This is a story from behind the scenes of Hidden Figures. It's also the reason The Culturalite exists.In early 2017, Hidden Figures was nominated for three Academy Awards. I had spent months behind the scenes of that film, working in the edit bay. And I wasn’t invited to a single party.
Not the Vanity Fair Oscar Party I’d quietly daydreamed about. Not a screening, not a toast, not a thing.
To explain why that stung, and why it eventually led me here, I have to start two years earlier, at a gallery opening in New York.
It Started With a Question
In 2015, I was an assistant film editor living in New York. During the day, I worked in a dark edit bay. At night, though, I went looking for light: museums, new shows, and gallery openings all over the city.
At each opening, I’d find the artist and ask how they worked. How did you start? What are you chasing? Why this piece and not another one?
Over time, I noticed something surprising. The most fascinating artists I knew weren’t hanging on gallery walls. Instead, they were sitting next to me at work, and nobody was asking them anything.
So I started to. That’s how The Culturalite began.
Lunch Behind the Scenes of Hidden Figures
A year later, I moved to Los Angeles and went behind the scenes of my first feature film, Hidden Figures. The work was demanding. Lunch, however, was legendary.
Every day, we sat down together, and every day someone told a story worth printing.
One afternoon, Wynn Thomas, our production designer, joined us. Wynn began his career on Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It. Later, he designed Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, and A Beautiful Mind. As he talked about his work, his history, and his life, I hung on every word. Last year, the Academy gave him an Honorary Oscar, and I thought about that lunch the whole time.
Then there was Mandy Walker, our cinematographer. In session, she would call out the shots that needed fixing, one by one. Above all, she cared about how the film portrayed the women on screen, and that care showed in every frame. Years later, she became the first woman to win the American Society of Cinematographers’ top feature film award. In 2025, she became the first woman elected to lead it.
And then there was Richard, our music editor. He had also worked on Love Jones, one of my favorite films growing up. For the rest of that show, I had lunch with him every single day. (I’m still not over it.)
These were the people who decided how Hidden Figures looked, sounded, and felt. Soon, the whole world would see their work. Almost no one would know their names.
The Party I Wasn’t Invited To
When the film came out, it was everywhere. Then the nominations arrived: three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. I was over the moon.
I’ll admit I had hopes, maybe naive ones. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’d pictured myself at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party.
Instead, Oscar week came and went without a single invitation. No one I knew from the post team got one either. Our director, Ted Melfi, was there, of course. But no one called the rest of us in the credits.
When we wrapped, it was simply over. I never worked on another Fox feature. To this day, none of us have worked together again.
The Hidden Figures Behind Hidden Figures
I understand how this industry works. After all, we all move on to the next project. Even so, I remember being one of only two Black people on the post team. Quietly, I wondered whether the studio hired me for my work or for the optics. The film arrived a year after #OscarsSoWhite trended, and I noticed the timing.
Hidden Figures told the story of brilliant women whose work changed history while the credit went elsewhere. Somewhere along the way, the people behind the scenes of Hidden Figures became hidden figures too.
That’s when I understood. The Oscar party guest list doesn’t include everyone in the credits. So I decided to build a publication where it does.
Why I Started The Culturalite
None of those stories from behind the scenes of Hidden Figures made it into print. The trades covered the deals, and the magazines covered the stars. Meanwhile, the people who shaped the film went home with their stories untold.
The Culturalite exists to change that. Today, it covers the craft, the taste, the careers, and the lives of the people who make Hollywood. In other words, it’s the publication our industry has never had.
And I’m still asking the question I first asked at those gallery openings: how do you do what you do? Fortunately, the answers keep getting better.
With love,
Leah
