Not too shabby: Highland Park High School alum’s first film debuts at Sundance

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Updated: January 24, 2012 10:05AM

Ten years after graduating from Highland Park High School, film and TV editor Bradley Ross can claim the distinction of having his first feature film as editor/co-producer premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

“Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare” debuted as an official selection at Sundance Jan. 20. The documentary follows in the more controversial path of the 2007 Michael Moore documentary “Sicko,” which indicted the American health-care system (comparing it unfavorably to health care in Cuba, among other countries), but differs, according to Ross, in offering solutions to the crisis.

“What really attracted me to this project was that the directors weren’t interested in going on a witch hunt,” said Ross, 28, the day after the “emotional roller coaster” of the Sundance debut, with “500 people laughing, applauding and crying, to be honest.”

“What we wanted to do was demonstrate how the system is broken — how we have a sick-care system instead of a health-care system — and offer alternatives.

Need to solve issue

“The big point is that solutions are available and we need to recognize them as a country, because this is no longer just about the best health care for people. It’s about the economic health of our nation. We spent $2.7 trillion on health care last year. If we don’t do something to address that, we’re entering dangerous territory.”

Ross became involved with “Escape Fire” (directed by Matthew Heineman and multiple-Emmy winner Susan Fromke) after editing a teaser trailer for the project three years ago for fund-raising purposes, and impressing the filmmakers so much that they worked around his schedule to make him editor and co-producer.

Ten months before the debut, Ross began racing against the clock, whittling down 300 hours of raw footage to a 90-minute film in time for the Sundance deadline.

High school roots

Ross’ editing career began during his senior year at Highland Park High School, when he took, almost at random, the “Giants in Action” television production course, where he fell in love with the fine art of editing motion pictures.

“I discovered my proclivity,” he said. “Everything came together for me and I loved it.”

Having found his calling, Ross immediately began making promos for school plays and sporting events. He then started a business editing bar and bat mitzvah and wedding videos.

During his college years, he studied journalism and business at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, not filmmaking, planning instead to find real-world experience as an editor. Ultimately, he worked for two years in Madison as post-production manager at a boutique advertising agency. Soon after graduation, he moved to New York City and found work with a variety of ad agencies and production companies, editing both short-form (commercials, promos, trailers, etc.) and long-form (TV episodes and, now, feature films) video.

“I’ve always wanted to have a wide range of skills,” he said. “A lot of people focus on either long form or short form, but I want to do it all.”

In addition to having his first film debut as an official selection at Sundance, he has edited episodes of MTV’s “True Life” and award-winning ad campaigns — with a Cine Golden Eagle award winner and a Cannes Lions finalist under his belt.

All that is nice, but Ross said the real reason he does what he does is “I like telling emotional stories that move people. Especially when there’s the opportunity to tell a story in such a powerful way that it could really effect change.”