There has NOT been a better time than now to start editing "outside the Hollywood system." We are at the cusp of a major disruption of the film industry to the point that Los Angeles, the Entertainment Capital of the World, must worry.
COVID, the strikes, and the fallout among the top streamers have already changed the landscape and will continue to do so.
As they say, the world's biggest problems become the biggest opportunities: Global online collaboration is here to stay. Start locally, but there is no reason you can't be cutting exciting projects entirely through online collaboration platforms.
Lucid Link, Frame.io, and Blackmagic Cloud are allowing productions to hire talent from around the world.
Post-production spread out over four countries on a recent feature I cut, and everyone was connected online.
The stronger an editor you become, the easier it is for you to find work globally. If you live in the Philippines, for instance, you can charge an extremely competitive rate to your clients in Europe and still bring in a fee that is significantly above your standard of living. This is just one of the many financial benefits of remote editing.
To be very blunt, the average day rate of an editor based in L.A. is $650-$750. And to live in L.A. and raise a family, they cannot afford to work for anything less. This rate gets you an average editor with so-so talent and commitment to their craft. Would I hire that guy or someone from the Philippines that is 10x more committed and talented at half the price?
We are currently cutting an entire documentary mini-series for an Apple TV+ release with 10 editors from all parts of the world (as part of our premium coaching program). We utilize Lucid Link servers to enable media and project sharing among the team and it is the way of the future.
In our first Bootcamp, director Harper Robinson from Austin, Texas, had the opportunity to interview and ultimately hire a Go-To Editor student from Amsterdam, Netherlands. This success story is just one example of the potential career advancements that can come from participating in our Bootcamps.
In the second Bootcamp, three editors from three countries (the US, Denmark, and France) teamed up and edited a feature film remotely.
Our third Bootcamp, a documentary produced in the US, will also be edited entirely remotely by a French editor. Our fourth Bootcamp will launch shortly, and our international students will apply alongside our U.S. ones. So, remote long-form editing is possible. You don’t have to live in Hollywood to succeed!
And last but not least:
Recently, I had a mini Bootcamp running because a YouTuber called “74 Gear” (935k subscribers!) searched for an editor. So yes, with the course comes opportunity!
Of course, all the Bootcamp winners get paid for the projects they edit. We require our directors to agree to payment and “edited by” credit.
Do you want to be able to participate in an upcoming Bootcamp? Then, sign up for the Go-To Editor program and complete the first two modules to become eligible.