Careers A–Z · Post
Editor
The editor builds the film. Performance, pace, structure and meaning are all decided in the cutting room, usually differently from how they were written.
It is the quietest job on this list and one of the most consequential.
The basics
Also known as, and where the grade sits.
| Editor | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Editor, picture editor, film editor. Assistant editor and post production runner are the grades below. |
| Level | Head of the cutting room, working directly with the director. |
| Reports to | The director and the producer. |
| Comes after | Assistant editor, or your own work. |
| Leads to | Larger drama and features, or directing. |
The job
What does a editor do?
You watch everything, select performances, and assemble scenes while the shoot is still running. Then you cut with the director, then with the producers, then to a running time somebody else decided.
You are also the first audience. You say when a scene is not working, and you find the version that does — often by removing the thing everyone was proudest of.
The unglamorous end: months in a dark room, sedentary, on other people’s notes. The work is invisible when it is good, and every change is somebody’s idea you have to try properly.
The requirement
What is a editor good at?
Story instinct, stamina for detail, and the temperament to take notes without collapsing.
Story
Seeing the film in the material rather than in the script.
Rhythm
Timing a cut so an audience feels it without noticing.
Organisation
Thousands of clips, findable months later.
Diplomacy
Serving a director, a producer and a commissioner at once.
Endurance
Long schedules, and the last week is always the hardest.
Kit
Tools of the trade.
| What | The actual items |
|---|---|
| Software | Avid Media Composer on drama and features; Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve elsewhere. Know at least two. |
| Cutting room | Fast workstation, calibrated monitor, decent speakers, shared storage and a reliable backup. |
| Media | Proxies and dailies from the DIT, sync maps, LUTs and the sound reports. |
| Temp | Temp music, temp sound effects, and the discipline to keep them cleared or replaceable. |
| Paperwork | EDLs, AAFs and XMLs, change lists, and a delivery specification you read early. |
The unit
Who does a editor work with?
| Who | What passes between you |
|---|---|
| Director | The film, the notes and months in the same room. |
| Assistant editor | Media, sync, organisation and turnovers. |
| Producer and commissioner | Notes, running time and delivery. |
| Sound and music | Turnover, spotting and what the mix needs. |
| Colourist and VFX | Turnovers, versions and the finishing chain. |
Routes in
How do I become a editor?
A craft where the assistant grade is the training, and worth doing properly.
Assistant editor
The standard route. Media management first, cutting second.
Post house runner
Facilities hire runners and promote them into assisting.
Cutting your own
Shorts, documentary, promos and online work build a reel that speaks.
Factual and news
High volume editing that teaches speed and structure fast.
A degree is one route and not essential. Editing is judged on cuts people can watch; nobody has ever asked an editor for a transcript.
What matters is a body of work and a director who wants to sit with you for six months.
Nearby
The grades either side of this one.
The cutting room is fed by set and feeds the finish.
Post department guide
Free professional software and a free curriculum behind it. The best free offer in the industry.
Never been on a set? Start here. Offered a first day? Read this first. Want to know where this grade leads? Where people have gone names people who trained here and the productions they went to.
