TV editor went from Edinburg to Emmy Awards
>>> Festiva's "Hometown Hollywood" tracks down the big names that have emerged from the Rio Grande Valley, as well as the rising stars who are bound to make us proud in the future.
Steven Escobar and the other editors of The Amazing Race sat in the back of the Kodak Theater, far from the stage and the action - where the losers were seated, they thought. Spirits were low.
In their minds they'd already missed out on the Emmy for Outstanding Picture Editing for Reality Programming. But that was before they saw their competitor's seats; they sat across from Escobar and his colleagues, also in the back.
The rest happened very fast.
"The best thing I remember about the experience was walking on stage and looking out into the audience and everything feeling so surreal. It didn't feel like I had won," said Escobar, 39.
They were whisked away as they stepped off the stage and given the Emmy they would each take home before going to the press tent. The paparazzi-like atmosphere there overwhelmed the Edinburg native.
"In your head, you know they don't care about editing," he said. "But you still feel like this is a big thing."
That was in 2007. And even now The University of Texas-Pan American graduate speaks in child-like awe about the experience.
"It was so shiny," he said.
But his Emmy win was about much more than the award's golden sheen - it meant finally being able to explain and show people what can come from a dreamer's mind.
"All these years I had been trying to explain to my mom what I wanted to do. I never knew if they accepted that career I wanted to do," he said. "That night really wrapped it up and put them at ease."
These days, students can go online and at their finger tips they have lists, information and applications to film schools, he said. Escobar wasn't so lucky.
"UCLA or USC, that wasn't something career counselors talked about," Escobar remembers. "People aren't going hand to you that information. You have to search for that."
His biggest encouragements came from his teacher Susan Smith at Edinburg High School and from his professors at UTPA. They pushed him to take internships at local news stations, though he quickly found it wasn't for him.
"I knew I wasn't a good storyteller as far as news goes. I wanted to do something else," he said. "I tried to set my own track."
Escobar found his own path in reality television, where it takes four to eight weeks to finish a single episode, he said.
And an Emmy was just the first act of the editor's story. He most recently did editing work on the premier episode of Bravo's The Fashion Show.
Name: Steven Escobar
Age: 39
Hometown: Edinburg
Official title(s): Freelance Television/Film Editor and Owner/Executive Producer, Escobar Indie Pictures, Ltd (formerly Jesco Film Entertainment)
Where you live now (and how long you've lived there): Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley), since 2000
Year you graduated from UTPA: 1993
Currently editing: The Fashion Show (BRAVO TV), Hitched or Ditched (CW) and Big Brother 11 (CBS) this summer. Also "Pass the Sugar" feature length documentary and developing films and television series through Escobar Indie Pictures, Ltd
His move up: Escobar started off making local commercials in the Valley and worked with a small production company and advertising agency in Weslaco. He was also a camera operator, editor and producer for four years. He later moved to Corpus Christi to work for Abraham Quintanilla at Q Productions, where he produced, directed and edited music videos for their artists (Jennifer Peña and Pete Astudillo). He also worked on the movie Selena, which is how he met and worked with people from Los Angeles.
Long-term goal: producing and editing a scripted drama.
Comes back to the Valley: At least once a year, if work doesn't interfere.
What he misses about the Valley: Good Tex-Mex food, "including Barbacoa on Sunday mornings. The other thing I miss most is having my family close by."
Why he enjoys editing: "...I also loved that you can tell stories through various pictures and sound through editing. I think you have the ability to pace a scene in a way that can make something more dramatic or funny, depending on what your story calls for and by just adding the right music and sound effects, you can make the viewer feel anyway you want."
His first big gig: "When I moved to L.A., I did not have a job. ... I had a friend, who had a friend, who had another friend who was an editor. I was able to get a contact for the show, Blind Date. My experience working in Texas helped me land an interview. After two months, I got hired and have been editing ever since."
On his editing work on UTPA-made film Red Queen: "I wanted to work on the UTPA movie, The Red Queen, because this is the program that helped me develop my skills that I continue to use in my current work," he said. "I wanted to give back by helping current students produce a movie that they could take to future employers in their early career and show that they know how to work as a team as well as individuals."
Giving back: Escobar created an endowed scholarship at UTPA to help students majoring in Radio/Television/Film.
Donations to that fund can be mailed to: UTPA Foundation, Development Office, ITT 1.210, UTPA, 1201 W. University Dr, Edinburg, 78539-2999. Memo field on check: Steven Escobar Endowed Scholarship.
His celeb moment: The technical Emmys are given out a week before the main, televised ceremony. But that didn't stop Escobar and the rest of the editing team from using their statues to get into the swanky Entertainment Tonight after party that took place the week after. "I was walking and Jon Voight saw me with my Emmy and says, ‘congratulations,' and I was just like ‘Jon Voight just congratulated me. He looked right at me and said that.' That really wrapped up those two whole two weeks."
Click the links below to read more Hometown Hollywood profiles.
* NOEL GUERRA Brownsville boy is behind your favorite TV shows
* MIKE ZEPEDA Former Mustang got his big break in 'Prison'
* LAUREL ST. ROMAIN 'Gossip Girl' makes McAllen fashionista the talk of the town
* DR. NOEL OLIVEIRA: Edinburg physician finds 2nd career on primetime television
* JOSH WISE: Mission actor starred in films, TV with Hilary Duff, 'Gossip Girl''s Penn Badgley
* SHELBIE BRUCE: Valley girl in 'Spanglish' is now an L.A. woman
* LINDSAY GRAHAM: Sharyland grad helped cast Oscar-nominated film The Wrestler
* CARLOS MORENO: San Juan actor had roles in Transformers, ER
* ENRIQUE CASTILLO: A South Texan who wrote music in Will Smith's new film, Seven Pounds
* VERONICA LOREN: A McAllen actress and singer who's sweeping 2008's indie awards
* LIZ RAMOS: A McAllen dancer who taught Brad Pitt to tango
* ERIC HAHN: A clown at the Nolana IHOP who did stuntwork in 'Platoon,' 'Delta Force'
* MANDO ALVARADO: San Juan actor shared scene with strippers, Doogie Hauser
* RICK DEL CASTILLO: A Brownsville rocker who found a knack for screenwriting
* RAUL CASTILLO: A McHi grad who has acted and studied with Philip Seymour Hoffman
* TANYA SARACHO: A Valley playwright who is hot in Chicago
* DAVID BARRERA: A San Juan native who was in an NYPD Blue episode everybody saw
* MICHAEL RAY ESCAMILLA: A writer, actor, director and producer from Pharr
* MARISA QUINTANILLA: A McAllen Memorial grad who was in Road House 2
* FAUSTO CUEVAS: A Brownsville drummer who has toured with Britney Spears and Stevie Wonder
* GABRIEL PENA: An Edinburg North grad who does Matrix-style stuntwork
