Peter Wiedensmith

Peter fell in love with filmmaking in second grade when his teacher brought in a super 8 camera, gave the students some clay, and let them make stop motion films. It was the greatest introduction to the creative process imaginable.

A few years later, the original Star Wars showed him what a truly magical film moment could be, when Luke decides to follow his instinct instead of the computer’s advice in the movie’s climactic moment.

After studying filmmaking in school and on set, training to become a DP or a director, he learned that the editing room is actually where incredible moments are built in films. When story, character, music and voice come together well, and our dreams come to life, he says it reminds him every day why editing is the greatest art form there is.

He has been trusted to craft dreams for many decades now. For 27 years he edited at Wieden and Kennedy, where Dan Wieden and David Kennedy taught him what it meant to pursue great work. Collaborating with many of the world’s top creatives, producers and directors, his work has won three Emmys for Outstanding Commercial, two Grand Prix and dozens of Lions at Cannes, Best of Show at AICP, etc., but the real honor, he says, is to be trusted with the work. The real joy is when people say they remember the feeling they had when they saw the climactic moment unfold on screen.

He is married to his college sweetheart, and they have three grown children. They live on acreage in Oregon and love to explore cultures through travel.