Sylvania grad works on TV series

8/12/2003

If you're watching the new Fox drama The O.C., you're also seeing the work of a 1995 graduate of Sylvania Southview who is an assistant editor on the series.

Jeff Granzow, 26, son of Kathi and Dennis Granzow of Maumee, explains that, “We're basically responsible for all the technical and organizational mumbo jumbo that goes on in the cutting room. We input all the footage, music, sound effects, etc., output rough cuts for the higher-ups to view, and make sure everything is running smoothly. And play darts.”

He responded to questions via e-mail because of illness that also forced him to miss a premiere party with the cast on Aug. 5. The first episode was rerun last Thursday at 9 p.m. and again last night at 8 p.m.

Granzow says the show will be broadcast on Tuesday nights until the World Series starts. Afterward, its regular night will be Thursdays. Set in posh Orange County, Calif., The O.C. is about a troubled teenager who is taken in by a public defender, and the changes that are set off by the young man's presence.

Granzow says he was thrilled to be working on a teen drama. “I'm definitely a fan of the genre,” he writes. “I had a great time working on The O.C. pilot, but I must say that as we started plugging away at the series, the episodes have just gotten better and better. They have this perfect mix of charm and humor and cheese that totally fits the bill for me.”

Granzow got the job through his association with Norman Buckley, with whom he worked on Fastlane. Buckley is one of two O.C. film editors.

After high school, Granzow went on to Northwestern, graduating in 1999. He worked at production companies in Chicago for a few months, then returned to Toledo where he took a job at Owens Corning with his father. He saved enough money to move to Los Angeles, and after a few months there landed an assistant editing job on MTV's 2Gether.

That opened the door to the editors union, “and I just kind of went on from there, slowly but surely,” he explains.

For his parents, the best part of The O.C. might have come as the premiere ended.

“On his other shows he didn't get his name in the credits,” Dennis Granzow says. “This is the first.”