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