A question about salary, as usual.

[Mike Cohen]

I don’t see your editing reel on the COW reels section. Show us what you’ve got.

Mike Cohen

[Andrew Kimery]

When I first moved to LA some of the best advice I got from a friend was that to move up many times you have to move out. I’ve found this to be very true especially w/staff positions where there is no opportunity to move up unless someone above you leaves (or the company expands) and there is usually a fixed pay structure in place as well.

-Andrew

3.2GHz 8-core, FCP 6.0.4, 10.5.5
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (6.8.1)

[Rick Turners]

Geez, you guys are lucky.

I’ve been working in LA for a few years, worked in a couple “big” post houses.. and all of the assistants (of course) secretly talk about their pay…

an assistant editor right now is lucky to get 35-40k per year based on data i’ve gathered from 20 or so assistant editors over the last 2 years. (3 trailer houses and 4 full service post houses, as a freelancer)

It makes sense.. there are 30,000~ new grads every years in the US who all default to being editors after graduation. (after giving up careers as directors, of course.)

It’s a buyers market.

Grinner…
750 a day for a freelancer? Where?.. maybe for a top notch flame artist doing stereo vfx work on a coca cola spot?
Having worked with a lot of smoke artists/avid DS/and fcp guys I’ve never met one who is getting close to that.

If that is the going rate in St. Louis let us know..

[Lauren Brenner]

Really? That low? I’ve seen a lot of people who say they editors or assistants, but tend to not have any real experience in arenas that matter. Anybody can add a couple of edits and click a few buttons. But what about the people who know what to do when an Avid isn’t functioning properly, or how to encode discs without producing horrific interlacing issues. Or the more obvious things like properly prepping for telecines and color timing sessions, or prepping for VFX work and mixes.

I mean, tons of people are coming out of the woodwork, but hiring a bad assistant makes the company look bad. That must count for something.

[Rick Turners]

Lauren, the problem is that my 15 year old cousin can export things properly, just tell him what he needs to do in 25 seconds.

Company’s don’t have to look far, at all, for a new editorial staffer. They are everywhere.
Just spoke to someone yesterday.. assistant editor at $16/hr. Realistically, not bad.. but not what people seem to think they’ll get.

Now, being a lead editor cutting major commercials is another story. But again, thats not something you apply for and get, that is years of building high end clientele and essentially being your own business.

[Lauren Brenner]

You’re 15 year old cousin must be on the ball, because in my experience good assistants aren’t that easy to find. Ask any producer hiring and they’ll tell you getting competent staff isn’t exactly a delight. The amount of people I’ve worked with that can’t export a simple posting or DVD out of Avid MC correctly is really surprising, especially in the office I work where we’re working with top agencies and directors that expect things to happen timely while they’re in session. Not the best time to be explaining things to people.

I think you’re underestimating an assistant’s skill set. Being able to organize data correctly (something you can’t explain to someone in 25 seconds) and protecting media and projects is invaluable. Green assistants punch in tape numbers wrong, which can cost a company thousands right from the beginning. Green assistants send DVDs out with interlacing problems. Something that can really hurt a company’s reputation. And I’m sorry if I’m being critical with this comment, but most editors I come across do some serious damage to projects if they’re not being monitored. Importing to the wrong drives, misnaming media, etc. It’s not a crack about the editor, but that’s not their job. They cut, we keep their shit looking clean. And in a world where projects are passed on to new editors pretty frequently, knowing how to keep media together is very important. Because I know I’m not happy when I receive a messy FCP project, with badly converted files.

And don’t get me started on new editors and assistants coming from a Final Cut world. I’m an FCP before an Avid, but FCP projects are a nightmare compared to Avid. It’s so easy to set yourself up for failure early on, which most people seem to do . Maybe it’s easy to get by on little DVCPRO HD, but in a project with multiple formats that require professional finishing, I think your 15 year old cousin might have some small issues prepping. Especially under time constraints.