It’s Not About Me (And That’s a Good Thing)

For some reason, clients or producers always get around to the question, “Did you go to school to edit?” Usually they ask this after they’ve seen a little bit of what I actually do, and they see how odd and specific a profession editing is—I mean, the skills don’t exactly carry over to other lines of work. Sometimes the question is asked because they are just interested in getting to know me better, but I’m always a little suspicious. Will my value go down if they find out that I didn’t go to a prestigious film school? (I didn’t.) Is there something that they only teach in film school that I don’t know about? (No.)

When I get the question, my answer is usually no. But that’s not really the truth—I studied Communication with an emphasis in Electronic Media. Not exactly film school, but not unrelated. I took plenty of film classes. But anyone who has been in the post production trenches knows the truth—film school doesn’t help. Much.

Think about it. One college class works out to about 42 hours. A little over one work week. Unless you’re an editor, in which case that works out to about 3 days. I once worked with (kind of under, actually) a guy who was 4 years younger than me. But instead of going to college, he went right into post production (the long, hard way). Because I spent 4 years in college, we both got in at around the same time. And I consider his technical knowledge to be superior to my own (not that I’m some genius).

I don’t want to belittle film school, because I think it’s valuable. But it should be seen in context. Beyond giving the student a broad overview of the industry, and precious resources to experiment with his own films, there is only one real advantage to film school—the network. You get to meet dozens of other students, all going into the same industry. You can help each other out with first jobs, gossip about professors to older alums who might want to hire you, and build a piecemeal film crew for your short film fairly easily once you’re out of college. That’s the main reason I regret not going to a proper film school.

But other than that, there is very little to learn about the craft of editing in film school. In his book The Parade’s Gone By, film historian Kevin Brownlow recounts an enlightening interview with William Hornbeck. He was one of the all-time great film editors, starting out in the silent era working for Mack Sennett. On editing he said, “of course, you can’t teach anyone how to edit…you can pass on advise; after that, you’ve got to use judgement.” And it’s true. There are no rules. Only what works and what doesn’t.

Which brings me to this humbling conclusion—even people with little to no film background can give notes that improve your film.

That’s not always the case. I’ve received plenty of notes that drive me batty. Sometimes the network has a specific agenda that only tangentially relates to your film. Though it’s far less frequent than many might think, sometimes you get notes that the film is too politically liberal or conservative. It’s too edgy or not edgy enough. Stars give notes. Agents give notes. Executives give notes. Directors give notes. Producers give notes. Art directors give notes. Lawyers give notes. Other editors give notes. Interns give notes (you don’t have to pay attention to those, but sometimes they’re insightful).

As you may well guess, sometimes these notes contradict each other. Hopefully, the editor is lucky enough to have a gifted producer compile the notes, and reduce it to something that makes sense (an art form itself). Then the editor is left with a pile of tasks to do. Sounds easy enough, but there is a potentially huge ego blow in there. If the editor does her job properly, she has put a lot of thought into each cut and transition. Each take was carefully chosen. The music hits the perfect note at just the right spot. So when the director says, “I don’t like that shot,” there is a moment of humiliation and defeat. Or at least there can be.

If I were to make a single recommendation to an aspiring editor still in college, it would be this: take a creative writing class. One with a workshop. My creative writing class is the reason I have no problem when my work is critiqued. Well, I’ve also grown up a little since I started out. In creative writing, we had workshop days. The entire class was encouraged to pretend that the author wasn’t in the room, and they tore it apart. It can be brutal. But once the storm is weathered, you come out with some positive ways to improve your story.

The same is true in editing. Even though in one sense the editor is the final storyteller (after the writer and director), the film is never considered as belonging to the editor. Our job is to make the best possible film from the footage we receive. And despite the fact that an editor may know a project like the back of his hand, sometimes a valuable tip comes from an unlikely source.

I’ve had plenty of helpful notes from producers and directors. More surprisingly, I’ve had helpful notes from studio executives and even clients completely outside the film industry. Notes that genuinely improve the project. Early on in my career, I was perhaps a little scornful of these “outsider” notes. What did they know about it? It took a little maturing on my part, but I eventually realized, “what do I know about it?” The only true “rule” of editing, is that it has to work. That’s it. Doesn’t take film school to figure that one out. Most people know when they’re watching a bad movie.

Here’s a common scenario: I’m in the editing bay with a client or producer, reviewing the cut. Client says, “that’s not working. Can we try this instead?”

After making the edit in my head, I say, “I don’t think that will work. But let’s give it a try.”

Sometimes it doesn’t work, but because I’ve tried it, the client now knows it doesn’t work. But a surprising amount of the time, it does work. Maybe it introduces some more issues I have to fix later on, but it still works.

That is truly humbling. And it’s why I take every note I get seriously. Because I want the best possible film.

So did I go to film school to edit? Answer: I go to film school everyday. And I have many teachers.