JUMP•CUT

How to Jump•Start Your Career as a Film Editor

Lori Jane Coleman, Diana Friedberg

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138691339
• eBook ISBN: 9781315535395
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

In JUMP•CUT, the follow-up to the authors' acclaimed Make the Cut, leading film/TV editors and industry veterans Lori Jane Coleman ACE and Diana Friedberg ACE offer editing techniques, insider tips and unwritten rules that contribute to making a great production. They provide both seasoned and aspiring editors with the tools needed to jump•start the next stage of their editing careers, or to break into this challenging industry. Using a mix of practical techniques and career-focused advice, JUMP•CUT covers best practices for editing dramatic motion pictures, episodic television, documentaries and reality TV, taking into account music, sound effects, and dialog. The book is rounded out by interviews with many leading Hollywood editors, including Alan Heim ACE, Michael Tronick ACE and Mary Jo Markey ACE, who share their years of experience and unique paths through the industry.

Part One

So You’re an Assistant Editor, Now What?

Chapter 1

Deep Assessment

Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.

Chris Grosser

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, she turned into a butterfly.

English Proverb

In our first book, Make the Cut, we shared guidelines about how to become an extraordinary assistant film editor. We discussed the unwritten rules of etiquette and protocol in the cutting room, the process of dailies to online, negative cut or digital intermediate (DI) and the inherent paperwork involved with organizing and managing the editing room. We intimated some of the more fortuitous personality traits. We said that if you wanted to be an editor, you had to be an outstanding assistant editor first. We are confident that, by following our guidelines, you have become a polished assistant editor— enough to shine.

Many of you have gone to film school and specialized in editing. Perhaps some of you have found your passion for editing after graduation, or by happy accident. Regardless of your road traveled, we have all arrived at that same state of mind—we love to edit—we are passionate about it. It is therefore a common occurrence that after assisting for a while, your desire to edit again grows stronger and more urgent. That need to create art, tell a story, build the sound design, is intoxicating and it is not quite realized by performing the assistant editor’s work.

There are career assistant editors who do not feel this same need to become an editor and take on the vast responsibilities consummate with that role. Instead, they perform their tasks with skill and grace, and turn assistant editing into its own art form. They are the heart and soul of the editing room. One of the most phenomenal career feature assistants I know, Carole Kenneally, assists Conrad Buff ACE (Training Day, True Lies, Titanic). She started with Conrad in 1995 as his VFX editor and then became his first assistant in 2000 on Thirteen Days and has been his first assistant since then. Editors appreciate loyalty and enjoy the ease with which they start each project due to their long-term working relationship with their first assistants. Carole is an invaluable asset for his editing team, and travels wherever Conrad accepts a gig throughout the world.

However, for many assistant editors, after the initial joy of getting a paid assistant editor job in the real world has lost some of its glow, the day arrives when you start to feel frustrated that you haven’t moved up as quickly as you had hoped. You soon realize that there are no guarantees that you will move up. You begin to look for a roadmap that does not exist, and ask:

• When do I move up to editor?

• How do I get out of reality television and into scripted?

• How do I get into features?

• Where do I start?

The frustrations you feel are pervasive. They shatter your ability to function with enthusiasm and are perceived as a bad attitude. This only works against you when you throw your name in the hat for an editing gig. I implore you, do not lose faith. You will find a way to take the editor’s chair somehow, someday. After all, this is what you love doing twelve hours a day.

Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about.

Sir Winston Churchill

Every editor I know has stood at this very same crossroad with countless future career paths in front of them that had yet to unfold. Their stories, some of which are told throughout these pages and in the final chapter, will show that their journeys, though divergent, were all successful in their own way. Common threads that led to their respective career achievements, such as work ethic, commitment to excellence, talent, personalities and, most importantly, their passion for storytelling, can be found. Whichever path you take will be the right one for you.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing.

The next best thing you can do is the wrong thing.

The worst thing you can do is nothing.

Theodore Roosevelt

In this chapter, we have some guidelines to offer that address the afore mentioned questions and will help you navigate your personal roadmap. We suggest you start with an evaluation of where you are in your career currently. Assess where you would like to be eventually, and what tools you need to get there.

1.1 CHOOSE YOUR VENUE WISELY

Happiness is not something readymade.

It comes from your own actions.

Dalai Lama

• Where are you now (current position/field—union/non-union)?

• Where do you want to be? Do you want to change fields?

• Do you want to cut features? Television? Documentaries? Reality?

If you are working in Hollywood, I hope you have joined the Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG) after your first or second year of assisting on nonunion shows. Go to their website (www.editorsguild.com) to find out about the rules and requirements for joining the union. If you reside in other countries, or cities in America, there are less stringent rules about joining unions, but if they do exist, it is a good idea to become a member. It will provide a base for networking.

In general, you have to schmooze; network with your colleagues and your favorite editors and assistants. Write letters to the people you would like to work with. Send them to the MPEG, or American Cinema Editors (ACE). Ask to have your letters forwarded.

Find the social gatherings of post personnel, ask to be Facebook friends and/or LinkedIn associates. Ask the assistant and perhaps the editor for a meet and greet and buy them coffee. Find the blogs where other film assistants discuss tech questions and post job offerings. Contact co-producers, associate producers and heads of post production at the studios. Networking is the mainstay of finding work in every city around the world, especially in Hollywood. Word of mouth is sometimes the only way to get in the door for the interview. This methodology works when you are an assistant or an editor looking for your next gig.

You have worked hard to gather your 100 days, to be eligible for the union roster. Perhaps you accomplished this by working in reality or on indepen dent features. Think about your field of choice—reality, scripted television, cable, documentaries, commercials, features or music videos. I urge you to determine this carefully because the amount of time you spend in each venue entrenches you further in that venue. Your resume, experience and network of colleagues will expand there, and though there is crossover into other venues, it often entails starting over with an entry-level job. For example, if you are the lead assistant on a reality show, you might have to go back to being the apprentice on a feature. If you are the editor on a reality show, and want a gig on a scripted show, you might have to go back to being an assistant until they recognize your talents as an editor.

People are pigeonholed easily in the film industry, and as long as you are aware that each time you spend a year in one venue, you are a year further away from the next venue you might want to try. Feature folks do not often hire television assistants or editors, and television producers do not often hire feature assistants or editors. There are a handful of editors and assistants who are able to make the crossover, but not too many and not too often. Television people feel feature people are too slow. Feature people feel television people are hacks. It is easier to crossover as an assistant, than as an editor. The main point is that choosing your venue from the start will put you on the right path, networking immediately. The process will restart when you crossover.

After your name is on the roster, and you are eligible for union work, you have choices:

• Should I stay in reality and move up to editor?

• Should I branch out to features (independent or union)?

• Should I try to get into scripted television?

This is a monumental decision, and one that might cost you precious time on your road to where you eventually want to sit—the editor’s chair. Some of you know that you want to work on big studio blockbuster features, from sci-fi to action, dramatic epics or comic book films heavy on visual effects (VFX) or maybe animated films. These movies take many months, sometimes years to complete. More often than not, there are long hours and weekend work. The pay scale is usually high—over scale, and with overtime, the salaries are excellent. Many times you are required to go on location for long periods of time. There is often a large staff, complete with first and second assistants, multiple film editors, VFX editor, apprentice and/or a post production assistant (PPA). They will be your family for a long time. The ascent to editor, if you make it, takes many years, and requires patience and a quiet tenacity within the confines of your editing room.

Some of you are attracted to independent features (indies) or documentaries. The stories that are told are often humanistic, unique and thought provoking. Oftentimes, they are directed by upwardly mobile filmmakers, with whom you have the opportunity to grow, succeed and contribute. They are usually underfunded, on a short schedule, and might not have a distributor, so they will seek entry into film festivals. If you are lucky, they will receive attention and/or recognition at the festival, and it can catapult your career quickly. But this is not a given. Many editors in indies work on dozens of films, without hitting that one jackpot. Also, you will need your own editing station and will work out of your home often. The pay is less than scale, without union protection from non-payment of funds, working holidays or weekends, or misconduct. You are often your own assistant. Moving up to editor in this venue is relatively quick, but along the way there will be a lot of freebies, long hours and, sometimes, bad scripts.

Perhaps you are attracted to television. The pace is faster in TV, the pay is scale and the assistant has to multi-task incessantly. Sometimes you have to assist more than one editor and you will have to acquire the skills necessary to handle many people asking you to do things simultaneously. Jobs last from two or three months (a pilot), to six months (a 13 episode show) to ten months (a 22 episode show). You can develop a relationship with the co-producer in charge of editorial, who will also task you with many requests. You will learn to balance how to please the co-producer and your editor. Though moving up to editor is never guaranteed, there is a great chance that you will have opportunities to win the editor’s chair within three to five years. You need three main ingredients:

• Talent

• An editor and producer who support you getting a break

• A show that stays on the air for multiple seasons

While you are still an assistant film editor, try to make a well-informed decision about your ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Part 1 So You’re an Assistant, Now What?
• Part 2 Discover the Rules
• Part 3 Guidelines for Editing Non-Fiction
• Part 4 Words of Advice from Editors
• Afterword
• Glossary
• Index