Lie About Deadlines

Yeap, you heard me right. Lie about deadlines. The TL;DR version of this is: When you’re requesting something from someone, LIE EARLY on when you need that specific task done. When someone requests you to accomplish a task, LIE LATER on when it’ll be completed and deliver it early.

This technique is extremely useful for Editors and Assistant Editors because not only will this help you get whatever task done on time, it will keep you CALM. You won’t get stressed if someone is running behind on a task you’re waiting for because you’ve padded out the extra time. On the flip side, in case you do need that “extra day” when you’re completing a task, you have that extra day. This strategy keeps you calm AF. And the cherry on top is that you’ll come off as the most easy going and non-stressed Editor/AE of all time. Practice this.

I actually retold this story in my YouTube video “Lie About Deadlines” (which you can find here). This is a prime example why you need to lie about deadlines. When I was applying for the American Cinema Editors Internship Program, I was required to submit two letters of recommendations. I really wanted to get two of my previous supervisors’ recommendations but I knew they had busy schedules.

They both agreed to write me letters but I lied about when the due date was. I told both of them that it was due on August 28, a month earlier of when it was supposed to be due.

Guess what happened? Supervisor A submitted his recommendation letter on exactly August 28 and Supervisor B submitted his 2 weeks after. TWO WHOLE WEEKS. I wouldn’t have gotten this internship if I gave them the exact deadline.

It just shows how important it is to gauge time and assess the situation to accommodate everyone’s ability and schedule. Always prepare for the worst and deliver the best outcome. You’ll really standout if you do this on a consistent basis because you’ll find that everyone will like working with you because not only do you get everything in early, but you’ll exude this positive, low-stress, carefree personality that everyone loves. Especially since our industry is extremely stressful.

So yeah, try to implement this and leave me a comment if you benefit from this. It’s my best kept secret haha. Anyway, thanks so much for dropping by my blog. Here’s to more tasks being completed early and requests being done a day before their due. Cheers!

Also, good news - I’ve officially become an Approved Affiliate Marketer for Adobe Creative Cloud. Roll with me for a second because here’s my first official marketing pitch: If you’re looking for your one stop shop for all of your editing/post-production needs, I highly recommend the Adobe Creative Cloud. I use Adobe Premiere for editing all of my videos and Adobe Photoshop/After Effects for all of my graphics. So definitely check out the Creative Cloud here.

Haha how’d I do? For real though, I do dig the Creative Cloud, so if you’re thinking about learning Premiere, After Effects, or Photoshop, use my link above. See you on the next blog!

-Alfonso