The edit bay can be a tense place, and the relationship between a director and editor can be delicate, caustic, adversarial, and co-dependent all at the same time. According to editor Colby Parker Jr., whenever director Peter Berg “sees the [first] editor’s cut he goes in the parking lot and pukes because it’s just so stressful.”1
As someone who has been on both sides of the editor/director dynamic, I know how tough it can be for both collaborators. So, how do you navigate this volatile, but extremely important relationship?
Let’s explore some of the invisible and not-so-invisible power dynamics of the edit bay.
Some Editors Don’t Know When to Give a Note
The director is in love with a shot, scene, or an entire character because [insert reason here]. It’s their baby. But the moment the editor lays eyes on it, they know: this shit has got to go.
Know when to give that note.
If you’re an editor and you come out of the gate ready to murder the director’s baby, the director will be put on the defensive. They’ll protect their beloved at all costs. They’ll match your passion and double it. This is a losing battle and the number one way to guarantee the baby stays in the picture.
Instead, let the baby flounder for a while. Leave it in, let it not work. With a nudge and a suggestion, let the director come to their own conclusion. Tell them in a gentle way that, even though we both love the baby, it might be time to say goodbye. Or, even better, let the director come up with the idea on their own. Only then will the baby die.
Some Directors Suck at Watching Rough Cuts
I once worked as an editor on a project with *gasp* three directors and one of them told me, “Oh, you can’t show [name redacted] a rough cut, he just freaks out.”
Cool.
The purpose of a rough cut is to be wrong as quickly as possible. Keep the good stuff, get rid of the bad, rinse, repeat. The best case scenario is maybe half of your original ideas kinda-sorta work. It’s not supposed to be great.
The edit bay would be a much less stressful place if directors understood this.
Editors: Even When You’re Right, You’re Wrong
Uh, just watch this.
Directors: Don’t Say “My Editor”
“Your editor” is also a human being with plans for the weekend. Get to know them, understand who they are as a person. They aren’t just a tool in your drawer. Being introduced as “my editor” makes “your editor’s” skin crawl.
The director/editor collaboration is such a close working relationship that “any effort to build that bond really helps and shows in the work whether you realize it or not,” says editor Jean Rheem.
Seems simple, but it’s surprisingly rare.
Communication Isn’t a Given
There is no rulebook that says the director has to be good at articulating what they want. Sometimes, neither the director nor the editor have any clue what the final outcome will be. Discovering the best version of the movie together is exciting, but sometimes, for whatever reason, that process is almost entirely left up to the editor.
I know an editor who has been working on the same project for two years and has only talked to the director six times.
This sounds insane2, but is more common than you would expect. Sometimes the director is just… gone. The editor has to figure out a way to just keep working.
Above All: Trust is Key
It’s up to both the director and editor to build trust with one another. You’re both going to be stuck in a room / zoom with each other for months or even years. Without trust, that experience will be terrible, and the movie will suffer.
Remember that baby you wanted to kill? Well, it’s actually integral to the entire movie, everything would fall apart without it, and deep into the fine cut when you finally realize this, you’ll be so happy the director had the forethought to shoot it.
The director is the director for a reason. They have (hopefully) thought about every aspect of this movie, deeply analyzed it, pulled it apart in their mind and put it back together again a million times before handing the footage to the editor. They are (again hopefully) worthy of the editor’s trust.
Whether its calming down a director in the middle of a freak out, or simply asking what Joe (not “your editor”) is doing this weekend, a little trust goes a long way.
I’ll leave it there for today, but these are just the tip of a massive, passive aggressive iceberg.
If you have any more unwritten rules of the edit bay, drop me a line or comment below.
Joe Peeler is a Sundance award-winning director and editor who writes about the art of making movies from the lens of film editing.
SPLICE WORLD. The world of movies, y’know, spliced.
It is.