He's all ears. Tom is all things social media.— Jason Roberts, on Costantino monitoring leaked information[1]
Tom Costantino is an American editor and co-producer on The Orville. He is known in The Orville fan communities for his extensive fan outreach and interaction and earned a reputation as the most approachable member of the production staff.
Showrunner Seth MacFarlane later said Costantino and visual effects supervisor Brandon Fayette were "two formidable talents. Whenever you see a big visual effects, heavy action sequence on the show, their hand is generally pretty heavy in it."[2]
Costantino has edited a handful of episodes throughout the first season, including Old Wounds, If the Stars Should Appear, Pria, Into the Fold, New Dimensions, and Mad Idolatry.
He was promoted to the role of associate producer for Season 2 though continues to hold the title of editor as well.
Background[]
Costantino attended Ithaca College and graduated in 1993.[3]
He worked in television and film editing for over twenty years prior to joining The Orville, starting with The Trial of O.J. Simpson around 1995. He later worked on other high-end projects such as CSI: Miami, American Ninja Warrior, and Heroes: Reborn, in addition to episodes in multiple seasons of the reality game show Survivor.
The Orville[]
Costantino's former co-workers from Heroes: Reborn recommended him to The Orville's production crew while the show was in the middle of creating Season 1.[4] He underwent several rounds of interviews[4] with his final round interviewing with creator Seth MacFarlane and director Jon Favreau.[5] Costantino credits the successful interview to discussing the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Chain of Command: Part II."[5]
As Editor[]
His routine starts with working on dailies each morning then planning meetings with MacFarlane and, starting with Season 2, director Jon Cassar as well.[6]
He handles Seth MacFarlane's cuts, usually visiting him twice a day for consultation. He serves as a editing reference for the production crew while filming. He has commented on his work on The Orville:
As an editor, I'm not in the director's guild, but I'm the guy who has to deal with the second unit. The hard part is telling a cohesive narrative in 43 minutes. I think it's one of those things where the better you do the job, the more people don't realize what the job is.[7]
As Associate Producer[]
In Season 2, Costantino was made associate producer in addition to his role as editor, which he later said entails handling some promotional materials and supervising shooting alongside the second unit director. "Basically [it is] a catch-all for all the things the other [executive producers] can't or won't do."[5]
As Co-Producer[]
Costantino was promoted a third time for Season 3, from associate to co-producer. In an interview following his promotion, Costantino said that while the new title may be slightly more prestigious, his duties to the show remained more-or-less the same, editing and assisting second-unit filming.[8]
Trivia[]
- His favorite episodes are Into the Fold, because it "was a labor of love,"[3] and A Happy Refrain.[9]
- His favorite character is Bortus.[3]
- Since Season 2, he works alongside his assistant editor Hillary Wills.
- Tom was instrumental in creating The Orville Experience, a museum exhibition of the show that ran during the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con.
Interviews[]
- Interview with the Planetary Union Network
- Interview with Mashable
- "Space Farce:" Group interview with CineMontage
- Reddit AMA interview
- Matt Feury interviews Costantino and Wills
- Interview with 151 The Show
- Interview with Going POSTal
- Interview with Quantum Drive
- Interview with Trekzone
- Second interview with Trekzone
- Interview with Multiverse Tonight
See also[]
- The World of the Orville, page 15
References[]
- ↑ [[1]]
- ↑ Weintraub, Steve. "Seth MacFarlane on ‘The Orville: New Horizons,’ Directing While Acting, and Why He’s Grateful to Hulu [Exclusive]". Collider. July 2, 2022.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 u/editboy1000. Comment on Reddit. Aug. 20, 2018.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tom Costantino – Co-Producer of the Orville!. Spoiler Country. May 11, 2020.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "#707 (Tom Costantino ACE of "The Orville")". Going POSTal. May 13, 2019.
- ↑ "Tom Costantino Interview". 151 The Show. Jan. 20, 2019.
- ↑ Sedmak, Ryan. "What it's like to be an editor on a hit sci-fi TV show". Mashable. June 28, 2018.
- ↑ INTERVIEW - Tom Costantino: THE ORVILLE, editing and the lockdown. TREK on the TUBE. Dec. 4, 2020.
- ↑ @TomCostantino. "My favorite episode. Also written and directed to perfection by my favorite multihyphenate @SethMacFarlane @TheOrville #TheOrville @planetary_union". Twitter. Jan. 30, 2019.