Call it chutzpah. Call it nerve. Call it desperation to land that elusive first job.

Whatever you choose to call it, Robin Quinn definitely has it.

As a UNLV film student in 1994, Quinn heard that Martin Scorsese was in town filming a movie called Casino. She really wanted a job, any job, on that set. If she was going to pursue a film career, she figured, there was no one better to work with than the famed director. And she wasn't going to let a total lack of experience get in the way.

In an only-in-Vegas moment of inspiration, Quinn enlisted the aid of a showgirl friend. She packed a basket full of chocolate casino chips and Las Vegas memorabilia along with her incredibly short resume and a note asking for a job. Her friend, dressed in full regalia, delivered the basket to the set.

Just 30 minutes later, she had a job as a production assistant.

Since then, Quinn has worked nearly nonstop on films. In her most recent, Phantom of the Opera, she served as supervising foley editor, a job related to sound. Currently, she is working on Sahara, an action-adventure film starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz. As that wraps up, she'll select her next project-perhaps the next Batman sequel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Johnny Depp, or the Ridley Scott film Kingdom of Heaven.

"So much of the work you do in films depends on timing," said Quinn in a telephone interview from London, where she has made her home for several years. "One project runs longer than expected, another gets delayed. It all influences which jobs you end up doing."

But somehow, the work keeps coming.

Steps to Success

One attribute that served her well early in her career was her willingness to do any job. Her first "assignment" on Casino was to help Scorsese move into the house he was renting. She also made copies, brewed tea, took out trash, and drove people where they needed to go. Before long, she became the assistant to Scorsese's mother, who was always on the set.

Once Casino wrapped, Scorsese, whom she describes as a genius, moved her to New York, where she lived with his mother, "a great, crazy Italian lady," and continued working with the director.

From her early days as a production assistant, she moved into the sound arena, most recently concentrating on jobs as foley editor. That's the person, Quinn explains, who makes sure that all the sounds- outside of the dialogue-sound right.

Recreating footsteps consumes much of the foley editor's time. Their studios are filled with every type of "walkable" surface imaginable, from sand to cobblestones. Imagine how disconcerting it would be if the hero of a film were seen walking on crusty snow, but his journey was silent. Or, worse yet, the sound came when his foot was in mid-air instead of when it was breaking through the crust. Foley editors see to it that doesn't happen. They use a variety of techniques to create the appropriate sound and then match the timing of the sound exactly to the action on the screen.

Foley editors also work with special effects editors on sound effects such as the explosions in the two James Bond films on which Quinn worked, Die Another Day and The World is Not Enough.

Looking for a new challenge, Quinn moved to music editing on Sahara.

"Music editing really has two parts," Quinn says. "First you create a template, placing appropriate music at places in the film where music will be used in the final cut. You don't have the actual music for that film, but you choose something similar so that those watching early cuts of the film will have an idea what it will sound like.

"The second half of the job is working with the composer as he puts his music to the film, using the template you have created," she says. "Yesterday we were scoring with the London Symphony Orchestra. Paul McCartney was there."

Success in the industry, Quinn has learned, also takes working nearly nonstop for several months on end. Pulling allnighters is just as common in movie work as on campus at finals time. The "up" side, she says, is that once a project wraps, you can take a substantial amount of time off, if you wish.

Looking Ahead

Quinn took a little time off to collect the College of Fine Arts Alumna of the Year Award at last fall's Alumni Association homecoming dinner. The presentation ceremony gave her a chance once again to see her UNLV mentor, film professor Francisco Menendez.

And Quinn is planning to take some time off in May-long enough to return to Las Vegas and walk across the stage at the Thomas & Mack Center to collect-at long last-her bachelor of arts degree in film studies.

You see, when that job offer on Casino came along, Quinn jumped ship, so to speak, only four classes short of her degree. "Not finishing that degree has bothered me for years, but working in places such as London, New York, and Los Angeles, I just couldn't get back to campus for an entire semester."

Then, distance education came along. UNLV's online offerings made it possible for Quinn to complete her degree while still living in London. She took three courses last semester and will finish up her final class in May, just in time to get that diploma.

"I love what I'm doing, but I have to look ahead to a time when I might not want to work 20-hour days, when I might want to make a career switch," she reasons. "Having that college degree will open doors for me that work experience alone might not."