So you want to be a "Professional Editor"? Read this first

[BasharOfTheAges]

But I don't see a way to edit my last post. I seem to remember back in the 2005 days they took that feature away, is it still gone? Shit, now maybe I remember why I don't post on the forums any more.

It exists. You just need to support the site to do it.

[doughboy]

I wish I had seen this almost a year ago, but I only remember to lurk here on rare occasions. Hopefully I'll change that.

I always found it hilarious that most "professional editors" knew nothing about aspect ratios, interlacing, or video compression. Most of them were paid better than I, but they were Photographers by title and had to put up with a lot more crap than I ever did. I wish I could remember the specifics about one instance where I thought to myself, "Really? You've been here 5 years and you don't know about this?" but I don't recall what it was about...

I edited for 3 1/2 years for 2 different TV stations. The first station was deck to deck DV editing, but the second one had Avid systems. That first station now has Final Cut, but they upgraded several years after I left. I actually got my first job 4 months after applying to the station, and the manager only remembered to contact me for another job because I put in my cover letter that editing was my hobby. I haven't held an editing job since late 2007, but I could see myself doing it again if only briefly to bridge the gap to finding a permanent gig in the video games industry.

Like Castor mentioned, my first job was a 3am-12:30pm shift on weekdays and I lived an hour away during 50% of this. I still can't believe I put up with that for 2 1/2 years. From 8:30am-10am I spent my break sleeping, and that was typically done in the back of my SUV. I almost baked out there during the summer months, but I had to sleep and my edit bay was too noisy! I always assumed I needed 2 years experience before moving on to a bigger market, but I was pretty annoyed when I found out the 2nd station I worked for only required 1 year...

News editing is not fun, but it pays bills and is pretty easy to into. Once you get used to it though, it all becomes instinct and you crank out simple news videos (~minute each) in 10 minutes or less. The problem is, most of the footage you're given is low-saturated garbage that someone else has already edited, and only 20% of the footage matches the script that your news anchor is going to read. The best thing about news editing though is you're up to date on the latest events, weather, and gossip, cause I sure don't watch the news unless it's my job.

[Chez]

This is one of my favorite threads here, I don't know if its been talked about but for any job in the media arts you should also study the area where you live or plan to live, check the competition, find the network hotspots, and hit up some of the local film festiveness.

The who you know not what you know aspect has been talked about so I won't discuss it, but being from Houston we do not have many big production companies, but we have many business and corporate work. So if you need to eat and support yourself don't look down on doing corporate work it may not be as glamours as feature film work, but it is still a paying job in the field you are interested in and if the hours work with you maybe you can use some of that left over time to build a demo reel for non corporate jobs.