How To Keep Your Editor Job/Your Editing Gig

I've been getting a lot of hits on this last piece, which was about how to GET hired. This is a post about how to act in order to KEEP the job.

I've hired a lot of editors one time and one time only; Hopefully this will help you hold on to your freelance gig and make our lives easier. You'd be surprised about how many editors make simple mistakes that prevent them from being hired a second time.

1) Tell the Truth: OK, you don't know how to export H.264 correctly. That's fine. You don't know photoshop well? Just tell me; definitely during the interview process. If you're concerned about not getting hired, say "I've got a friend who can help me" or "I'm great with everything else, but maybe you can put me in touch with someone who can give me a few pointers on Motion, because I don't know it".

I've had editors say "Yeah, I can export for web fine", and I end up with a file on a DVD that's 2 gigs. If you tell me the truth, I can put you in touch with someone who can answer your questions. However, if you tell me that you know something, and you obviously don't...then you won't get hired again.

2) READ THE SCRIPT!!!: My sweet lord. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten cuts with lines, shots or even scenes missing. Read the script as you're putting the assembly together, read it as you trim each shot, read it outloud if you have to, but don't MISS things.

3) Be Specific With What You Want From the Producers: If you need a detailed log of all the shots, then tell me. If you want me to get all the music, graphics, etc for you beforehand, let me know. If you tell me after I give you the footage, it's annoying, because as a producer, I want to hand you the tapes and let you go. Once we've shot, I don't want to hear from you again until you have a cut for me.

In addition to that, be flexible. Don't email me and say "I didn't get the graphic for Britney Spears, so I can't put that together", just go grab a Britney Spears graphic from the web. That sort of stuff takes a few minutes and will save hours of aggravation.

4) Re-Watch Your Cuts: I always get cuts with huge gaffes, missing graphics (the dreaded "graphics offline" box), inaudible lines, repeat shots, etc. It's not that hard to watch what you've cut one time before you show it to me. It's only a few minutes and saves you from looking retarded.

5) Ask Questions: OK, you read the script and you have the footage, but you don't understand something. Call me up and ask me a question...don't guess. "What's this B-roll for?" requires a 10 second answer, but giving me a cut without the B-roll will give me a headache for an hour.

6) Make Your Deadlines: If you tell me it will be done on Wednesday...have it done on Wednesday. You need to tell me when you get the footage that it's going to take longer: Nothing says unprofessional like "I thought I could get this done, but I can't for another few days". I find that a lot of people overestimate to impress producers. If you need an extra day, just say so.

7) I Know, You're a Picture Editor, but Seriously, Just Sweeten the Sound a Little...: Doing some audio crossfades and equalizing in FCP or Avid takes a minimal amount of time and will make your cuts seem exponentially better. Don't hand me a cut with a bunch or drop outs or inaudible dialogue. You're just going to get a note saying "fix that" anyway.

8) Have FUN With The Cuts: Try something fun and unique. Stick in a funny graphic, add a cool sound effect, use an interesting video filter, put in a few interesting cutaways; have fun with it. Before you do it, ask "can I have fun with this?", most producers will say "yes, within reason", but...DO IT!

OK, I hope this helps! Good luck and keep those jobs...