Assistant Editor Series: Interviews
We all have to start out as a Union Assistant Editor before we can make the jump to being a Professional Hollywood Editor. This is why I’ll be spending the next couple of weeks sharing my advice on how to become a competitive Assistant Editor. Before I begin, let’s start with, in 140 characters or less, what is an Assistant Editor?
An Assistant Editor is someone who does everything but Edit the show.
Yes, everything. Everything from ingesting dailies, organizing bins, temp color correction, temp sound effects, temp visual effects, finding stock footage, sound mixing, finding temp music scores, dealing with logistics with Post-Production Supervisor, exporting cuts, making the coffee, turning over cuts to vendors, and… more. Whatever the Editor requests, you need to be able to do it.
And you must still be editing on the side to improve your skills. If you’re lucky, you’ll have an Editor who supports your Editing goals and will mentor you by giving you scenes to cut.
However, that is NOT your main responsibility on the job. You HAVE to take care of ALL of your priorities BEFORE you gift yourself a scene to cut. Your To-Do list will be full and it’s a great incentive to get it all done so that you can practice cutting scenes.
I always break down the responsibilities in stages for an Assistant Editor, because it’s much easier to chew on when looking at it from a birds eye view. There are three stages:
1. Shooting/Dailies stage
2. Editor/Director/Producer/Studio Cuts stage
3. Finishing stage
All three have very different types of “days” when it comes to responsibilities. However, I will write up a separate blog on the specifics of this. As well as create another video for it so I can get into more detail about it. But if you’re looking at it from above, those are the three stages.
I’d like to backtrack for a second and write about the stage that happens even before your first day… your Interview. Interviewing as an Assistant Editor is all about…
Personality. Personality. Personality.
Fun fact, when you’re getting interviewed, a Producer or Supervisor is constantly thinking, “Can I be around this person 12-14 hours a day?” If the answer is yes, then you’re more likely to get the job than someone who has a weak personality and knows a lot technically.
This is why it’s important to be aware of how you are in social situations. If you feel like you’re more of an introvert, try to work on being more outgoing. And vice versa, if you feel like you’re more of an extrovert, learn to handle yourself and be a bit more subdued.
Your personality is extremely important because it reflects how you act during tense times during the marathon of making a film/tv show. Staying calm, cool and collected and knowing that the problem will be fixed is always the best skill a great Assistant Editor can have.
Lastly, you need to give off a genuine vibe that you’re extremely passionate about film editing. You chose this field and want to learn how to edit movies. So how do I do this effectively?
Stories. Prepare Personal Stories to shine amongst other Assistant Editors.
Every time I have an interview scheduled, I always prepare a couple hours before. During that prep, I jot down and even recite stories. Stories of my past experiences that stood out to me as learning lessons, fun experiences, and positive memories of my previous gigs.
The reason why I prepare stories is because you can inject these anecdotes in your interviews and it will be so fresh in your mind. Also, these are personal to you so it makes you stand out even more if you can relate to the Producer this way. You may only share 1-2 stories depending on the questions asked and how the flow of conversation is going but make it a point to be prepared! You honestly might need to use all of them too.
Print 3 copies of your Resume for in-person Interviews.
Why? Because first, you never know who will be at the interview and would like to see your credits. Secondly, your Resume is your bullet points for the interview. It’s a conversation starter. Keep your Resume up to snuff too, update it constantly and make it look presentable. Remember, it’s your first impression to a Producer.
Always ask questions at the end of the Interview.
Everyone always asks, “Well it was so nice meeting you and speaking with us, do you have any questions for us?”
What’s everyone’s go-to? “No, I’m good.”
Stop that.
Prepare 1-2 questions. I specifically like to ask workflow questions because not every show has the same workflow so this one is a great one to ask. For me, I usually ask:
“Specifically, what’s going to be my main responsibility during the gig? Is it mostly sound work, visual effects temp, turnovers, everything? Just want to know so I can prepare accordingly.”
If you’ve talked briefly about workflow during the actual interview, ask an even in-depth question about their workflow to gain a deeper sense of what you’ll need to be doing. This shows genuine interest and can only help you learn more about the project and your responsibilities.
Or if it’s a running TV show, ask how they did a particular scene in a previous episode. This means you’ve watched the show and did your homework as well:
“Actually I do have a show related question, how did the Editors create that awesome War scene? It looks like that took forever to create.”
It answers the question on a high note and leaves a good last impression of you if you answer the question in an open ended way rather than a simple “No, I’m good.”
If you can’t come up with any questions, RELATE. Relate with Stories. If they say, you’ll be doing mostly VFX work during the gig. Then take that and say:
“Oh great, I actually loved doing that during my time on X show. It was actually really fun for me to temp up crowd extensions and fill in green screens. I learned a lot from my Editor who actually was really particular about temp comps… Be interesting and stand out!
The whole point of this section is not to just nod along and agree because they don’t know anything about you. Show off your personality. Share who you are and your awesome learning experiences.
Arrive 15 minutes early. Don’t be late.
This one is pretty self explanatory. I can’t stress the importance of being on time in this industry (and by on time, I mean 15 minutes early). People say 50% of the job is showing up early. I say 70% is. This goes for interviews and for the actual job itself.
Remember, you are a small fraction of the entire movie and if you are the reason why something is not moving and you have 3-4 people waiting on you. It doesn’t look good on you and your supervisors.
Don’t be late. Period.
Well, thanks so much for visiting my blog today. I had a fun time writing this one because I really love getting into the details of specific topics like Interviews. Especially if I can give you practical advice that you can start implementing now. Anyway, thanks so much again for reading this.
If you want to get my help personally, as always I do 1-on-1 phone mentorship calls to help you. You can schedule an appointment here and I’ll give you a career plan to help you with your specific situation. What you can expect from that phone call is answered here
If you’re also in the market for subscribing to an Editing software, I highly recommend Adobe Creative Cloud for those who want to pursue a career in Hollywood Editing. All my videos I edit and graphics I create are done through the Creative Cloud and it’s been such a great experience so far. Check out the link below if you’re interested in learning what the professionals use.
‘Til next time.
-Alfonso