---
name: "Geofrey Hildrew"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/geofrey-hildrew"
fi1m_id: "geofrey-hildrew"
imdb_id: "nm0383931"
tmdb_id: 1534635
roles: ["Editor","Director"]
born: "15 September 1976"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 0
updated: "2026-09-23T12:09:41.979664+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Geofrey Hildrew

## Identity

Geofrey Hildrew

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/geofrey-hildrew
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** geofrey-hildrew
- **IMDb ID:** nm0383931
- **TMDB ID:** 1534635
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0383931/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1534635

Editor and director. Born 15 September 1976 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Editor, Director
- **Born:** 15 September 1976, Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0383931/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1534635

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Once Upon a Time*](https://film.one/tv/once-upon-a-time.md) (65)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Geofrey Hildrew

> A reliable guide through complicated television stories, Geofrey Hildrew earns our respect as an editor. His work on *Once Upon a Time* helps us follow the shifts in time, though it cannot make the repeated interruptions less tiresome.

In *Once Upon a Time* (2011), a present-day scene gives way to a fairy-tale flashback, and the comparison is clear even when the plotting is crowded. Geofrey Hildrew is among the editors, alongside Henk van Eeghen and Julie Monroe, keeping those shifts readable. That is useful, patient work on a programme with plenty of opportunities to confuse us. Our qualified recommendation rests partly on that clarity, though the cutting cannot stop fresh information from repeatedly postponing something we were already waiting to see.

Hildrew began editing in reality television before moving into scripted drama, a grounding in finding story and character among large amounts of footage. His sustained involvement with *Once Upon a Time* extended across all seven seasons: 54 episodes as lead editor and three as director. Those credits make him a substantial contributor, but they do not let us assign a particular cut to him. We would be wary of treating the series' coherence, or its frustrations, as the work of one person.

We grew impatient with *Once Upon a Time* when another piece of fairy-tale history interrupted the action already under way. The transitions were clear; the need for another interruption was less convincing. The early episodes can feel crowded even when the individual scenes are simple, and the solemn flashbacks do little to lighten them. Yet the cast can make the sillier material pleasurable, and Hildrew and his fellow editors preserve the comparisons between past and present rather than letting the two become a muddle.

With writer-director Charles Murray, Hildrew edited *Things Never Said* (2013), also serving as executive producer, and later *The Devil You Know* (2022). He also edited three episodes of *Painkiller* (2023), directed by Peter Berg. Its multiple perspectives and timelines offer another example of the complicated material he is trusted to assemble. Start with *Once Upon a Time* if fairy-tale fantasy appeals, but do not expect its editors to cure its habit of making us wait.

## Biography

Geofrey Hildrew is an American film and television editor and director. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, he grew up in Hershey and holds a BA in English Literature from Columbia University and an MFA in Film and Television Production from the University of Southern California. He began his career as a development intern at the Steve Tisch Company and Martin Scorsese’s Cappa Productions before moving to Los Angeles.

Hildrew is best known for his work on the ABC series *Once Upon a Time* (2011–2018), where he edited 54 episodes across all seven seasons and directed three episodes. Other editing credits include the series *V* (2009), *Extant* (2014) and *The Tick* (2017–2019), as well as the feature films *Careful What You Wish For* (2015) and *The Devil You Know* (2022). He also served as editor and executive producer on *Things Never Said* (2013).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, independentartistgroup.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Once Upon a Time* (2011), Fi1m 65, Director, Editor — [page](https://film.one/tv/once-upon-a-time.md)

## Complete filmography (7)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez* (2024), series, Editor
- *The Devil You Know* (2022), Editor
- *Careful What You Wish For* (2015), Editor
- *Extant* (2014), series, Editor
- *Things Never Said* (2013), Editor
- *Once Upon a Time* (2011), series, Director, Editor — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/tv/once-upon-a-time.md)
- *V* (2009), series, Editor

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/geofrey-hildrew