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‘Modern Family’ ties to Canfield
Photo
Ryan Fill
By Elise Franco
CANFIELD
What began as a high school hobby became a career that would lead Ryan Fill from Canfield to the set of an Emmy Award-winning TV series.
Fill, 29, of North Hollywood, Calif., works as a film editor for the ABC comedy “Modern Family.”
But the Mahoning Valley native has remained humble and easily remembers the videos he shot and edited at Canfield High School — the videos that put him on the path to where he is now.
“I made many weird and goofy videos for class projects,” he said. “I found I really liked making short films, even if they weren’t so good.”
After graduating in 2000, Fill attended Wright State University for two years, majoring in film production. When he wasn’t in class, Fill said he worked full time at Home Depot for some extra cash.
“[The job was] to pay for film stock and developing costs for the 16 millimeter black and white films that my friends and I made,” he said. “I spent all my time in a basement editing room whenever I wasn’t working or didn’t have class.”
Fill’s mother, Kristy Fill, of Fawn Drive in Canfield, said her son always took interest in film.
“If watching thousands of movies counts, then yes, he was always interested,” she said.
Kristy Fill said Ryan acted in plays and volunteered at the Youngstown Playhouse during high school, and though he’s come a long way in his career, she said he is modest about his success.
“What he does seems like something that not a lot of people can do,” she said. “I’m happy for him. He seems to really like what he’s doing.”
Going into his junior year at Wright State, Fill said his film class was cut from 16 students to about 10.
“You basically had to re-audition to get into the program every quarter,” he said. “I didn’t make that cut.”
Fill said some of his film school friends began moving to California to further pursue their careers, but he didn’t think he was ready, so he finished college at a technical school in Florida before moving to the West Coast in 2003.
“I just read a lot of books and started shooting and editing my own films,” he said. “Then I lucked into an internship at Fox through a friend, and within a few weeks had weaseled my way into a job on Will Smith’s film “I-Robot.”
That was the first of many high-profile movies Fill worked on, including “It’s Complicated,” “Blades of Glory” and “Beerfest,” before landing a gig as a assistant editor on “Modern Family,” now in its second season.
“While working as an assistant editor last year on ‘It’s Complicated,’ I worked with a guy who became one of the two editors on ‘Modern Family,’” he said. “He invited me to come work on the show for the second season.”
Fill said working on the hit series, which stars Mahoning Valley native. Ed O’Neill, has been one of the best job experiences of his life.
“The cast and crew are among the nicest I’ve ever got the opportunity to work with. I really can’t say enough about the whole cast and crew,” he said. “They really care about the show and making it the best they can.”
Kristy Fill said she and some other family members were recently invited to sit in on script reading for an upcoming episode.
“It was really neat. You don’t think of them as everyday people, but they are,” she said. “Ed O’Neill was talking about his parents living in the area. They were just all very friendly and social.” Fill said he’s not exactly sure what’s next for him. He said working another season of “Modern Family” is always an option, but he would eventually like to get back to his Youngstown roots.
“I really like making my own films and can see myself down the road a ways directing,” Fill said. “I’d love to come shoot a film in Youngstown at some point.
“It’d be fun to film a car chase on 224 or have a shoot-out at Mill Creek Park, right?”
Fill said he feels that although he’s been in the business for nearly a decade, the best is yet to come.
“I’ve got a bunch of irons in the fire right now and ... It has really felt like in the last year so many opportunities are starting to open up,” he said. “I’m really lucky to have so many friends and family that support my choices no matter how crazy they often seem.”