entirely on trust, the bond between the two storytellers is crucial, and Catie knows this. Recognising the value of the director/editor connection, she strives to build up trust from the very beginning of the process, in order for both parties to feel confident in following their vision freely. “It’s important to meet up beforehand to chat and see if we vibe,” she explains. “Those initial conversations tend to focus on the director’s emotional intention.”
It is during these early stages that the significance of breaking down barriers and getting off on a good foot is paramount. “I’ve worked on a lot of films where the directors want to inspire some type of change, whether it’s about educating the audience or advocating for some kind of social justice, the end goal is to make viewers feel driven to make some kind of change in their lives or take action..” For Catie, the responsibility that is imparted upon her, as editor, is the most exciting aspect of the work. Embracing the challenge, she looks forward to the moment that creative responsibility is transferred from director to editor, so she can begin planning how to effectively assemble the story and reach their goal.
Supporting a creative idea by steering the direction of the storytelling is a task Catie likes to carry out alone, at first. “I love to have time on my own so I can really make a mess and get chaotic, before I bring it all together. This way, by the time I call the director back in, I have something a little more polished because I’ve already gone through the messiness of trying different things out. When we get back together, they could suggest something I hadn't thought of, and I love that aspect of the collaboration, where we're both discovering things at the same time – that’s when the work can turn into something pretty special.”
Catie has certainly turned around some “pretty special” work during her almost decade-long tenure at TBD Post. Drawn to social justice projects - 7 Years and Counting: The Unjust Imprisonment of Marvin Guy, a true crime documentary; The Last Ecstatic Days, a feature length doc about conscious dying; and Rubber Bullets, a powerful short film produced by Wunderman Thompson for the Free Streets Now campaign - she enjoys working in tandem with directors, piecing together the narrative arc of a story.
Despite her composed nature, an undeniable curiosity becomes apparent whenever Catie talks about her documentary work, an obvious fondness for the genre punctuating each anecdote. When collaborating with the directors of the 7 Years and Counting documentary, Catie was tasked with portraying the shocking details of a botched police raid that resulted in the wrongful imprisonment of Bell County resident, Marvin Guy. The film, shot in rural Texas, unearths a series of seemingly racially motivated discrepancies, depicting the brutal force used during the clumsy “no-knock raid” which resulted in a police officer’s death and Marvin’s arrest.
“The director and DP wanted the audience to feel for Marvin,” Catie explains. “When I was cutting, I was using that emotional part of their direction. They wanted to communicate that the raid took place in the dead of night, they wanted viewers to feel that sense of everybody being asleep, in a peaceful state, to hammer home the abruptness of the disruption. So for the opening scene of the film, I played with the contrast of the darkness - it’s quiet and still - to build the emotional shock of what came next, and this really helped me craft the beginning of the story.”
Immersing herself in the work, each project appears to have had a profound impact on Catie, in some shape or form. When asked about her work on The Last Ecstatic Days, a 2023 documentary about conscious dying, she reveals how the project effectively changed her entire outlook on life and death. “The subject of [The Last Ecstatic Days] was so interesting and I knew I definitely wanted to be a part of it. I feel really lucky to have gotten to work on it because it made me look at death differently. Death has always been this thing we're all trying to avoid by trying to look younger and live longer, but this film made me look at things from a whole new perspective.”
Brought in to “polish and make it strong”, the editing process was an eye opening experience for Catie, who is proud of the powerful impact that The Last Ecstatic Days has had on audiences. Given the sensitive subject matter, work of this nature requires careful consideration, with special attention paid to the little narrative details that pack a big emotional punch. “I always watch the footage alone at least once, to fully immerse myself in it. Then once I get my selects, I start to map out what I want you to hear. I might try to find music that gets me in the right emotional state, but to do this I have to close myself off from any distractions so I can identify what I’m feeling and my true reaction to the footage.”
The same attention to detail is paid to the storytelling of Catie’s commercial projects too. The editor’s inherent curiosity helps push the envelope of each story she is brought in to edit. This can be seen in the short film, Tootsie, which was part of a series of branded content for YETI about the stories of badass people from all walks of life. Tootsie tells the awe-inspiring tale of an 80 year old female pitmaster from Catie’s native Texas.
“Here was this very senior woman who was just totally kicking ass,” she says, a smile unfolding, “And YETI wanted to tell the unique story of her history of barbecuing, which is such a Texas staple, so it was really special to be able to tell such an extraordinary story.” The five minute film gives a glimpse into a day in the life of Tootsie, interspersed with talking heads from the local community who are praising the pitmaster for her toughness, grit and irrefutable selflessness. “With this type of storytelling, I try to keep authenticity throughout. If footage stands out, or a visual is super moving, I will flag it. If, as I keep watching, it's still just as powerful then I know that it has got to stay in there,” explains the editor. “Even if the director is unsure about it, I’m always prepared to defend my creative decisions and explain why certain things make the story stronger. I try to create this thread, weaving it throughout the film, and if there are moments which strengthen that thread, I really try to hold on to those things.”
This unwavering dedication to telling a story authentically is what makes Catie Cacci the highly sought after editor that she is today. Having been permitted the space to spread her wings at the ever-evolving posthouse, TBD Post is the perfect place for the editor to piece together compelling content which can be enjoyed by the masses.
