By Jason Nark CCAS’00, Rutgers University Foundation

One might wonder how Dan Rovetto, a Rutgers communications graduate with a minor in psychology, segued his particular education into a successful career as a film and television editor.

Rovetto, an American Cinema Editors (ACE) member and a 2003 graduate of the Rutgers School of Communication and Information who’s worked on such shows as Grey’s Anatomy, Suits, and the new spinoff, Suits LA, can edit his experience at Rutgers into his life’s work seamlessly, though. That’s what he does.

“Looking back, those communications classes, where you study interpersonal and intercultural communications, really helped me,” Rovetto says. “For me as an editor, that education helps inform a lot of the choices I make and helps me understand people's motivation. As an editor, you spend a long time in rooms with producers, showrunners, and directors and these are intimate environments where it’s just you and another person. I think understanding communication styles helps you sort out that whole experience more effectively.”

Rovetto’s latest creative effort, Suits LA, debuted on February 23 on NBC and re-immerses him into the Suits world that ran for nine seasons on USA Network. Getting back to that legal drama, Rovetto says, feels like coming home again.

“I sort of made a name for myself on that show,” he says. “To become a full-time editor on the show and becoming a go-to editor for big episodes, that sort of put me in a position for when this pilot came around and I eventually landed the pilot. It’s been this full-circle kind of feeling.”

A New Jersey Native

A native of Dumont, New Jersey, now living in Marina del Rey, Rovetto embarked for New Brunswick thinking he’d become an engineer, but his interest in the subject stalled out. Quality academic advisers on campus, he says, were the first step toward Hollywood.

“I was always interested in Rutgers because of its reputation but I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do,” Rovetto says. “I was into math and science. I was pretty decent at it, but after my first couple of semesters, it was pretty clear to me that that wasn't the right path for me.”

He found classes that took a look at the role of communications in culture particularly enlightening, Rovetto says.

“We learned how culture shapes communication and how communication shapes culture,” he says. “I think understanding that a little bit better gave me a big advantage because you have those insights into human nature, which is helpful. It helps inform the editing choices, and helps you to adapt to different personalities and collaborate more effectively too.”

Psychology was an interest more than a career path, but he also credits those classes for helping to shape him.

“I wasn't anticipating a psychology degree, but I guess I was just more interested in learning about myself and about people and what motivated us,” he says.

A Rutgers Road to an Internship

Rovetto credits an internship with MTV in New York City, which he secured through the communications department, for giving him his first break. Given the network’s proximity to Rutgers, Rovetto says he isn’t sure if he would have secured the internship at another school. Once at MTV, Rovetto found the internship was more managerial than hands-on editing work, but he found a way to learn, quickly, and hustle on his own.

“MTV had a program where they would pay for some classes, and I took classes at the New York Film Academy. I did the role that they expected me to do, but you know, on my own time I remember I was setting up this abandoned room that had wires and cables everywhere, and I turned it into an edit bay and I just basically took it upon myself to do some editing and got it in front of people and then eventually by the time I had left MTV, that was a full-time job.”

One of the first videos Rovetto edited that turned heads, he says, was an educational video for interns. Today his International Movie Database profile also reveals edits for the AppleTV series Silo as well as Pearson on the USA Network, along with a slew of other shows and films.

In 2010, Rovetto moved to California, determined to work on scripted television. He had two children, already, and his wife, Nicole, was pregnant with their third. Failure, he says, was not an option.

 “If it didn't pan out, at least I would live with the fact knowing that I tried,” he says of the move.

Rovetto eventually worked on more than 30 episodes of Suits. There’s a bit of pride too, working on an LA-based show, he says, given the difficult times Californians have had navigating the recent, devastating wildfires. Rovetto says he could see flames from his home and the Fox Studio lot where he worked.

“Living in New Jersey after 9/11, we felt this overwhelming sense of connectedness and community,” Rovetto says. “That was the same feeling here in Los Angeles.”

Aaron Korsh, the TV producer who created Suits and Suits LA, says Rovetto’s knowledge and commitment to the show made him an easy choice for the reboot.

“He is a tremendous collaborator, has a strong point of view, and is willing to express it, but is also willing to explore various ways to go, a creative problem solver, and is fun to spend large amounts of time with,” Korsh says. “We had a great time and sure, he’s from Jersey, but everyone has to have at least one flaw.”

Along with his education at Rutgers, industriousness at MTV, and immersion in Suits, Rovetto says he credits his “blue-collar, mad scientist” father, Joseph, for helping spark creativity in him.

“He was always tinkering and making things and really into films,” he says. “He had one of the earliest VHS camcorders, that kind you had to carry on your shoulder. I was always messing around with it and making music videos and stuff like that.”

Rovetto, his wife, and their three children, Nicholas, Daniel, and Kaya, get back to the East Coast to his roots once or twice a year.

The only thing Rovetto says he hasn’t been able to carry over to California from Rutgers were the iconic “Grease Truck” sandwiches.

“Mine was the chicken fat cat, and I've always tried to recreate it,” he says. “It’s never quite the same.”

Learn more about the Communication major at the Rutgers School of Commnication and Information on the website. 

Photos: Courtesy of the Rutgers University Foundation. Caption, middle: Rovetto on the Fox Studio Lot in Los Angeles. 

This story was originally published on the Rutgers University Foundation website.