Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.

VO line that begins each Days of Our Lives episode.

Another post in my continuing series of editor interviews. I am grateful to each and every editor for their sharing their time, experience, and insights.

Following on the Emmy awards, this editor/interviewee has won two daytime Emmys for Outstanding Achievement in Multiple Camera Editing for a Drama Series and been nominated four other times for Days of Our Lives, which has run since 1965 and he’s been cutting for eight years. Lugh Powers is also an Avid trainer and engineer extraordinaire for many years, which is how I first crossed paths with him. He enthusiastically consented to a dinner interview after a long day (at work since 6 a.m.) on.

The different and familiar world of soap editing

So what unique about soaps? The time frame, for one thing. Lugh and his post crew, composed of an assistant editor, associate editor, sound mixer, music supervisor, and online editor, start and finish a new one-hour show each day, five times a week.

How do they do it?

To start, a fast film crew shoots 135 pages at 30”/page daily on digi beta, using two redundant stages with dedicated sets. One set is prepped and lit while the other’s being filmed, in a constant rotation. “We move the actors to the lights, instead of the lights to the actors,” Lugh, who as an AD also directs on occasion, explained. The show uses three primary cameras and, as needed, a floating camera or a gib camera.

As far as post production, Lugh asserts that” technology is there to serve the story.” The editorial crew employs four Avid Symphonys utilizing the multi-cam set-up. Typically the associate editor puts together the first cut and gets notes from the producer before Lugh, as lead editor, makes the final cut. Like other TV editors, he does sound work and visual effects, and like a multi-cam comedy editor, he uses the director’s line cut and the lined script as a guide for cutting. However, there are no pre-laps on the show because, as with most soaps, “Dialogue is driving the show so we stay on the actor speaking.”

Attitude

Lugh is strongly passionate about editing and believes it to be the “best job because you get to create. Where else do you get to indulge that five year old child who sees a castle or a spaceship, not a cardboard box?” Further, he firmly believes that it is the [film] industry’s responsibility to entertain, inspire, and teach. “We are the bards,” he maintains, making it a wrap to our dinner and discussion.

admin Awards, Editing practices, Editor’s role, Technical and process, Television

Congratulations to all winners and nominees. And a big salute to all toil for the tube: assistant editors, editors, sound editors, visual effects editors, music editors, online editors, post supervisors, PAs, and post house personnel.

Here are this year’s winners:

OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
(SINGLE OR MULTI-CAMERA)
RYAN CASE, Editor
Modern Family
Pilot ABC

OUTSTANDING SINGLE-CAMERA PICTURE EDITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
STEPHEN SEMEL, Editor
MARK J. GOLDMAN, Editor
CHRISTOPHER NELSON, Editor
HENK VAN EEGHEN, Editor
Lost
The End ABC

OUTSTANDING SINGLE-CAMERA PICTURE EDITING FOR A MINISERIES OR A MOVIE
LEO TROMBETTA, A.C.E., Editor
Temple Grandin HBO

OUTSTANDING SHORT-FORM PICTURE EDITING
CHRISTOPHER TARTARO, Editor
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
6-Bee (Episode 226) NBC

OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR A SPECIAL (SINGLE OR MULTI-CAMERA)
BILL DeRONDE, Supervising Editor
JOHN ZIMMER, Editor
MARK STEPP, Editor
MICHAEL POLITO, Editor
The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Concert HBO

OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR NONFICTION PROGRAMMING
SAM POLLARD, Editor
GEETA GANDBHIR, Editor
ARIELLE AMSALEM, Editor
By The People: The Election Of Barack Obama HBO

OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR REALITY PROGRAMMING
ERIK CHRISTENSEN, Editor
Intervention
Robby A&E

admin Awards, Television

Note 1: I will dedicate a future blog or two to job hunting and include advice from all the editors and assistants I interviewed.

My latest interviewee, assistant editor Rachelle Dang, clued me in a program that really helped her career: the A.C.E. internship program in LA for college grads. The editor who mentored her was Lori Jane Coleman. Now Lori has co-authored a book with A.C.E. editor Diana Friedberg, Make the Cut: A Guide to Becoming a Successful Assistant Editor in Film and TV.

Note 2: All italicized sentences are quotes from the book.

The assistant editor is the heart of the cutting room…

This 230 page guide book contains the gospel from Hollywood. If you want a Hollywood career, take heed. If you work in editorial outside of Hollywood, let me know how this differs or parallels your experience and what your advice would be.

Like Gaul (for those who, like me, took Latin and read Caesar’s The Gallic War), the book is divided into three parts. Here’s a synopsis:

Part 1 – Getting Started (titled just like my book!), has nine chapters. The first chapter details how to prep for the interview and the job. The rest address the specific duties of the AE such as supplies to acquire, inputting dailies, best strategies for organizing Avid or FCP bins for drama, documentary, and reality shows, workflows, and the stages of post (dailies, online, etc.)

Part 2 – Protocol, with three chapters, goes over editing room etiquette, the Hollywood pecking order, and surviving cutting room politics.

Being an assistant has its heartaches and rewards. There are long hours, social politics to navigate, career decisions to be made, and jobs to be won or lost.

Part 3 – Make the Cut, composed of three chapters, tells you how to shine (always bolded) as you advance and lists containing job websites. It also advises you on how to advance from freebie to paying non-union jobs to union work and provides a couple of tables. One table shows the pay scale and years to expect to wait for advancement according to the genre trail you choose to follow: feature, TV, doc, and reality. Another table provides a budget for how to invest each week’s [union] pay including saving for those times you’ll be unemployed. Part 3 and the book finish with a chapter consisting of a panel discussion of editors who relate their views on assisting and their career trajectories.

My main negative with the book is the pronoun referring to the editor being he, never she. The time for limiting editors – or any profession – to males – in writing or hiring – is long past. Use your words and hiring practices to include everyone. It’s reality and the fair, right thing to do.

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

After reality editor Adam Coleite’s several references to assistant editors in the last two posts, I decided it was high time to talk to one of these unsung post workers, even more unsung than editors!

I met assistant TV editor Rachelle Dang, fresh from R & R in Hawaii after completing a pilot, in Culver City. Surrounded by LA and home to MGM (now Sony), Lorimar (defunct) and other studios past and present, Culver City’s main artery, Washington Blvd., features a parade of large kiosks remarking on the city’s motion picture past.

At a justifiably popular French eatery, Rachelle summed up her job, “You’re the point person for everyone who touches the cutting room: editor, post supervisor, music editor, sound editor, VFX editor, online editor, producer, etc.”

My journey: Like so many others, I have spent years as an assistant before finally getting the break to editor. And I even assisted afterwards – climbing the ladder isn’t always a linear endeavor.

So, what do assistant editors do? Everything. Here’s a rundown of Rachelle’s responsibilities, in show order:

Beginning of show

• Create workflow for show (with input from poster supervisor and editor as needed).
• Organize paperwork: lined script and script supervisor’s report as well as camera and sound reports.
• Receive synced dailies in bins on hard drive from the post house and copy them into editor’s Avid via Firewire.
• Prep bins for editor(s) by:
  • Importing script into the Avid so it becomes a bin and shot takes line up according to the script.
  • Adding locators (markers) on pick-ups.
• Make sure director, producer, etc. receive copies of dailies (via DVD or QT file to server).

As editor cuts show

• Input SFX and MX (at beginning and as show progresses and new sounds and music are needed).
• Render and help create VFX.
• Make outputs of cuts for director, sound and music editors, producers, studio, and network.
• Back up metadata regularly to an external drive which she takes home. On a series she’ll occasionally back sup SFX and MX since they’re used regularly, but not picture media.
• Make outputs for post supervisor for promo purposes.
• Keep the cutting room running technically, e.g. media share, and secure help when things break down.
• Check email (on home and work computer) for messages from editor, other assistant, producer, etc.

Once show locks

• Build (formats) show to network specs.
• Create bin with final, formatted cut for online editor and VFX data on an EDL so temp VFX can be rebuilt.
• Provide sound editors with data and materials such as:
  • A “chase” cassette of show with burnt-in timecode with tracks split according to their specs.
  • OMF and EDL of show.
• Output a DVD or file for music editors with dialogue track on Channel 1 and temp mix on Channel 2.

An hour show will typically shoot for 7 days with a 2:3 assistant to editor ratio.  While the old union ratio of 1:1 has disappeared, Rachelle has her own editing system for her work. Still, she says, serving the editor is less than 50% of the job.

What’s her advice to managing all these facets of the editing room? Rachelle asserts, “Ask, ask, ask. You won’t know everything on any show so don’t to be afraid to ask.”

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

Going into the interview with Adam I was aware that editors of reality shows often are under the gun to plow through tons of crap, er, footage, to pluck out the proverbial pony.  Over the course of lunch he opened my eyes to a couple of aspects that I hadn’t thought of.

For instance, here what Adam had to say about the appeal of reality shows:

“We’ve been conditioned to understand that when the camera’s shaky, stuff doesn’t match, the dialogue’s not so audible and there are strange cuts that it’s real. We allow more leeway for mistakes, for messiness, because they seem more real.” He continued, “Reality and nonfiction TV don’t have to have production values because people [viewers] assume it’s real and forgive more.”

Role of a reality editor

Adam stated, “I’m not just putting shots together; it’s a lot more creative. I’m telling a story that didn’t exist before I started.” He reflected, “I am much more the storyteller because I’m creating the story as I’m cutting it.”

My conclusion: The reality or non-fiction editor plays the same role as a fiction editor or any other editor – story teller.

Being a reality editor

I like reality because I’m not tied to continuity -- to temporal or space continuity. I can jump cut, for example when someone pulls up to a house and knocks on the door I can take time out.”

He added, “Reality frees you up to think about a scene and put a scene together differently. How you start a scene and how you end a scene. I can start on a line and not worry about what people are wearing or where they are.”

In the examples below, from two series Adam edited on, see how true his words are.

Example 1

In this first scene, notice how the editing freely jumps around to move the story quickly and make the points clearly.

Crime 360, http://www.aetv.com/crime-360/video/index.jsp?bclid=1463262306&bcpid=1463371098&bctid=1473689147

Example 2

See how the pacing differs in this scene.

Last American Cowboy

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

Third in a series of interviews with working editors in and around Hollywood

I connected with Adam Coleite after putting out a call for reality editors to interview on Facebook. We met up at a restaurant of his choice – a Corner Bakery in Burbank. A genial 30-something, he gave me a rundown on the logistics and challenges of editing reality (love the double entendre) as well as some insightful comments on audience perceptions of the genre and his own take on it.

Setting up the show

It takes five weeks from start to finish to edit an hour show, Adam explained. Editorial begins with the assistant editors, (AEs), who set up each show as a project on the Final Cut Pro. They prep the bins, log the footage, and put in markers when there are multiple takes. Ordinarily the AEs set up show one of two ways: They stack takes on the timeline or multi-clip it. This entire set-up process consumes 3-4 days as reality shows are as renowned for having tons of footage as they are for being shot on the cheap.

Starting to edit

“There’s a lot of useless, unusable footage,” Adam reports. “Because there’s a lot of footage and not many good script supervisors on set, sometimes I have to look through an hour of footage to find a moment or a response. There are a lot of needle in the haystack moments.”  He sums it up, “There are more options and poor notes.”

In addition to a set-up show on the system, Adam gets a transcript of interviews marked by the loggers who can be in-house or outsourced. He also receives a story outline from the story producer. But this is just a starting point. “A lot of the work is figuring out the show as you go. At first I don’t know what I’m looking for,” Adam reveals.

Part of the job

Adam cuts out the curses or bleeps them if unavoidable. Pick-ups may be necessary from the original people in the show and/or the narrator, often at the network’s request. Most shows shun re-creations a.k.a. re-enactments or alert the audience to them with a caption.

“There’s tons of cheating [of shots] that goes on,” Adam relates. Why? Because “you’re paying attention the veracity and continuity of the story,” he explains.

He does all sound and music work and adds VFX, graphics, and titles as well. There’s a lot of rendering of VFX which take time as he cuts everything hi res.

Adam screens the cut on the system with the show producer, after which the two of them work together to redo the outline and he re-cuts the show.

Subsequent cuts may be viewed by the showrunner, network executive, and possibly the president of the production company.

Finishing

Once locked, the AEs sort out the audio tracks and send an OMF to the mixer. They sort out the video files and send them to the colorist. They also send these files to the online editor who QCs to meet broadcast specs the show and may add more VFX. The final show is sent to the network for broadcast.

Coming up in Part 2: Hear what Adam has to say about cutting reality and compare scenes from two shows that he edited on.

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

What do you do when someone buttonholes you with “My son wants to get into editing. Can you help? How hard can editing be?” This new, short animated video, So You’re An Editor, describes what editors do and provides some ammunition.  Consisting of static, talking heads done in nauseating Necco wafer pastels, it involves a union TV editor but applies to all editors.

Warning: Video includes a short rant on the virtues of Avid, guaranteed to po Final Cut Pro users.

admin Editing and life, Editor’s role, Humor, Television

While no one is quite sure how Oscar came to stand for the annual motion picture award and statue, Emmy’s lineage is clear. She was named after a camera. Actually “she” was almost a “he.” Syd Cassyd, founder of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS), proposed Ike after the iconoscope but since there was a standing president by that name, this idea was quickly abandoned.
The statue started out as Immy, named after an early image orthicon camera. Immy was changed to Emmy after the statue was designed, to be a more clearly female name.
How did the design evolve?
In 1948, after rejecting 46 design proposals votes, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) members agreed on a design created by engineer Louis McManus who modeled the statue on his wife. In keeping with the times, Emmy holds out an atom, representing science and sports wings, representing art.

Here’s a video (editing is slap-dash) on how the 4¾ lbs statuettes that winners receive, are made today:

admin Awards, History/research, Television

As a member of the Editor’s peer group for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, (ATAS), every year I vote on the nominations for best editing in all categories as well as for best drama and comedy show. This year I had to forego the fun due to packing and unpacking for my move to northern CA.

Nomination process

Here’s how it works:

2010 Emmy Nominations

Here are this year’s nominees for best editing: What do you think?

One thing has changed: There used to be separate categories for single- and multiple-cam comedy; now they’re combined. Also, notice Steve Rasch, whom I just blogged about, was nominated for Curb Your Enthusiasm.

1) Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series

Breaking Bad • No Mas • AMC • Sony Pictures Television
Skip MacDonald, Edited by

Dexter • The Getaway • Showtime • Showtime Presents, John Goldwyn
Productions, The Colleton Company, Clyde Phillips Productions
Matthew V. Colonna, Edited by

Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios
Stephen Semel, Editor
Mark J. Goldman, Editor
Christopher Nelson, Editor
Henk Van Eeghan, Editor

Mad Men • The Gypsy And The Hobo • AMC • Lionsgate Television
Pattye Rogers, Edited by
Christopher Nelson, Edited by

Mad Men • Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency • AMC • Lionsgate Television
Tom Wilson, Edited by

2) Outstanding Picture Editing For A Comedy Series (Single Or Multi-Camera)

Curb Your Enthusiasm • The Table Read • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Roger Nygard, Editor
Jonathan Corn, A.C.E., Editor

Curb Your Enthusiasm • The Bare Midriff • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Steve Rasch, A.C.E., Editor

Modern Family • Pilot • ABC • Twentieth Century Fox Television
Ryan Case, Editor

Modern Family • Family Portrait • ABC • Twentieth Century Fox Television
Jonathan Maxwell Schwartz, Editor

30 Rock • Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001 • NBC • Broadway Video, Little Stranger, Inc. in association with Universal Media Studio
Ken Eluto, A.C.E., Editor

3) Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Miniseries Or A Movie

The Pacific • Part 5 • HBO • Playtone and Dreamworks in association with HBO Miniseries
Edward A. Warschilka, Editor

The Pacific • Part 9 • HBO • Playtone and Dreamworks in association with HBO Miniseries
Alan Cody, A.C.E., Editor
Marta Evry, A.C.E., Editor

The Pacific Part 8 • HBO • Playtone and Dreamworks in association with HBO Miniseries
Alan Cody, A.C.E., Editor

Temple Grandin • HBO • A Ruby Films, Gerson Saines Production in association with HBO Films
Leo Trombetta, A.C.E., Editor

You Don’t Know Jack • HBO • Bee Holder, Cine Mosaic and Levinson/Fontana Productions in association with HBO Films
Aaron Yanes, Editor

4) Outstanding Short-Form Picture Editing

82nd Annual Academy Awards • John Hughes Tribute • ABC • Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Dakota Solt, Editor

82nd Annual Academy Awards • Horror Tribute • ABC • Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Jon Bloom, Editor
Bayard Stryker, Editor

American Idol • Dream (Episode 924/925A) • FOX • FremantleMedia N.A., Inc. & 19TV Ltd.
Oren Castro, Editor

Jimmy Kimmel Live • The Handsome Men’s Club (Episode 10-1330) • ABC • Jackhole Industries in association with ABC Studios
Brian Marsh, Editor

Jimmy Kimmel Live • The Late Night Wars (Episode 10-1304) • ABC • Jackhole Industries in association with ABC Studios
Kevin McCullough, Editor

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon • 6-Bee (Episode 226) • NBC • Universal Media Studios and Broadway Video
Christopher Tartaro, Editor

5) Outstanding Picture Editing For A Special (Single Or Multi-Camera)

Kathy Griffin: Balls Of Steel • Bravo • A Rick Mill Production in association with Donut Run and Bravo Media
David Foster, Edited by

The Kennedy Center Honors • CBS • A George Stevens Jr. Presentation, Kennedy Center Television Productions, Inc.
Michael Polito, Editor

Robin Williams: Weapons Of Self Destruction • HBO • Fiat Risus, MBST / CKX, and Funny Business in Association with HBO Entertainment
Michael D. Schultz, Editor

The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Concert • HBO • Playtone, Tenth Planet Productions and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in association with HBO Entertainment
Bill DeRonde, Supervising Editor
John Zimmer, Editor
Mark Stepp, Editor
Michael Polito, Editor

6) Outstanding Picture Editing For Nonfiction Programming

America: The Story Of Us • Division • HISTORY • Produced by Nutopia for History
Matt Lowe, Editor

By The People: The Election Of Barack Obama • HBO • Green Film Company, Citi Productions, Class 5 Films and GOOD in association with HBO Documentary Films
Sam Pollard, Editor
Geeta Gandbhir, Editor
Arielle Amsalem, Editor

Deadliest Catch • No Second Chances • Discovery Channel • Produced by Original Productions, LLC for Discovery Communications
Kelly Coskran, Supervising Editor
Josh Earl, Editor

Life • Challenges Of Life • Discovery Channel • A BBC/Discovery Channel/SKAI Co-Production in association with RTI Spa
Martin Ellsbury, Editor
Sharon Gillooly, Editor

Whale Wars • The Stuff Of Nightmares • Animal Planet • Produced by Lizard Trading Company, LLC, for Animal Planet
Eric Myerson, Lead Editor
Andy Schrader, Editor
Joseph McCasland, Editor

7) Outstanding Picture Editing For Reality Programming

The Amazing Race • I Think We’re Fighting The Germans, Right? • CBS • World Race Productions Inc.
Eric Goldfarb, Editor
Julian Gomez, Editor
Andrew Kozar, Editor
Paul C. Nielsen, Editor
Michael Bolanowski, Editor
Jennifer Nelson, Editor
Jacob Parsons, Editor
Rich Remis, Editor

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition • Extreme Makeover: The Muppet Edition • ABC • Endemol USA
Steve Mellon, Supervising Editor
Wes Paster, Supervising Editor
Matt Deitrich, Supervising Editor
Tenna Guthrie, Lead Editor
Arek Hope, Editor
Karin Hoving, Editor
Phil Stuben, Editor
Hilary Scratch, Editor

Intervention • Robby • A&E • Produced by GRB Entertainment for A&E Network
Erik Christensen, Editor

Survivor • Tonight, We Make Our Move • CBS • SEG Inc.
Michael Greer, Supervising Editor
Tim Atzinger, Editor
Chad Bertalotto, Editor
Andrew Bolhuis, Editor
Eric Gardner, Editor
Evan Mediuch, Editor
Joubin Mortazavi, Editor

Top Chef • Vivre Las Vegas • Bravo • Magical Elves, Bravo
Adrienne Salisbury, Edited by
Matt Reynolds, Edited by
Jamie Pedroza, Edited by
LaRonda Morris, Editor
Steve Lichtenstein, Editor
Kevin Kearney, Editor
Katherine Griffin, Editor

admin Awards, Television

Part 2 of a continuing series of editor interviews

Similar to the one-man band corporate editor I interviewed, comedy editor Steve Rasch, ACE, whose current show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, has been running six years now, finds he’s doing more than ever before as an editor. “It seems like there are no rules now,” he told me over lunch in Brentwood at Chin Chin. “Every show is different.” Steve, like most TV editors, creates green screens and other VFX and puts in SFX. Additionally, few years ago he took over editing the music so he makes extra money filling that position.

Workflow

He edits on an Avid which is still the most used system in Hollywood on mainstream, higher budget shows. (Final Cut Pro continues to make inroads and is used on low budget shows.) Steve receives a transcript of the show and a hard drive with low rez HD dailies which he views in a quad split (channel that shows all four cameras on one screen). Once the show is locked, an online editor is hired to do the finishing work, including up-rezzing the show and making it network-ready.

Comedy today

Curb is a single cam show created in the mockumentary style which Rasch traces to Rob Reiner’s 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally. Steve maintains that “The written joke is no longer funny to viewers. They don’t want to hear it. They are more interested in story and character-based comedy.” Also, the show does not use a laff track, which, he reports, most single cam comedies avoid.

On being an editor

Over fortune cookies I asked Steve how he felt after years of editing comedy and drama. “I do not like to be barked at, considered a button pusher. I like it when they value me.” He added, “Editors are always working for some one. Editors are compliant. Editors are in it because they like the craft.”

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