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The Editor - Why Film Editors Complain A Lot Today

July 3, 2009

There was an interesting article this week in Daily Variety which was ostensibly about the American Cinema Editors pre-announcement of an award that they’ll be giving to Avid at their awards dinner in February (actually, I suppose I should say that we’ll be giving at our dinner, since as of June 2nd, I am now a member of ACE — you can leave your congratulations at the door). Variety takes the slant that:

The nod amounts to an unprecedented endorsement of a commercial product by ACE, which is coming down squarely on the side of one entry in the editing systems competish.

I’m going to nod my head as well in one way — I think that the Avid Media Composer is a pretty great editing platform, one that feels relatively robust. I also like how the company has been working feverishly to repair its image as a expensive, for feature film editors only, NLE. In fact, the student edition of MC is less than $300 (though it doesn’t come with some of the really great additional programs that my students really want and need — like Boris FX and Smart Sound — a good music creation program). I complain mightily to them about how they aren’t changing fast enough, in a world where it seems clear that the future of editing is more about us using our talents to do more in the editing and usually at lower budgets.

[I just finished a web spot for the American Institute of Architects for which I couldn’t justify charging my usual fee. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do it otherwise. No one pays standard editor fees for internet work!]

The article then goes on to say that the announcment of this award (the first time ACE has ever given a Technical Award) is also meant as a snub at Final Cut for Apple’s unwillingness to work with ACE. And then it goes on to say that it:

is also a message to producers: ACE’s members are frustrated about not having a choice of which tools they use, and they don’t like being forced to use alternatives to Avid.

Fewer than half of all editors are even consulted about what editing system they will use, according to an ACE survey, even though editors have a particularly intimate relationship with their system. As [editor Harry B.] Miller said, “The editing system really is an extension of us.”

Well, if you ask me (and I know you didn’t but that’s why they don’t pay me to write this blog), those two items are tied together. One of the reasons why Applemay not be working hand-in-glove with ACE is that most of their outreach goes to another group entirely — the up-and-coming editors. And those editors are more than happy to work with Final Cut for those producers. In fact, many of them have their own copies of Final Cut on their own systems at home, just like I do. Actually, I have both Avid and Final Cut at home. And I use both of them for various jobs. Avid is my usual choice, but there’s no doubt that any editor who isn’t flexible about this isn’t really looking at the industry around them. To quote the article again:

The overall production slowdown and shifts in TV scheduling have also made ACE editors nervous about their job prospects. “It’s hard enough to find consistent work as it is,” said Miller, “and when a major network takes out five hours of primetime programming, we’re all looking at each other wondering who’s not going to be working the next six months.”

[ACE President Randy] Roberts also pointed to the upheaval in production schedules and the demise of the fall TV season.

“The show with the 22-episode pickup has become a rarity. People shoot six shows and that’s it. Cable will shoot 16 shows and then ask editors to take a year off. So there’s constantly editors looking for work, instead of a big rush in July.”

Sorry folks, but that’s just the beginning of it. and complaining about not being consulted about our editing platform of choice reminds me of the days when some editors refused to move off of film because it “just wasn’t right.” I’m trying to think of how many editors who refuse to edit digitally are working today. The answer to that would be — none.

Well, the idea that we can force the studios to edit on one system or another is about as ridiculous as us telling the studio to push a release date back a month because we need the editing time. But in the world where I work — medium and low-budget projects of all sorts — I can usually choose what I edit on because my employers don’t give a damn. There isn’t enough money in it for them to care what platform I use, just so long as I can deliver what they want when they want it at the cost that they’re paying for it. Of course, many producers want to know why I’d use Avid on a job when they’re used to editors with Final Cut, or vice versa, but they aren’t usually sitting next to me at 11:00pm when I’m making the five layer effect.

So, what am I saying here?

The future of editing, aside from a very high-end elite group of editors, does not revolve around multiple orders of multi-million dollar episodes of television. It doesn’t revolve around consistent, almost staff-like work. Nope, we’re moving to a future of shorter, lower-paying gigs, with tighter schedules, smaller distribution and (hence) smaller paycheck. We’re evolving towards working from home or small offices, editing multiple projects at the same time in order to bring in a decent salary. And, sad to say, we’re evolving towards less and less work at full union wages and benefits.

Apple somehow smells that and doesn’t give a fig about ACE, so long as they have Walter Murch to trot out.

My hope is that Avid evolves into a company that cares as much about those garage-band editors as they do about we ACE folks, and can devote itself to both markets with agility and speed. Because that is where the bulk of the readers of this blog are going to be in a year or two, if they’re not already there. Many of you are already working in a world where you’re shooting as often as you’re editing. You live in a world where you may do a narrative editing gig one week, and do color correction the next.

So, some of us Old Timey Editors, are going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming into this new world. We’re not going to like it, but we’ll swallow it and learn several editing systems as well as After Effects, Colorista, Smart Sound and a host of other applications. We’ll learn to ingest media off of Long GOP file-based formats, as well as copying material over from drives supplied by high-end telecine and tape houses. We’ll work with smaller crews and long-distance.

And we’re really going to be happy, eventually. Because we’ll still be doing what we like — editing.

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For another view on this article, go over to Scott Simmons’ really excellent and observant piece at Studio Daily.