Before the first day of dailies
Editors usually start a week or two before principal photography. There isn't much to cut yet, so the time goes to reading the script closely, meeting with the director about tone and pacing, and working out the pipeline with the post-production supervisor and assistant editor. The editor wants to know the editorial codec, how bins will be organized, what the script supervisor's notes will look like, and how quickly dailies will land each morning.
Some editors also cut previs, tests, or a sizzle reel from camera and makeup tests during prep. On shows with heavy VFX the editor may be cutting animatics from the storyboard before anyone is on set.
Cutting during the shoot
Once shooting begins, the assistant editor ingests and syncs overnight dailies, and the editor watches everything from the day before. The tools for that are the lined script and the script supervisor's report, which show which setups cover which lines, the circled takes, and notes from the director like "print 4 and 6, 6 for performance."
A realistic day during production:
| Time | Work |
|---|---|
| 8:00a | Dailies from Day 7 are synced and in bins |
| 8:30a to 11:00a | Watch all of Day 7: Scenes 31, 32, 32A |
| 11:00a to 1:00p | Cut Scene 31 |
| 1:00p | Lunch |
| 2:00p | Note to the 1st AD and director: Scene 32A has no clean single on the waitress for the line "We're closing." A pickup would help |
| 2:30p to 7:00p | Cut Scene 32, send a rough of Scene 31 to the director |
That 2:00 p.m. note is one of the most useful things an editor does during the shoot. A missing insert found now becomes a pickup shot on Day 9 while the location is still dressed. Found after wrap, it becomes a reshoot day with a budget line.
The assembly and the director's cut
By the end of the shoot, or within a couple of weeks after, the editor finishes the assembly cut. Assemblies usually run long, because the editor keeps material the director hasn't had a chance to weigh in on. An assembly of a 105-page script can easily run past the rough page-a-minute estimate.
Then the director comes into the cutting room. On DGA productions the director's cut period is set by the Guild's creative rights terms. This is where the film changes most: scenes move, dialogue gets lifted, whole storylines come out. After the director's cut come producer and studio notes, possibly test screenings, then the rough cut turns into the fine cut.
Locking picture and handing off
Picture lock is the point where the editor stops changing the cut's timing. After lock, the assistant editor produces turnovers: an AAF or OMF of the audio tracks for sound editorial, an EDL and reference video for the conform and color, and pull lists for VFX. Changing the cut after lock is possible, but every change after that ripples to sound, VFX, and music, and costs money in each department.
Footage math
A feature with 40 hours of footage and a 95-minute final cut has a shooting ratio of (40 x 60) / 95, about 25:1. That number helps the post supervisor estimate storage, and it tells the editor roughly how much viewing time the dailies will take. At 25:1, every finished minute represents about 25 minutes of footage someone has to watch at least once.
Who the editor works with
The director most of all, then producers and studio executives. The assistant editor runs the room. The script supervisor's notes feed every cut. After lock, the editor stays involved in spotting sessions with the composer and sound team and reviews VFX shots in context.
How editors get the job
The traditional path is assistant editor to editor, often with the same director or showrunner over several projects. In Los Angeles and New York, union productions hire Motion Picture Editors Guild members. Contract Services lists IATSE Local 700 (Editors Guild) among the unions whose classifications appear on its Industry Experience Roster. Rate lookups and contract summaries on the Editors Guild wages page are mostly limited to logged-in members, so non-members should ask the Guild or the production's payroll company for current minimums. Many independent editors build a reel on shorts, documentaries, and music videos before a first feature.
Tools and paperwork
The editing system (Avid Media Composer on most studio work), bins, the lined script, camera and sound reports, the editor's cut notes, EDLs, and change lists. Storiara breaks a script into scenes with page counts in eighths and scene numbers during pre-production, the same scene list the editor's bins end up organized around.