Make the Jump to Editor
There are a number of tricky level-ups to make in your editing career. Each one seems nearly impossible to make, right up until the moment you do.
Just getting your foot in the door is hard enough. But once you have a steady paycheque, you struggle to prove that you deserve responsibility beyond the entry level. Not too long after, you find yourself pidgeonholed, and need to navigate how to switch project types, whether that be from the commercial world to the corporate space; factual/reality to scripted; or television to feature films.
Regardless of the project you find yourself on, there’s still a big jump you want to make - from the role of an Assistant Editor to the Editor’s chair itself.
Both in film school and as a recent graduate, there was a niave sense that I could move up fairly quickly into a editor position. This wasn’t entirely my fault: common ‘practical’ advice at the time stated that instead of trying to be a director immediately after graduating, you should aim for decent-paying editor gigs, since editors are always needed and the jobs should be easy to find. That path meant you could pay the bills while still honing your craft, and moonlight on your passion project/directorial debut.
Well that sounds laughable now.
Getting even a crappy junior or assisting editing job can be quite difficult, let alone one with any seniority of a lead editor.
In truth, you’ll need to climb from Post-PA to Logger to the multiple levels of Assistant, and then to Editor. And while there are a few lucky people that skip some (or all) of those steps, it is not super common. Most will be an AE before cutting. The good thing is, you will likely climb the first few rungs of the ladder with a quickly building momemtum. And, as your technical and hands-on knowledge grows, so too will other’s trust in you.
A good AE is always in demand. If you own the role, you can be extremely saught after and never worry about landing your next gig again. Why? Because most AE’s want to be editing and eventually move on from the position. An editor (or Post-Supervisor in the reality/factual TV world) who has a long-tenured AE at their right hand is going to feel very confident in their ability.
But if you are set on editing, you’ll keep pushing. And…still assisting. Time will tick. You’ll enter a no man’s land, where you're technically good enough to be editing now (or atleast for someone to give you the shot), but keep coming up empty. Even worse, once you’ve proven you can edit and have the credit(s) to back it up, you may still be unable to consistently secure the editing jobs. Years into this Escherian climb, and you wonder if you’ll ever be lucky enough to actually reach the next level.
Having recently landed that transition from Assistant to Editor (knock on wood) in the television space, my advice is pretty simple.
Tips for Moving from AE to Editor
1. Let Your Goals Be Known
This might be obvious, but when the conversation comes up with your work colleagues and friends (editors, producers, post-supervisors), the question of what your plan is will naturally come up. Answer it truthfully. Be humble, but plainly state your goals for the next step.
And then…? Drop it. No one needs to constantly hear about your dreams when there’s a ton of work in front of you.
2. The Side Hustle
After work or on the weekends, cut almost* anything you can. Almost, because it should be serving the immediate purpose of building up your craft, or at the very least getting you financially ahead (…or in a perfect world, both!)
If the gig is unpaid: really focus on projects that build your ability in storytelling. Think: short films with your friends; a web series from a contact; a trailer or EPK package for an independent film. If you haven’t learned a specific in demand NLE or tool at this time, this could also be a great chance to give it a try on a smaller scale.
Remember though to take a break! If your editing at work 9-7pm, and then editing at home every night and weekend, you’ll have no life balance. It catches up with you.
Why are you doing this? So that you are actively working out the creative muscles. When a spot on the roster suddenly opens up (usually in the form of a shitstorm for someone else) you’ll be ready to play.
3. Free Education
Nope, not Youtube. Back at your day job:
When given assembly tasks, ask if you can go a little 'beyond' an assembly, if its okay with your editor. I think most editors will love this idea (if you've taken care of the rest of the dailies/other tasks first, of course), but do ask permission. Cut it as "fine" as you can. Add sfx. Temp music. Polish it. Then hand if off.
Once your sequence is back in your editor’s hands, see what they say. And if they say nothing…thats fine too! Watch carefully for what they change in their version of the scene. I found this a great way to learn without having to even take up a minute of my editors time in discussion afterwards. I would watch their cut, and examine the timeline to study how they took it to the next level.
For example, I could see how they let the scene breath at times, to let an emotional beat land. Or, they would trim down my establishing shots to get into the meat of the scene quicker, and keep the pace of the show from slowing to a crawl. Sometimes it was more dramatic - they would be choose a totally different shot/angle to be the main spine of a scene.
If you can take stock of the differences, and piece together why it works better (9 times out of 10, it does), you’ll be getting a free education in the art.
4. Let Trust Snowball
This is how trust will build; your assemblies get stronger and closer to the fit of the show, and at some point they'll likely ask you to do a cut of multiple scenes, maybe even stringing a bunch of them together. Alternatively, an editor will need to move onto another project because of a hard out, and they'll ask you to help finish up an episode. Small stuff, sure, but it continues to builds up that trust.
NB: Atleast when it comes to television, a lot of being a ‘good’ editor is whether you can quickly emulate the style of the show. it’s not always what your creative genuis alone can bring to the project, but whether you can understand the show’s tone and style, and execute it with accuracy.
5. Success likely won’t be linear
I wish I had known this well before I found myself in the middle of the long transition. From getting lucky with my first real editor credit to being able to confidently turn down job offers that would take me ‘back’ to an AE, it took me 4.5 years.
If I thought I could just cut one episode and be set…well, I’d be wrong.
Maybe that says something about my work - it could be that my first episode as editor simply wasn’t good enough to earn me a spot in the next season. Maybe most up and coming AE’s will knock it out of the park. In any case, there can be a tranistory quagmire when you are clearly gunning for editor roles, but your professional network knows you only as an AE.
It’s can easily take a toll on your confidence. Don’t let it.
6. Take (a) Leap
If you’ve tried your best to climb with a great employer, but they keep you as the trusty AE you are, it may be time to take a try elsewhere. Don’t take it personally (and don’t burn any bridges either). Remember that in most cases, they are just trying to keep what’s working, working. Taking a chance on you is introducing uncertainty - one that they will have to bear the consequences of if it fails.
However, sometimes even our friends can only see us in certain light. Leaving the comfort of their bubble, gaining experience with new creative influences, and achieving few credits under your belt may be all that’s needed to get over that gap.
At some point you have to turn down that certain AE-gig and start putting out the word that you are an editor now.
You may even make that proclamation and then find yourself horrified staring down a “once-in-a-century” pandemic that dries up all possible leads and forces you to give up and slide back down to AE.
That’s fine too. Swallow your pride, take the AE-gig. Finish it.
And then put out the word again.