UNIVERSAL CITY, USA // John Cantú has spent 15 years in theatrical marketing as an editor with his work garnering numerous Clios and Golden Trailer Awards. Since 2016, he’s worked with Universal’s Creative Operations team, Inside Job. A few of the trailers he’s cut in that time include Get Out, Us, Candyman, Spirit Untamed, Hobbs and Shaw, and The Invisible Man.

With his background in making beats and a passion for bringing those skills to the trailer world, Clio Entertainment invited him to be the first of the Creative Mentor Series to discuss his techniques for recontextualizing hip-hop in film marketing.

He lives with his wife, Dilshad, in Van Nuys, where he’s often cutting trailers, writing scripts, or making beats in the same pool house where Verna Fields cut Paper Moon and Jaws. He’s happily resigned to be the second best editor who’s ever lived there.