Remember the OLD days?

You’d pull out your razor blade and magnifying glass and cut 2″ tape and try to cut between the fields….

oops…sorry not that old

You’d cut together an off-line edit by shuttling videotape back and forth using an RM-440 and then write down the in and out time codes and bring it to on-line.  BUT… your producer wanted to make a change, so you’d go down another generation and insert the changes and adjust your list, then bring it to on-line.  BUT… it needed to be thirty seconds longer, so you’d go down another generation and insert the time needed, adjust your list again, and go to on-line… and so on.  It was sort of like what you envisioned.    Were there any black holes? Close enough.

You DON’T remember that? Well the point is that in the “old days” an editor was so much about the technology and keeping track of decisions that the storytelling was something best left to a producer or writer using good old fashioned pen and paper.

Fast forward ten years to the 1990′s: You fire up the ole’ AVID and call tech support to see why it had an error.  Then, you’d digitize some footage and run back and forth to the tape room, making sure you labeled the tape correctly.  And, the AVID would crash again.  Then, you’d listen to the producer talk in fast motion about transcripts in front of them while you tried to remember all those commands and you’d try to find the part of the tape they promised was at a specific time code, and then when it was all done, another producer would come in and make all sorts of changes.  Then another producer slightly higher up on the food chain would undue everyone else’s ideas.  Then, off to the executives in another building who would make a hundred more changes.  Then, it would leave your hands, go to on-line, and still more changes would be made.  Man, I thought new off-line thing was supposed to save time.

Sure, it was a lot faster and more creative than linear off-line, but still the technical aspects required a writer and a supervising producer.

Fast forward to the late 2000′s! Now even your neighbor is a Final Cut Pro editor. The stories they tell are amateur, effects are slathered on like gravy, and it wont get a rating about a .01, but hey, it’s edited!

So, today, justifiably, seasoned button pushers are replaced with younger cheaper, better smelling button pushers…  if you want a button pusher… if you can afford to have a button pusher in the larger sense of the word “afford.”

Today, editing technology is invisible. You walk into an AVID bay and everything pretty much works.  Nobody even knows the tech support number to AVID anymore except the assistant editors.  Today’s offline editor doesn’t have to know about legal video, or even what a waveform monitor and vector scope does. Today’s editor is more like a magazine writer with pretty pictures than an old school AMPEX technician.

Today’s editor doesn’t even have to handle a videotape for God’s sakes!

So, TODAY what does an seasoned editor spend all day doing today?

They Produce! They Write! They tell the story! Then scan the footage and get the best possible interviews, b-roll, and moments to tell the story.

Funny thing is, scripts are still written by story producers and writers the old fashioned way.  They take transcripts, pull together sounds bites, then shuttle through VHS tapes or DVDs and try to find visuals.  For that honor, they are allowed to sit in the back of the room with the executive during screenings and take all the credit.  Except, we all know what REALLY happens in the edit bay. Let’s be honest, non-scripted television editors.  Can we be honest (even though it’s Hollywood)?

You get handed a script, what’s the first thing you do?   Come on, be honest! You ignore it (maybe you read it to cross-reference to the string-out THEN ignore it).

You look at a string out (rough assembly created by the writer) of the sequence and what’s the first thing you do? Completely tear it apart and redo it. (And, guess what.  If you DON’T throw away the script and ignore the string out, they will blame you for doing terrible work.)

Why? Because a string out and a script written from transcripts isn’t up to the standards of television today. SUCCESSFUL TV SHOWS ARE BUILT BY THE EDITOR IN THE EDIT BAY.  PERIOD.  We all know it, why don’t we admit it?

Every editor working in non-scripted television knows they are really producers/writers/editor/graphics designers/sound-designers/music-coordinators in one package.

Why do we still PRETEND editors just push buttons? We still allow the writer to sit at the back of the bay with the executive and exclude us from story meetings when the EDITOR builds the story?

Why do we insist on holding onto the hierarchy of non-linear tape editing?

Modern producing editors are self-sufficient story-tellers who as a team only need one supervisor to write narration, deal with logistics and delegate work.  Modern producing editors deal directly with executives.

A modern producing editor should work within strict deadlines, be in story meetings, and deliver cuts directly to the executive.  You’ll find the cuts are finer, have fewer notes, and GET BETTER RATINGS.  It’s proven!

We still need editors for scripted television and day-of-air, but for non-scripted television, the modern job description is Producing Editor.

What’s wrong with that?