Today we’d like to introduce you to Donald Money.
Hi Donald, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Mansfield Ohio, which happens to be where they shot “Shawshank Redemption” when I was a kid (I was 13 at the time), and I just thought it was so cool that a movie was being filmed in my hometown. It was my first experience seeing something in my own life that I’d literally only seen on TV and movie screens.
Cut to me almost 10 years later, in college at The University of Toledo, and there was an open call being held for a local modeling and talent agency called “Margaret O’Brien’s Starbound” (now just call “Starbound”), and although I hadn’t ever done any modeling or acting before, because I loved film & television, I went. I met the owner Wendi Davis, and she took me in and I started taking classes and doing little local jobs around town. She was very good at spotting talent and passion and drive, and then helping people get out of Ohio and to NYC or LA or Chicago or Miami etc. After a few months of classes, I went to a larger talent showcase in LA called “IMTA”. There I met Joan See (who sadly is no longer with us) and she offered for me to come to NYC and train at her acting school which as the time was called “The School for Film & Television” (later becoming “The New York Conservatory of the Dramatic Arts”). After finishing their two year conservatory program, I started auditioning, doing smaller stuff first, then larger stuff. As ‘good’ as that was going (I had gotten to work on “I Am Legend”, “One Life to Live”, “All My Children” & “Cashmere Mafia” amongst other things), I never got to the place where I was booking enough consistent work where it was really a viable career option.
Everything happens for a reason though, and because I choose acting first, I ended up doing a play off off Broadway where I met my wife, Emme Rylan (she was on “Guiding Light” at the time), and now we have 3 beautiful children. Once we started having kids (after we moved from NYC to LA), the ‘auditioning actor’ lifestyle no longer worked for me, so I decided to switch gears. I have a degree in computers from college, and I had already been messing around with editing softwares while cutting my own demo reels, and reels for friends, so I thought editing was something I could see myself doing. After spending just over a year in an editing program in Burbank CA I hit the ground running, but this time behind the camera. And thankfully, because my wife and I had already been in the business, I was able to reach out to people to let them know the change I’d made, and thankfully I was able to start getting editing work from people. Again, smaller at first (reels, shorts, trailers etc) and then larger stuff as I would get recommended to other people by people I had just worked with. Word of mouth turned out to be very crucial to my success.
Initially, I would edit anything I could get my hands on, no matter the size of the production, or the budget or rate etc, and one thing I figured out right away, is instinctively, I was a very good storyteller. It turns out, even though I started out as an actor, it wasn’t the acting that I loved necessarily, it was telling a story I loved and connected with. And because I had trained and worked as an actor for over a decade, that storytelling experience is something I had that I was able to bring straight into my editing work. Storytelling is not something you can really learn in an editing school or class well. You can learn the technical elements (the softwares and computer stuff, which buttons to push etc) but that doesn’t mean you know ‘how’ to tell a story. You learn that by doing it, and thankfully I was able to work my way up the editing ladder fairly quickly having already been telling stories for over 10 years. I was just doing it in a different way now.
After living in LA for over 15 years, we decided that it was time for a change. My wife was between shows, and we had gone through the pandemic, and then multiple industry strikes, all while the cost of living (which was already high to begin with) was just getting higher in LA for a family of five. We knew people here in Saint Louis and had visited before and really liked the city, so we thought we’d give it a try. We weren’t sure if we could live outside of NYC or LA and still work in our field, but we wouldn’t know until we did it. And thankfully, it has been possible to still work in the entertainment industry while not being in one of the tentpole cities. Ever since the pandemic, a lot of editing work has stayed remote, and in the 2 1/2 years or so we’ve been in STL, I’ve done 10 films I think, mostly from my pre-existing clients in LA or NYC. But Missouri also has a really great tax incentive for film & television, so I’ve also gotten to cut a couple films that were shot here as well, so that has been amazing.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t know that there is ever a “smooth’ road when it comes to the entertainment industry. At least not that I’m aware of. Acting is a rat race that ultimately I was not cut out for. So much of it was about timing and also about things that were outside of my own control. Many times I wouldn’t get the job, but it had nothing to do with my skills or abilities or talents, it was about something else entirely. But as an actor, most times all you get is the ‘no’ but not the ‘why’. And as a human being, I couldn’t help but think that I didn’t get the gig because of something I did or didn’t do. “I wasn’t good enough or talented enough. The way I looked was the problem. The way my voice sounded was bad,” these were all the things that would go through my mind. All those insecurities are really difficult to manage in that chosen line of work. Plus, when you are auditioning as an actor, you literally go through 100 auditions sometimes before you get a job – sometimes more even, or less too in a few instances – but regardless, you have way more auditions than you do booked jobs. And you never know if, when or where your next acting job is coming from. And even then, when you do get a job, there is no security in it that it’s going to last very long, or if it will lead to anything else etc. All of that is a very harsh reality to come to terms with and push through.
When I switched to being an editor, at first it was tricky because when I talked to people who knew me one way, getting them to know me in a different way wasn’t always easy, and even was confusing to some. I had quite a bit of experience in the industry on my resume, but for editing, it wasn’t the ‘right’ experience, so that didn’t immediately translate necessarily. I got a lot of “Wait, I thought you were an actor. You’re an editor now?” etc.
Editing is not completely void of some of the same struggles I encountered as an actor though. There have been times where I’ve been up for a gig, and through no fault of my own, it went to someone else, but it happens way less now. And when it does happen, I don’t even think about it and I move on to the next thing. There are also many times where I have to turn editing gigs down because I’m too busy, and that is something that never happened when I was an actor.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Editing is like the final rewrite of a script, and I love that. Film and television is very collaborative, but being the final ‘stop’ along the storytelling journey is something that I really enjoy. It’s like putting the pieces of a puzzle together (which I loved doing as a kid), but without having the picture on the box to tell you what it has to look like. And with pieces that can fit together in multiple different ways. It’s not about doing in any specific way, it’s about doing it the best way it can be done, whatever that ends up looking like.
I also take pride in my craft, and my ability to tell all different types of stories. I’ve worked within many different genres. I’m a horror guy at heart, but I’ve also gotten to cut action films, love stories, Christmas movies, romantic comedies, heartfelt dramas and pretty much everything in between. I’ve done small independent films, TV movies, sitcoms, hour long episodics & studio films. I’ve had projects in film festivals all over the world, on every major TV network & streamer, and in theaters. I love that I don’t just do one type of thing. Versatility keeps me creatively engaged and energized, which is also something I love about my career.
Again, the fact that I started out as an actor, I got all that storytelling experience. Bringing that to the table when I edit I think is very valuable and sets me apart somewhat. I really know ‘how’ to tell a story. In a weird way, I’m actually still ‘acting’, I’m just doing it ‘through’ my actors on my shows. I’m going through all the footage and doing for them what I would’ve wanted my editors to do for me when I used to be in front of the camera.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I got the pleasure of editing “The Mortuary Assistant” which comes out in theaters February 13th (and then streaming on SHUDDER on March 27th), and it was shot here in MO. The director, Jeremiah Kipp, was someone I’d known ever since I was an actor in NYC, so getting to work with him in a different fashion 20 years later was really amazing. The movie is also based on the horror video game, which my teenagers play, so that’s been super fun too. The director of photography was also a friend of mine, Kevin Duggin, who lives here as well. He and I have done many movies together over the years in LA, so working with him again was amazing. The film is also sound designed & scored by my buddy Jeffery Alan Jones, who I also know from LA, so getting to blend my old world into my new world on this project is something I will cherish forever I think. I also got to meet Clark Griffiths on this project. He’s the colorist at Bruton Stroube here in STL and he colored the film beautifully for us and it was so awesome to find yet another talented and legit entertainment industry professional living here in STL. The film was also produced by someone local, Cole Payne, so getting to meet him through the process was fantastic as well. My film family grew larger having worked on this project, and that was not something I was necessarily expecting when we moved from CA to MO.
I am also working on a film called “Jacob Beats Up Nate”, a dramedy which also shot here in STL. The writer/director is a friend of mine from LA, J Lee, and he grew up here and graduated from Vianney, so helping him make a ‘Saint Louis” movie has been a blast. The film stars Lamorne Morris & Justin Long and will be out hopefully late 2026/early 2027. My wife also is in it, so that’s fun. She plays Justin Long’s wife in the movie and cutting their scenes together was a blast for me.
Since moving to STL, I’ve also cut two films for Lifetime – “Terry McMillan Presents: Forever” & “Terry McMillan Presents: His, Hers & Ours” – both starring Taye Diggs and both written by Bart Baker. Bart is here in STL as well and I’ve loved getting to know him too since I’ve been here. He’s another wildly talented entertainment industry professional living here locally and is just another example of me getting to blend my old life with my new life.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.moneyedits.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dmoney596/
