Hiring an editor

[Walter Biscardi]

Dude, we have a Jobs Forum for these postings. I have a posting in there as well.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
Credits include multiple Emmy, Telly, Aurora and Peabody Awards.
Biscardi Creative Media

Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital.

Read my Blog!

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Todd Terry] “Hope Ron doesn’t mind the cross post here…”

Oh no, yet again have I been forced to don my El Hombre Malo costume…

[Scene cuts to camera angle looking over man’s shoulder into closet as he sifts through vintage 1970’s pastel colored polyester leisure suits and other über-stylish vintage clothing. He finds a black and white cow-spotted spandex super costume with El Hombre Malo written across the front. Slipping it on, camera reveals intense burgundy hued wine stains on the shirt.]

“Bummer. I guess I forget to get it dry-cleaned after Nick was here.”

So, you get off easy this time, Todd. El Hombre Malo in full costume with wine stains would never do. So, you are lucky, man.

[Strains of Emerson Lake & Palmer’s ‘[Ew, what a] Lucky Man [he was]’ plays in background.]

But let’s not make a habit of these kinds of posts here, please.

Ron Lindeboom

[Todd Terry]

Hahahaha…. Ron’s post was worth every bit of the wrath. Every bit.

Ahhhh… it pays to have fun.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Mark Suszko]

Flip this into something on topic and useful: what do you look for when you want to hire an editor? Not specifically for Todd’s opening, but to anybody, in general.

Reels first? Resume’/list of credits? Or personal interviews?

Do you hire based on what they’re trained on, or what they’ve done with the tools they know NOW?

If you use a particular platform, do you disqualify the applicant because they are not specifically trained on it? I imagine this is true most of the time, since most places need you to hit the ground running and be productive on day one.

[Alan Lloyd]

If I was hiring an editor, I’d be looking at two things. First, I’d be inclined to think storytelling skills. I’d presume anyone who considered himself an editor could operate a chosen software platform, though sadly, that’s where a lot of people end their progress.

It’s the beginning. Using that platform to get from here to there is far more important than just clicking and dragging.

The other thing is…wait for it…patience. I’ve sat in online rooms with groups of people making decisions by committee, and it’s not pretty. Sure, the meter’s running, still, it’s difficult to keep from getting edgy when four people go back and forth about something that really needs to be decided. Keeping a steady hand matters.

Since I cut my own stuff, I won’t have this decision to make, at least for a while.

[Grinner Hester]

The reel is the deal. After that, it’s a personality test. People skills are more than half of the gig so that has always been the most importent thing to me.

[Mike Cohen]

Having recently been through this, here is what I did:

1. Sift through the resumes. In my ad I asked for links to online video examples. No links, no interview.
Ok that is not entirely accurate – a couple of people brought their DVD to the interview. But seriously, it is very easy to post your stuff online.

2. I narrowed it down to 9 interviews. Each one took about an hour. It is exhausting doing more than two a day. Lots of talking.

3. Interview. No suit, no 2nd interview.
Again, this is not entirely true, but one should at least dress for success. Granted, success as an editor can mean sandals and a tank top. In other words, the candidate should dress for the job, but use your judgement based upon your company’s culture. A suit can never hurt in my opinion.

4. The reel / interview. I do not let a great reel influence my decision too much – the personality and enthusiasm gets more weight. But enthusiasm and a crap reel is not good. Whereas a great reel usually goes hand in hand with enthusiasm, Youy gotta talk the talk AND walk the walk.

I am not so concerned about particular software or video formats. If you know FCP, you can learn Premiere, etc.

I was filling an entry-level job, but one in which the candidate will hit the ground running shooting and editing lots of different projects. I am looking for an understanding of aesthetics and basic editing understanding.

Let me break it down for you:
(the names and some personal details have been changed to protect the innocent)

1. Shirley – she had recently earned her Masters in communication. Apparently you can get that degree, at her institution, by not learning anything. Her reel was pretty bad. But she seemed to know what she was talking about and seemed intelligent. However the lack of any decent work samples, even considering it was college work, disqualified her.

2. Tom – He went to film school in Boston, and soon realized you can’t do much with that – in Boston. So he worked at a sign shop for 10 years and then recently did a two year digital filmmaking program in Boston. Again, with an eye on working in film, this did not go as planned. He did have some freelance gigs with a few CT based production companies. His reel consisted primarily of a documentary about dairy farming in the state, which was shot with a home video quality camera with pretty shoddy editing. However, amazingly, it had won awards in some local film festivals. And his enthusiasm and intelligence were high, so this was an exception to the bad reel/good personality scenario.

3. Vince – his reel consisted of a wedding. In fact he was doing weddings as his vocation at the moment, and commented that he did not like doing weddings. But he didn’t give me anything to go on, and he seemed pretty nervous, sweaty palms etc and I did most of the talking. Sorry Vince.

4. Dave – He had recently gone through the CT film office training program, in which you learn how to change film mags, setup dolly track and run a genny. This was with the promise that you would soon get lots of union-ready film work in CT’s burgeoning film industry. Only problem being, that film production in CT tends to bring in crews from Boston and NY. So he was working in a garage. He oddly had graduated from the same institution as Shirley, but as a Bachelor’s degree, and his reel was quite good. It was primarily his student film project. Most student film projects are cut form the same mold – 21 year olds acting like 40 year olds in silly adult situations. But he pulled it off, had some nice camera work, lighting and editing.

5. Charles – This was a guy who talked the talk, was enthusiastic but had nothing to show for it. No reel to speak of and no real experience. I think he was an English major – which is OK if you have some experience – but he didn’t. I think actually showed me a video he shot for a friend, which was actually nice.

6 & 7 – I don’t remember these, probably for good reason. I know one of the interviews lasted about 15 minutes. One of them was wearing a stained sweater vest, the other one a bathrobe. Not really.

8. Ricky – He seemed talk the talk pretty well and his reel, once we figured out how to play it, was not bad. But the fact that he brought a DVD that did not play to his interview said something about his attention to detail. Maybe this is too harsh, but you only get one chance to make a first impression.

9. Steve – He came in with a reel, a suit, knowledge about our company (you’d be surprised) and enthusiasm and intelligence. His reel consisted of a documentary about the melting polar ice caps, actually filmed on location with a college group. The video was good and had been in some film festivals also. Steve seemed to want the job. Everyone else wanted ANY job they could get, but Steve wanted THIS job. You want to hire someone who wants to work for you, not just someone who wants a paycheck.

So it comes down to trying to find someone’s work ethic without actually working with them.

I made an Excel – the best way to sort out information, and decided to bring in Steve, Tom and Dave for a 2nd interview with me and the boss and our other editor. In the end, it came down to the personality/perceived work ethic – if that is there and it is legitimate, you can teach someone what he or she does not know. There is about a year of teaching for new hires anyway, but the enthusiasm needs to be real. You can’t teach that.

We hired Steve, who is probably reading this right now thinking, “Polar ice caps? You sure you remember our interview?”

Once on the job, it will become apparent if you have made the right choice or not. It is a chance you take. Hopefully you have gone through a selection process so believe you are hiring the right person.

Good Luck.

Mike Cohen

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

My hiring practice is a little simpler. When they come in to interview I talk to them for about 5 minutes off topic to see if they are pleasant and smart.

Then I lead them to one of my edit bay where I have completely disassembled one of my AVID machines. I ask them to put it back together and call me when they are done.

If they can make it work, we look at reel and talk more.

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com

[Walter Biscardi]

[Emre Tufekci S.O.A.] “Then I lead them to one of my edit bay where I have completely disassembled one of my AVID machines. I ask them to put it back together and call me when they are done. “

What does this prove? That’s the LAST thing I want any editor doing to my equipment. Way too much money invested in all my gear and especially the SAN. I don’t really need my editor to be an engineer, just be creative and let me take care of the engineering side.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author.
Credits include multiple Emmy, Telly, Aurora and Peabody Awards.
Biscardi Creative Media

Creative Cow Forum Host:
Apple Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Apple Color, AJA Kona, Business & Marketing, Maxx Digital.

Read my Blog!

[Emre Tufekci s.o.a.]

We hire people for long term and invest time in training them.

I want my editors to understand what they are working with and get under the hood if there is a problem. I dont like people that throw their hand in the air as soon as there is a problem.

Our DoP people are very creative cinematographers and DIT’s.

Our AD’s are people who have worked their way up the ranks, they understand what every department does and know how to do it themselves…….and so on

This is the way I was trained when I started the business and it has worked for me so far. I have very talented, creative people that solve any problem they face.

Emre Tufekci
http://www.productionpit.com