Every so often, we’ll be spotlighting alumni and what they are up to these days. These Q&A sessions will give you a bit of insight into where the world has taken them since graduation.

This week, the spotlight is on Veronica Zabrocki (MFA/Film Production ’11) who has made a career out of dialogue editing.

DODGE: Share your career path with us – how did you get where you are now?

VERONICA: Career Path: Dialogue Editor. I was able to get on a show as a dialogue editor through the Chapman network. My professor Michael Kowalski (who has been great) introduced me to another Chapman alumni who I would have never met without him. This Chapman alumna named Penny had been working in sound and we became friends. A few years later she went out of her way to have me dialogue edit one of her shows for her.

DODGE: Did you face any challenges in your transition from being a student at Dodge to entering the professional world?

VERONICA: Dodge has such a strong alumni network that after a few months out of school I was working. I had entered Dodge as a graduate student having worked a few years in the industry before going to back to school. After I was done with Dodge, I had friends who had already graduated who helped me land some freelance work.

DODGE: What have you taken from the classroom and applied to your career?

VERONICA: The training I got at Dodge, having learned not only about sound but every aspect of filmmaking, and the mentoring that I was lucky enough to have from Michael Kowalski and Dan Pavelin, really stays with me.  I feel that having learned about the entire process of filmmaking makes me a better sound editor; I can see the challenges of production and post production. The mentoring inspires me also to want to pass on my knowledge to the next generation through teaching.

DODGE: What skills do you believe have been essential to your profession?

VERONICA: On the technical side, an extreme attention to detail, technical skills, and being computer savvy. Many people think that editors don’t need social skills but that’s untrue; having a good network is invaluable.

DODGE: What is the best advice you have received and/or what advice would you give current students?

VERONICA: Work really hard—like really really hard—and just keep doing that.

Thanks so much for sharing, Veronica!