Jerry Steven Gilbert

Age: 48
Occupation: Post supervisor, film and television industry
Hometown: Santa Rosa, Calif.

Jerry Gilbert has always made sound decisions.

As a result, he’s a behind-the-scenes movie star, a “post supervisor,” one of those guys you never know exists when you see a film.

But with that said: “I believe—and if you print it we’ll see if anyone can go against it,” Gilbert says from his darkened high-tech movie-theatre office at the Celtic Media Centre, “but I have worked on more movies than anyone else in the state.”

The key word is state. Gilbert, 48, was a lifelong Californian whose roots were on the sound side of things. His resume includes remixing Steely Dan and Pink Floyd albums and, for three years while in his 20s, doing the same with classical music in Russia. He’s also licensed music for TV shows.

Gilbert’s talents, a rare combination of managerial and creative, cover all aspects of finishing a movie. Eight years ago the tax-credit opportunities brought him to Louisiana.

“Everyone was shooting here, but there was no post-production,” Gilbert says.

The films on which he’s worked include this year’s Oscar nominee for Best Motion Picture, Dallas Buyers Club.

The stars often visit him for dialog replacement. He admits that, just once in his career, he simply had to get autographs—oddly enough, while working on the animated Robot Chicken in Los Angeles.

“The entire cast of Star Wars came in,” he says with a smile, adding that even director George Lucas signed his DVD.

Otherwise, Gilbert and his wife, Susan Mitchell, an occupational therapist, live in Broadmoor with their 7-year-old son Dylan, working with Hollywood but glad not to live in the madhouse of the other L.A.

Gilbert, whose personal favorite is the 1940 classic Philadelphia Story, played trumpet while majoring in music at Pacific University. His company is PostDigital, and he and editorial partner Michael Baird are sound magicians who revel in the finished project. Most days they sit on a dark stage and watch movies. And every day is fun and different.

“I’ve had one of those careers,” Gilbert says, “that’s not so guided in a straight line.”