With 20 years of experience in audio production, Korey Pereira, assistant professor of practice and the audio area head in the radio-television-film department, is currently nominated for a Golden Reel Award for his contribution on the final season of “Stranger Things.”
“I worked on my first film in 2006 and never looked back,” Pereira said. “I started off working on student films, low-budget indies and then made my way up to bigger productions over the years.”
Pereira originally wanted to work in the music industry. However, after being given the opportunity to intern working on a feature film, he realized that film was where he wanted to be.
“I had always made movies with my friends, so this idea of thinking about audio technology and recording and being able to combine that with my interest in filmmaking, it was something that interested me,” Pereira said.
Pereira got the opportunity to work on a variety of series and films, including “Law & Order,” “Prey” and “Stranger Things.” Working on seasons four and five of “Stranger Things,” Pereira and the sound team won an Emmy Award for season four and were nominated for a Golden Reel Award for season five.
“I initially didn’t know what the show was, so looking back, I’m pretty glad I said yes,” Pereira said. “There is a team of editors and mixers that make it work on a project of that scale. … You find a group of people that are exceptional, you put them together with a common goal and then that’s how you end up with something like ‘Stranger Things.’”
The 73rd Golden Reel Awards will take place on March 8 in Los Angeles. Pereira and the team of editors are hopeful that their hard work will pay off.
“In season four, … we were nominated for a Golden Reel but (didn’t) come home with the hardware,” Pereira said. “For me, it feels like a do-over. This last season went big … and we came up with a product that has a decent shot of winning.”
Not only is Pereira nominated for a Golden Reel Award, but he’s also assuming the role of interim Vice President of the Motion Picture Sound Editors organization.
“The Golden Reels are a huge deal … this is the Oscars for sound,” Jadon Putman (radio-television-film, fall ‘24) said. “It’s the premier networking event, and Korey (Pereira) knows everybody there. … He’s on the board and has been heavily involved with the Motion Picture Sound Editors.”
Pereira combines both his career in dialogue editing and teaching, with teaching, his students learning everything they need to know about being in the industry.
“Korey’s (Pereira) strength is that he’s good with people, and he’s good at the non-technical side of all this,” Putman said. “He is a brilliant dialogue editor and very technically talented. The vast majority of what I learned from Korey … (was) how to talk to clients, how to make connections, how to network and how to be a good person that people want to come back to over and over again.”
Lexie Guthan, radio-television-film alumna, said Pereira helped his students not only within the classroom, but after college as well.
“Korey has a gift for teaching and inspiring others,” Guthan said. “He is always learning new tools and expanding his network, which encourages those around him to do the same.”
