Norman Buckley
Encyclopedia
Norman L. Buckley is an American television director
and editor
best known for his work on The O.C.
, Chuck
, Gossip Girl
and Pretty Little Liars
.
, Maine
to parents Betty Bob (née
Diltz), a dancer and journalist, and Ernest Buckley, a lieutenant colonel
in the U.S. Air Force and later a college professor and dean of engineering. Buckley grew up in Fort Worth, Texas
, studied history at the University of Texas at Arlington
before moving to California where he would later graduate from the University of Southern California
. In spite of initial disapproval from his father, who wanted him to become a civil engineer like himself and Buckley's two brothers, Norman Buckley attended the film school
at the University of Southern California. He intended to become a writer, but was encouraged to take up a craft, in addition to writing, and he soon discovered he had a natural aptitude for film editing
.
, which featured his sister, actress Betty Buckley
, who helped him land the job after hearing that the film's editor was seeking a local assistant while on location in Waxahachie, Texas. The editor was pleased with Buckley's work and took him to New York
to begin his career. Since then, he has worked on many films, television series and made-for-TV movie
s as an editor. He landed his most notable job on The O.C.
—as both an editor and director—having previously worked with Stephanie Savage
and McG
on the television series Fastlane
. His co-editor on the series, Matt Ramsey, had previously been Buckley's editing assistant but was promoted to co-editor when Josh Schwartz
initially offered Buckley the job on The O.C.. Following The O.C.' s conclusion, Buckley followed Schwartz to direct and edit his next projects, Gossip Girl
and Chuck
.
Aside from editing, he has ventured in producing only once in 1999 on the film Happy, Texas
but more notably has directed a number of episodes on the following television series: The O.C., Gossip Girl, Chuck,Greek
, the new Melrose Place, the new 90210, Privileged, The Middleman, Make It or Break It, Pretty Little Liars, and the Josh Schwartz webseries Rockville, CA.
His only acting credit is a minor role in Solomon & Sheba, a part he only landed because was editing another project in Morocco
, and the producers shooting Solomon & Sheba did not want to fly in other English-speaking actors to play minor parts. He agreed to do it only as a lark.
Buckley has been nominated twice for an American Cinema Editors
award: in 2003, for Joe and Max, for Best Edited Motion Picture for Non-Commercial Television; and in 2008, for the pilot for Chuck, for Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television. He won the latter award at the ACE banquet on February 17, 2008.
He has been an assistant visiting professor in the film school at the University of California, Los Angeles
.
-winning actress Betty Buckley
, and two brothers, Patrick and Michael. His two brothers became engineers, a profession his father thought more worthy than any job in the film industry, although Buckley has stated: "Fortunately, my father expressed his pride in my accomplishments before he died." In September 2008, Buckley married his spouse Davyd Whaley during a brief window of legal opportunity in the state of California. So far the marriage is still legal.
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
and editor
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
best known for his work on The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
, Chuck
Chuck (TV series)
Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...
, Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl (TV series)
Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...
and Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars (TV series)
Pretty Little Liars is an American mystery-thriller teen drama television series created by Marlene King. Based on the popular series of novels written by Sara Shepard, the show premiered on June 8, 2010 on ABC Family...
.
Early life
Buckley was born in LimestoneLimestone, Maine
Limestone is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,314 at the 2010 census. The town is best known for being the home of the Loring Commerce Center...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
to parents Betty Bob (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Diltz), a dancer and journalist, and Ernest Buckley, a lieutenant colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
in the U.S. Air Force and later a college professor and dean of engineering. Buckley grew up in Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, studied history at the University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington is a public research university located in Arlington, Texas, United States. The campus is situated southwest of downtown Arlington, and is located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. The university was founded in 1895 and served primarily a military...
before moving to California where he would later graduate from the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. In spite of initial disapproval from his father, who wanted him to become a civil engineer like himself and Buckley's two brothers, Norman Buckley attended the film school
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
at the University of Southern California. He intended to become a writer, but was encouraged to take up a craft, in addition to writing, and he soon discovered he had a natural aptitude for film editing
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
.
Career
Buckley's first job as an assistant editor was on the 1983 film Tender MerciesTender Mercies
Tender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer who seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas...
, which featured his sister, actress Betty Buckley
Betty Buckley
Betty Lynn Buckley is an American theater, film and television actress and singer. She is a Tony Award winner and Grammy Award nominee.-Early life:...
, who helped him land the job after hearing that the film's editor was seeking a local assistant while on location in Waxahachie, Texas. The editor was pleased with Buckley's work and took him to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to begin his career. Since then, he has worked on many films, television series and made-for-TV movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
s as an editor. He landed his most notable job on The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
—as both an editor and director—having previously worked with Stephanie Savage
Stephanie Savage
Stephanie Savage is a Canadian screenwriter and television producer. Savage is best known for developing The CW's teen drama series, Gossip Girl from the novel series, and being an executive producer of the Fox series The O.C....
and McG
McG
Joseph McGinty Nichol , better known as McG, is an American director and producer of film and television, as well as a former record producer....
on the television series Fastlane
Fastlane (TV series)
Fastlane is an American action/crime drama series that was broadcast on Fox from 2002 to 2003. On August 14, 2005 G4 began rebroadcasting the complete series. After finishing its initial run on the network, Fastlane stopped airing on G4...
. His co-editor on the series, Matt Ramsey, had previously been Buckley's editing assistant but was promoted to co-editor when Josh Schwartz
Josh Schwartz
-Film school at USC:In 1995, Schwartz realized his boyhood dream of attending film school to study screen and television writing at the University of Southern California...
initially offered Buckley the job on The O.C.. Following The O.C.
Gossip Girl (TV series)
Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...
and Chuck
Chuck (TV series)
Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...
.
Aside from editing, he has ventured in producing only once in 1999 on the film Happy, Texas
Happy, Texas (film)
Happy, Texas is a comedy film released in 1999 directed by Mark Illsley, and starring Steve Zahn, Jeremy Northam and William H. Macy.- Plot :...
but more notably has directed a number of episodes on the following television series: The O.C., Gossip Girl, Chuck,Greek
Greek (TV series)
Greek is an American comedy-drama television series, which follows students of the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University , located in Ohio, who participate in the school's Greek system...
, the new Melrose Place, the new 90210, Privileged, The Middleman, Make It or Break It, Pretty Little Liars, and the Josh Schwartz webseries Rockville, CA.
His only acting credit is a minor role in Solomon & Sheba, a part he only landed because was editing another project in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, and the producers shooting Solomon & Sheba did not want to fly in other English-speaking actors to play minor parts. He agreed to do it only as a lark.
Buckley has been nominated twice for an American Cinema Editors
American Cinema Editors
Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
award: in 2003, for Joe and Max, for Best Edited Motion Picture for Non-Commercial Television; and in 2008, for the pilot for Chuck, for Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television. He won the latter award at the ACE banquet on February 17, 2008.
He has been an assistant visiting professor in the film school at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
.
Personal life
Buckley has a sister, Tony AwardTony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-winning actress Betty Buckley
Betty Buckley
Betty Lynn Buckley is an American theater, film and television actress and singer. She is a Tony Award winner and Grammy Award nominee.-Early life:...
, and two brothers, Patrick and Michael. His two brothers became engineers, a profession his father thought more worthy than any job in the film industry, although Buckley has stated: "Fortunately, my father expressed his pride in my accomplishments before he died." In September 2008, Buckley married his spouse Davyd Whaley during a brief window of legal opportunity in the state of California. So far the marriage is still legal.