
By Christine Bunish
Most of us strive to achieve balance in our professional and personal lives, and Ali Greer appears to have succeeded balancing her inside work as an Emmy and HPA Award-winning editor with her outside work as an urban farmer in Los Angeles.
Greer has followed paths in both visual arts and nature throughout her life. She grew up in Minnesota where her father ran an advertising agency and her mother was a photographer and everyone was taking pictures. She graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder where she studied film and skiing and worked as a ski bum for a year before moving to Portland, Oregon. There, she joined an ad agency where she directed and edited commercials, began urban farming then got a chance to work on Portlandia. She served as an assistant editor on the series for a year before becoming its editor for four years and co-directing an episode in its final season.
I've always been interested in all parts of a story, and what was special about Portlandia' was that they kind of allowed me to go wild, says Greer. I could do what I wanted to find the most fun, creative and interesting way to tell the story.
Portlandia brought Greer to Los Angeles where she fell into editing other comedy shows, racking up credits for Dream Corp LLC, Black Monday, Schmigadoon! and HBO Max's Hacks, the latter earning her 2021 Emmy and HPA nominations. Editing comedy is the most fun job you could ever imagine having, she says.
Lately, though, her work has taken a darker turn with Bill Hader's hitman-turned-actor Barry for HBO and a new Amazon limited series debuting in March. Greer won Emmy and HPA Awards last year for cutting the Barry season finale, Starting Now.
The challenge with Barry' is to really focus on the story and sometimes cut out a joke if it's not moving the story forward, she explains. It's been a very cool experience - always interesting to see where to fit in jokes in such a dramatic show.
It's also been a blast working with Hader, whom Greer watched on Saturday Night Live! when she was growing up. Bill writes, directs and produces the show. We do an editor's cut then he comes in and sits with us. We work super closely together - he'll even call on weekends with ideas. It's very fun and collaborative and really a pretty streamlined process.
Greer hopes to keep exploring creative opportunities that grow out of her editing career. She enjoyed being part of the writing process in the writers' room of Dream Corp LLC and directed some reshoots for the upcoming Amazon series. I'm able to understand a lot of different pieces of the puzzle then piece it together in the edit - that keeps things interesting, she says.
Greer edited Portlandia on Final Cut Pro and some movies and shows in Adobe Premiere but now works primarily on Avid and After Effects. Technology is always progressing and changing, so the important thing is not to be afraid of it and fight it but to keep your tools sharp. Figure out the new software updates early in the season so you know their quirks and how to work around them.
Greer values HPA's role in cultivating community and recognizing creative work. I was honored to win the Outstanding Editing award for Barry' and really appreciate that acknowledgement of my work, she says. I'm pretty community focused and think the HPA is a great way to bring everyone in this business together.
Community plays a big part in Greer's work outside the edit suite. She and her husband, Eric Tomassini, run Avenue 33 Farm in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of LA, an example of what a production farm looks like in the city.
I've been urban farming since college, so I've been interested in growing food for 15 years now, Greer says. It's an amazing way to learn about the food system and climate and eat really well! It's currently root vegetable and leafy greens season on the farm. Though what I do sitting at the computer is entertaining and interesting, it's important to remember that nature exists far beyond our focus on media, she says.
During the pandemic Greer and Tomassini provided farm boxes for customers; now they sell wholesale and distribute produce to the neighborhood. Given climate trends, future plans call for devoting part of their farm to land that doesn't need to be irrigated. As our climate moves more from Mediterranean to desert, we're looking at how other countries adapt to that situation, she explains.
Greer's career as a visual storyteller may just merge with her career as an urban farmer someday. Urban farming would make a great narrative, she muses. I'd love to find a way to incorporate it with my inside' job. It would be a dream come true!
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/05/2026
Scripps Research immunologist Dennis Burton elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences A leader in broadly neutralizing antibodies, Burton has helped driv...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
01/05/2026
BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing ( BKB ), today announced the appointment of Will Wright ...
01/05/2026
Lawo has been at the center of the industry's transition to IP and other next-generation technologies. At NAB 2026, its story was the Edge One AV stagebox, ...
01/05/2026
HBA Media, acting on behalf of NBC Sports and Churchill Downs Incorporated, has announced broadcast and streaming distribution for Kentucky Derby 152, taking pl...
01/05/2026
By Bailey Pennick
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festi...
01/05/2026
Florals for spring? Groundbreaking. But a playlist that tells you which The Devi...
01/05/2026
One of the world's biggest popstars is headed to El Cl sico. Later this mont...
01/05/2026
Limited-edition model celebrates 15th anniversary
Heritage Audio's range of monitor controllers has just gained a new member, the Baby RAM Black Edition...
01/05/2026
Dumble recreation now available as UAD plug-in
Along with their renowned processing plug-ins, Universal Audio have been steadily introducing emulations of c...
01/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/05/2026
To celebrate the opening of its new showroom and office, Lightware UK hosted a dedicated launch event at the new London location. The event welcomed partners, c...
01/05/2026
Choice without compromise
The broadcast industrys transformation is accelerating, and traditional broadcasters are having to fundamentally reinvent how they o...
01/05/2026
Beam Dynamics will return to MPTS 2026 with its asset intelligence platform, helping systems integrators, live production teams, media facilities and profession...
01/05/2026
Best-in-class UX design and rapid, scalable delivery for next-generation viewing experiences
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced a coll...
01/05/2026
Compact new cforce MAX lens motor brings unrivaled speed and responsiveness to t...
01/05/2026
Panavision welcomes Fritz Heinzle as Vice President of Sales
Brie Clayton May 1, 2026
0 Comments
Heinzle will support Panavision's global growth s...
01/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/05/2026
LONDON, APRIL 30, 2026 The Post Republic London's Re-recording Mixer and Dialogue Editor Dan Johnson has built a reputation for clean, emotionally resonan...
01/05/2026
Adobe Unveils Powerful New Innovations in Photoshop & Lightroom
Deepa Subramaniam April 30, 2026
0 Comments
Your most tedious creative tasks just got ea...
01/05/2026
Berklee Partners with Santander US to Establish Global Opportunity Fund The $400,000 grant offers students access to experiential learning opportunities withi...
01/05/2026
Student Spotlight: Keziah Thomas The Indian composer, who was named the 2026 student commencement speaker for Berklee College of Music, talks about how shes p...
01/05/2026
Friday 1 May 2026
Hannah Waddingham and Ncuti Gatwa to host the series final tw...
01/05/2026
Friday 1 May 2026
Got plans? Cancel them. Sky Sports Big Weekend is coming
Sky Sports is preparing for a bumper weekend of live action, including Manchester ...
01/05/2026
Friday 1 May 2026
Sky Sports to broadcast all matches from World Sevens Football London edition
Sky Sports will be the exclusive UK broadcaster of the women...
01/05/2026
Back to All News
NIAJ Fest Gets Los Angeles In on the Joke With Free Pop-Up Events
Entertainment
01 May 2026
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to clipboard
...
01/05/2026
RT Sport awarded first pick free-to-air on Wednesday nights
Champions League and Super Cup finals
Highlights on Wednesday nights
RT today (Thursday 30 Apri...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
30/04/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) concluded its third regular season on Saturday, reporting growth across attendance, viewership, digital engage...
30/04/2026
NBC Sports will air national MLB coverage on Sundays beginning May 3, with MLB Sunday Leadoff on Peacock and NBCSN at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by the debut of th...
30/04/2026
Clear-Com has appointed Brian Grahn as Market Outreach Manager of the Americas and Ben Turnwell as Business Development Manager for EMEA live.
Grahn joined Cle...
30/04/2026
ARRI has introduced the cforce MAX, a new lens motor for the Hi-5 lens control system. The cforce MAX is twice as fast as the cforce plus motor it replaces whil...
30/04/2026
Knuerr, Voxtronic, and IHSE will jointly present an integrated control room solu...
30/04/2026
The CW Network and ESPN have announced an agreement to make the ESPN App the exclusive streaming home for all CW Sports live events. CW Sports will continue to ...
30/04/2026
Ed Sheeran's The Loop' tour launched in Auckland in January 2026 before moving on to Australia, with South America and the United States to follow late...