Film editor Thom Zimny first met Bruce Springsteen when he worked on Live in New York City, a half-hour HBO documentary (and later a DVD) that garnered Zimny an Emmy for his editing work. That was nine years ago. In Live in New York City’s wake, Zimny went on to win a Grammy for his work on Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run, and now holds down a gig as Springsteen’s personal archivist. He’ll be at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum this weekend as part of Springsteen FanFest, a festival of sorts that ties in with the Springsteeen exhibit currently on display. “It was a great opportunity for me,” Zimny says of that first experience working for the Boss of all bosses. “I got to be part of a team. Bruce has people who have been working for him for a long time. For me, it was a special time because I realized quickly that Bruce’s main focus was the music. For an editor, that was a great treat. We had a lot of different cameras and a lot of different angles, but the important thing was being invisible and telling the story without interrupting the music. That’s been the theme throughout. We stay focused on the storytelling and the music.”
This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2009.
