Susan Vermazen, Producer and Editor at the Boston Globe

Written by Lucie Florio in Sculpture 1

From the moment I started my phone conversation with Susan Vermazen, a great aura of whit, laughter, and knowledge echoed from the other side of the phone hundreds of miles away in Boston.  Susan Vermazen studied Government and Political Science at Boston University and then received a Masters in Fine Arts of Filmmaking at UCSF.

LF: Susan, what was your experience as a student like? What did you enjoy most?

SV: I never liked the part of school where you had to sit in a classroom. The country was in upheaval. The Vietnam war, assassinations of political leaders on the left, abuse of power, Watergate, plus my HS background in civil rights made me want to change the world. I worked on the BU News, demonstrated against the war, worked on political campaigns, volunteered at Head Start.

LF: What made you want to work with the news and how did you get to where you are today? Would you change anything?

SV: I started out by working for Terrence Malick on “Days of Heaven.” Then I worked for Rolling Stone Magazine in San Francisco and moved with them to New York City. I worked with Annie Leibovitz on her shoots. Then I worked for George Romero on “Dawn of the Dead” and “Knightriders.” Then to New York Magazine where I started out as a photo assistant and ended up as Director of Photography for the whole magazine group. At NYMag I recruited the best photographers in the business. I produced covers and features using a new and different approach to assigning (like a casting director) that won us prestigious awards at the biggest photo contests in the world. I produced the books and curated the exhibitions for James Nachtwey’s “Deeds of War,” “War Torn,” a collection of images of victims and witnesses of war (an original concept), Douglas Kirklands “Starlight,” 30 years of photographing Hollywood and the National Geographic’s Sam Abell’s “Stay This Moment.” I was a photo editor on “Day in the life of America,” Spain, China and Italy. While at NYM Premiere Magazine was launched and I was asked to be consulting picture editor. I had a very different vision than the art director. The editor of Premiere agreed with my ideas and I put Terry O’Neill on contract. The art director wanted the cover image to be the actor in character, full body almost a cartoon of the concept of the film. I wanted an insightful portrait of the actor. My reputation as an innovative thinker led me to be recruited by The Boston Globe.

I was intrigued with the vitality and work that Susan had worked in for so many years and yearned to learn more.

LF: What do you do in your job and why do you enjoy it so much? Do you think that your job reflects the kind of person you are?

SV: I retired from The Boston Globe 12/30/2011 as a multimedia producer and editor. I was there for 11 years. I produced videos, photo galleries, special issues and books. I would start the day off with meetings about content and then produce it. That means reading the stories (if they were written), deciding how it should look and working with the photographer or videographer to get the right images. Then the work has to be edited either for an online photo gallery, the newspaper, or a video. The last year I was working twelve hour days, sometimes more, just to get everything done and at the level of excellence that I needed to be proud of it. I was also producing the book on Fenway Park being 100 years old – I did the research, the edit and decided how each page would look. As a visual person, I love producing a story that I am passionate about. I can tell the story with images, which is what I love to do. In the print Globe, words dominate. But online, images do.

LF: What skills are essential in your job and how did you acquire them?

SV: First and foremost is having a good eye. I don’t believe this can be taught. You either have one or you don’t. The second is the ability to grasp the essence a story, whether you have the manuscript or not, and figure out how best to present it. You need to be a visionary. You have to be able to organize big projects and be knowledgeable of all the details.

LF: What is the most challenging thing about your job? How do you deal with it from day to day?

SV: Newspapers are insular organisms. If everyone does what they are supposed to, then my biggest challenge is to make it sing for our readers and viewers. If an editor forgets to involve the photo or video department we are forced to scramble at the last minute. Sometimes editors are careless about the correct information in an assignment (who what where why and when) and the photographer misses the most important thing

LF: It is a tough world for artists to be successful, how do you suggest they get started and what advice would you give them? In addition, what advice would you give someone interested in perusing your position and passion?

SV: Be independent. Write a letter to the top person saying who you are, what you’ve done so far and what you think you could bring to the company. Read the publications you are interested in. See the movies of the director you want to work for. Be knowledgeable of their work. Discuss their work and say how you would like to contribute. You must have passion. You must know in your heart that this is what you want to do no matter how hard the struggle to achieve success.

Susan Vermazen was an extremely innovative and passionate worker who set her goals extremely high. She excelled at everything she set her mind to and shows those interested in politics, international relations, newspapers, and art that there is an ideal job waiting for them after graduation.