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Breaking into this industry as an editor
I have been trying to get my foot in the door as an assistant editor for almost two years now. I have worked a lot of freelance jobs and internships. I have a solid knowledge of Final Cut Pro and working on getting my Avid and After Effects skills just as good.
I just can’t figure out what the missing element is. I know contacts, a great reel, and strong skills are important. I have a lot of industry contacts but hardly any of them are editors. Does anyone have any tips on how to meet and network with editors? Are there other people I should be trying to network with other than editors, for instance directors? What else does it take to move up from an post-production assistant or intern to an AE?
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21 Replies
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How is your storytelling? That’s the most important thing for me.
I see a lot of reels that are full of motion graphics, slick transitions, etc… I want to see a 5 minute story with nothing but cuts and dissolves. Most editors can’t show me that.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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[ Audrey] I have a lot of industry contacts but hardly any of them are editors. Does anyone have any tips on how to meet and network with editors?
Go to user group meetings if they are in or close to an area around you. You mentioned that you know FCP, here is a list of User Groups: https://www.fcpworld.com/links/ Hope this helps.
Check out my DVD Money Making Graphics & Effects for Final Cut Studio 2
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For me, Walter is spot on here.
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You need to be talking with production house owners, not editors. You’ll be starting for free or close to it so cold call everyone in town shaking branches to see what fruit falls. I got into places by doing everything from working as a tape librarian to painting walls, to taking out the trash. When my first real edit job was offered at 8 bucks an hour, I took it. I climbed ladders as my salary needs changed… usually with the birth of every new child and I simply got hired on elsewhere with a 10k raise. I moved my family to five states in as many years at one point and was able to make a decient living at it with just one job after a decade or so.
Understand that networking IS a fulltime job. Start with your local production guid and be willing to move when something is offered elsewhere. Do not be afraid to branch out beyond your current skill set. One of the best jobs I ever got was a result of saying “yes” on the phone when they asked if I knew the “NightSuite”. I was hired over the phone, moving arrangements were made, then I hung up and called everyone in my local market looking for one so I could learn it. When I got to the network I was hired at, I trained their staff on it.
I had never touched one prior to the phone call.
That job is what opened big doors for the rest of my career.
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Networking with editors isn’t going to help – they aren’t likely to hand you their own valuable contacts or refer you for jobs that they themselves need. Part of the problem you’re experiencing is that there is an incredible glut of editors out there these days. I recently posted a listing for an FCP editor and received about 40 responses within 24 hours, most of whom had a mile long resume and pretty good reels. In situations like this it really does come down to who you know, because your chances of being noticed in a stack of resumes that high is, well, 40:1. To get in the door you need to know people on the inside of the production houses, ad agencies etc. in your area. They can help you land the jobs before they are even made public, and save the hiring manager a lot of time and BS in the process.
I would focus on finding mixers, events and user groups catering to various post production roles, agencies etc. outside of editing. This could include motion graphics groups, VFX groups, agency functions and beyond. These people, since they aren’t in direct competition with you for jobs, would be good inside allies to have pitching for you when positions come up. But they won’t vouch for you simply because they met you at some mixer, you need friends on the inside – this means cultivating relationships with the people in your local production community like crazy. When you do land a gig, network with everyone there like your career depends on it. Make friends with everyone, including (and to some degree especially) the front desk/reception people, and don’t be the silent emo guy/girl who slinks in and out every day unnoticed.
I would also suggest making contact with the hiring personnel of your local studios when they don’t have any openings listed. This gives you a better chance of reaching them directly and introducing yourself since they aren’t in defense mode from all the applications they’ve been getting.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
That’s a good point. I see the same thing all the time when I look at reels. I broke mine up into 3 sections, first section is a music video and then the other two are shorts I worked on and they both tell stories.
It is on there. It would help me out a lot if you could look at it and provide me with some constructive criticism.
Thanks Walter
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I think my main problem is that I’ve been going after small potatoes. In other words, the internships and post PA jobs I’ve had up until this point have been for independent directors, small vfx houses, and places that just don’t get a lot of traffic or jobs.
In order to meet the types of people you’ve mentioned- ad agencies, production houses, and people in HR – how do you suggest I do that? By just going to LA411 and making cold calls? Mailing out my resume and reel whether I know or not if they are hiring? Forgive me, I am just horrible at networking and really need people to spell it out.
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[Audrey Weller] “I think my main problem is that I’ve been going after small potatoes. In other words, the internships and post PA jobs I’ve had up until this point have been for independent directors, small vfx houses, and places that just don’t get a lot of traffic or jobs. “
Nope, that’s not a problem. You need to do as many small potato jobs as possible. And smaller houses usually do a multitude of projects, not just one thing over and over. I did one $500 job three years ago for one client as a favor and that turned into a PBS series, three feature length documentaries, 80 news stories per year, a 2nd potential PBS series and probably two more years worth of work from that one client.
I have done a lot of “small potato” work because it keeps building my name out there and the quality of our shop gets around. We’re only a full time staff of 3 here with another 4 or 5 contract editors running three edit suites. Yet we’ll deliver about 350 projects by the end of 2009. Some of them as simple as “please burn this beta to DVD for me.” Others as complex as a 50 part series for Discovery Science channel and 3 the feature documentaries.
The size of the project or the size of the shop doesn’t matter. It’s the quality of your work and getting your name out there as a reliable, good storyteller. As others have said, networking with editors won’t help you much at all because any freelance editors is not going to give you any leads. You need to start getting into meetings that have as many production house owners, managers, etc… as possible. Corporate video departments are wonderful places to get your foot in the door. Very often they give the editors a lot of leeway in freedom to create.
[Audrey Weller] “In order to meet the types of people you’ve mentioned- ad agencies, production houses, and people in HR – how do you suggest I do that? By just going to LA411 and making cold calls? Mailing out my resume and reel whether I know or not if they are hiring? Forgive me, I am just horrible at networking and really need people to spell it out.”
NATAS, Final Cut Pro User Group, After Effects / Motion Graphics User Groups, State Film and Video dept. meetings and events, etc….
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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Meet people. Lots of people. Let people know that you are available to fill in for others. You are not a threat to the top people, but you are a threat to the lower people.
We have a local group that is hosted right here on the COW. Although I am not an FCP editor, I own four stations and I hire others to run them. I have a great creative guy and a second string editor that is happy with being in second place and we have occasional interns. Sometimes we travel and I need to take an editor with me while my entire staff stays behind at the office.
Have a business card with your photo and only crucial info. It must have a url to your reel.
Your website should be a resume and lot of clips that are your best work.
Get a name badge that says Audrey Weller, Editor/Compositor, FCP, AVID, AE. This will be an ice breaker and people will ask about your skills and experience.
And remember one very important thing: Your profession is Editing and Composition but your actual job is “Selling your skills to those who will hire you”.
We do not hire smokers. They are bad for business.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
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I suppose the first part of networking would be to fill out your profile and include your online demos. I’ve outsourced to many a COW grazer.
Steve
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