CR 079: Michael P. Shawver on ‘Sinners,’ ‘Black Panther,’ and the Director-Editor Relationship

The Oscar-nominated editor of “Sinners” discusses his work with director Ryan Coogler.

Michael P. Shawver, photo by Louiza Vick

When Michael P. Shawver was a student at USC, he met a fellow student whose films were unlike anything being made at the college level. “Most student films are about death or breakups, because that’s the only conflict that people know at that point in their lives,” Shawver says. “But Ryan was making stuff about society, class, family—situations that were very unique and very specific. I recognized that this person is better than me at what I want to do. I wanted to help him, so I went up to him and said, ‘I don’t know how, but I’d love to work with you.’ Everything in my gut just said, ‘Work with this guy. It’s going to be a great situation.’”

The Ryan he’s speaking of is Ryan Coogler, who hired Shawver to work on his student film Fig. “It was actually a production design job that I did,” Shawver says. “I saw him at 10 o’clock one night after class, and he said, ‘You know how to production design, right?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah. Totally.’ [Laughs]…