Deadlines, edits, and 10-hour days, welcome to the life of someone working in TV editing. Take an insight into what it really takes to make your beloved shows so seamless.

The chaos

Throughout many lessons with teachers, or ploughing through tutorials on YouTube, a basic understanding of video editing has become essential to work in production. However, nothing can prepare you for video editing the crème de la crème of British TV.

“You don’t have time to think about the buttons you press or the software you’re using, it has to be embedded deep in the mind so it’s second nature.”

Originally starting as a trainee editor for Christian Channel Europe (a.k.a. God TV), Craig Lomas now works in the world of freelance editing. He works for many different mainstream media companies, most notably, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. He worked on The One Show, Match of the Day, Strictly Come Dancing and other UK staple shows. In his experience, there isn’t a set way he has to edit. No workday is linear.

“Our focus has to be the narrative you’re telling, and the way you’re telling. The One Show is a hugely different beast to a documentary for example. The cliché of no two days are the same rings true to a point, but depending on the series, sometimes you feel that you’re working in a sausage factory at speed.”

Odd hours

Whether its remote or in-house, don’t expect a regular 9-5 as a video editor. You’ll definitely have to work an extra couple hours. That’s something that Craig has had to learn over the years. He’s not alone either, he works with an editing producer from the media company he’s producing for, throughout each day. He has to help him out, because of the constant amount of cuts sent in. The process isn’t individual either, both parties have to work together till its completion.

“Our days are usually ten hours long, though starting times are flexible. I can export audio to a transcription service for the editing producer to pull together the bones of a script whilst I prepare the project we’re working on. We work in tandem, playing a little game of cat and mouse, feeding each other different pieces for the overall package. For example, the editor producer will send over an interview, and while I’m cutting it together, they’re working on the next one, etc.

“I’ll make my own cuts and tweaks to it, feeding that back to the producer too. With our work, and how much we collaborate consistently, there’s a good relationship with each of the producers I work with – trust and mutual respect for all of them and the work you produce with them lead to success for my career.”

The constant flow of work given as an industry recognised editor doesn’t allow time for a normal day of work. The deadlines are always there, and Craig sees it as a way to keep your work ethic going.

Adapting to the evolution

Craig has had to go through several different changes of software in his time. Throughout it all, the mainstay has been Avid Media Composer.

“Avid has been the standard industry software for decades, although some shows and companies have had different softwares as they’ve come and gone. First it was FCP, that Match of The Day used for a bit of time, but Avid outlasted FCP for the time it was used. Nowadays, it’s up against Premier Pro, which Match of the Day has now picked up, but many people still use Avid.

“There aren’t a lot of people that understand Avid as a software, Premier Pro is usually what is taught now, but the “industry standard” of understanding really differs with each person. You have to keep evolving your craft, and that also applies to the software you use. There’s always something to learn on software like Avid, and many people who enter the industry don’t have a massive knowledge on it.

“While Premier Pro is great to learn, I feel like Avid is overlooked as a software despite being very essential in the world of video editing. YouTube tutorials aren’t going to teach you everything – get your projects, learn the basics yourself, have a play around with it, find what techniques suit you best on this software, as if it’s going to be your career, you have to be comfortable doing it your own way!”

Craig and others in his profession are examples that in the world of editing, the software you use has to become your second language. And if you’re career is thriving, you’ll never stay static at work. 

For more stories from the editing room, click here.