After a over a decade of working for Disney in various capacities (actor, editor, and producer), Les Perkins went solo, creating an editing suite in a set-off part of his home in Glendale, CA. His advice on setting up a system, “Make sure it’s comfortable and ergonomically sound – your butt’s going to spend long hours in that seat.”

Due to his contacts and the economy (Hollywood studios let staff editors go and were looking to save money at big post houses on many projects), one project has led to another and Les’s business has thrived.

Over a lunch at a veggie place in the (San Fernando) Valley, he told me, “I love problem solving – finding editorial solutions for production problems so the client doesn’t have to re-shoot.”

His system

Les has a tricked out Final Cut Pro system and has just installed version 7, the latest FCP version. He provides basic editing, sound work, and does all kinds of effects work on all types of corporate projects. He produces many of the projects as well as editing them, hence is called a preditor. I featured Les in Your Cutting Room View which has his contact info but here it is again: www.LesIsMoreProductions.com.

Fix it in post – Not!

This is a less desirable approach than ever, Les believes. “Before you shoot a pixel or a frame, you have to plan your post production workflow all the way through delivery.” He rattled off many issues to be figured out including: determining the codecs in the camera, the editing system, how sound will be recorded, and how color will be graded (corrected). “Post has to be part of preproduction,” he insisted, in order to achieve the most efficient workflow

Getting work and keeping up

Les checks out many websites for jobs including: www.mandy.com (good for entry level) and www.Media-Watch.com. He also attends the LA FCP Users group (www.lafcpug.org Even if you do not live in the LA area there’s lots of useful info on the site and there’s probably an ug near you.) each month and asks technical questions from his circle of tech gurus.

Finally I asked Les how he feels about editing after all these years. He responded enthusiastically, “I look at editing as being a great big jigsaw puzzle and you’re the one who pulls all the pieces into one nice, big cohesive story.”

admin Editing practices, Editor’s role, Jobs, Technical and process

“Why do you want to move to LA and become an editor? You’ll just be stuck behind a Moviola in a dark room.”

A fellow grip said this to me when I was working as a local hire on a movie in northern California and told him of my desire to relocate to Hollywood. Kinda dates me, huh?

Anyway, I interviewed the editor and assistant who were working away in a motel. I also talked to everyone on the three-week shoot and got their contact info. This gave me confidence to move south and start seeking editing work. Three weeks after moving I got a job as an assistant sound recordist at a hole-in-the-wall sound transfer house. Assistant editors dropped off ¼” dailies which we transferred to 35mm for editing. I took some freebie jobs to learn to sync and the rudiments of the 1979 cutting room. In 1980 I landed my first paid assistant job on That’s Incredible! for Alan Landsburg Productions.

Flash forward to 2010. I am re-writing my first book, Cut by Cut: Editing Your Film or Video. Before leaving LA I was madly interviewing editors of all types: assistants, comedy, reality, feature, TV, sound, online etc. I have found that each type of editing requires special skills and brings different as well as similar perspectives on our calling. So follow along as I relate their observations and particular challenges, and feel free, as always, to make your own comments.

admin Editing practices, Editor’s role, Jobs

“It’s not a mystery. It’s pretty blatant,” says Carlos de Jesus, director of NYU’s Future Filmmakers Workshop. “The film industry has been dominated, especially at the upper echelons, by white males.”

The statistics for minorities are grimmer than for women: I couldn’t find any online. If you know of any sources, please let me know. Here are a couple of articles that I did find. However they’re not even from the last year:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/visibleman/2008/08/minorities_get_little_respect_1.html

http://diverseeducation.com/article/7441/flocking-to-film-school-minorities-and-the-film-industry.html

http://www.newenglandfilm.com/news/archives/99january/womeninfilm.htm

This article tackles TV and video games with the same dismal results:

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/ethnics_and_minorities/minorities_entertainment.cfm

But let’s get the latest statistics and hopefully see some improvement!

admin History/research, Jobs

Here are the depressing, er, challenging statistics for 2009:

Box Office
Stats from Motion Picture Association of America

• 113 million female moviegoers bought 55% of the tickets.
• 104 million men bought 45% of the tickets.

Behind the Scenes
Stats from Center for the Study of Women in TV and Film, San Diego State U

Women

• directed 7% of the top 250 grossing films.
• wrote 8% of the top 250 grossing films.
• comprised
  • 17% of all executive producers
  • 23% of all producers
  • 18% of all editors
  • 2% of all cinematographers

Womencentric Films
Stats from Box Office Mojo

• 2 of the top 10 grossing films
• 9 of the top 50 grossing films (two of these are animated – The Princess and the Frog, Coraline);
• 18 of the top 100 grossing films;
• 26 of the top 150 grossing films

Relationship between women behind the scenes and on-screen
Stats from -Boxed In: Women On Screen and Behind the Scenes in the 2003-04 Prime-time Season, by Martha Lauzen

• Women working behind the scenes influenced the number of on-screen women. When a program had no female creators, females accounted for 40% of all characters. However, when a program employed at least one woman creator, females comprised 45% of all characters.

More statistics at http://womenandhollywood.com/statistics-on-women-and-hollywood/

Help!

Woman Make Movies exists to overcome these harsh realities. The site has resources as well as statistics to help empower women to be filmmakers and make their movies.

admin History/research, Jobs

There’s No Business Like Soul Business by Derek Rydall is the best book I’ve seen on how not just to keep yourself together, but to grow and get your creations realized in Hollywood or anywhere. While I wish I’d had this book when I started out, one of its strongest attributes is that it works for those who just got off the bus at Hollywood and Vine and those who’ve ridden the line for a long time.

Although this 235 page book is aimed at those seeking artistic success in Hollywood, it applies to creators of any kind – editors, videographers, writers, artists, inventors, woodworkers, etc. – who desire to break through personal and corporate barriers and get their work noticed and sold.

Rydall advises that you “gotta know the territory” as Professor Hill from The Music Man would have said. He lays out Tinsel town’s mindset in a down-to-earth way, puncturing the myths about how to secure success in Hollywood with solid advice and a series of practical, soul-probing, self-reinforcing exercises.

admin Editing and life, Jobs

There’s a new place for post production people to connect on Facebook. Post Production Networking Group, conceived and managed assistant sound editor and set photographer, just started last week and has already generated over 2100 members! The group is going where the spirit takes it and this means networking!

Looking for a job? Post your talents and needs here. The spirit has moved folks and it’s exciting to see. Maybe this will be the Craig’s list of post production. Jobs are being posted are being posted too. So join in!

admin Jobs

In addition to writing books on editing and blogging, I also create training materials and sporadically edit videos for a major insurance company. Last week this company sent me to Orlando for Learning2009, a conference on learning in these uncertain times.

I feel very fortunate to have gone to the conference – more about it in future blogs. And to have a job in these tough economic times.

But how is it for all of you in your twenties trying to break into film work? It has always been a challenge to break into Hollywood and maintain a career, not to mention a life.
I went to a seminar titled, “The Unemployed College Graduates: A Perspective from the Class of 2009.” Due to their dismal prospects, this gen is now being called the Lost Generation. This is the second gen to receive this chary title. The first Lost Gen came of age in the 1920s after WWI and is the great-grandparents to the second.

2009 grads I know and what they’re up to:

1) Lief, Computer Science grad from UCLA, had two well-paying job offers 10 months before he graduated. He’s loving working for Citrix in Sales and flying all over the country.

2) Sarah, a biology major at Wheaton, is delaying grad school and other options, and doing a year with AmeriCorps in Nevada.

She’s writing a poetic and brilliantly insightful daily blog and developing her photography skills. (Photo on left is hers.)

3) Casey, a music major at SUNY, Purchase, is working for J.Crew while waiting for his girlfriend to graduate and has formed his own band, Galapaghost  

He plans to move to Texas to join its independent music scene next year with his gf.

How is it for those of you trying to break in? Are you where you want to be like Lief? Volunteering like Sarah or in grad school? Tacking with a McJob and doing your thing on the side a la Casey? Comment here and perhaps I or a reader can help.

admin Editing and life, Jobs

Following on my interview with independent filmmaker high school student J.T. last week, here’s a site that offers a forum on all aspects of filmmaking as well as resources and a magazine for students:

admin Editing practices, Editor’s role, Jobs