Predators are usually at the top of the food chain. Natural selection at its best. If you are the biggest predator in town you certainly have a Darwinian advantage over most other foodstuffs in your surrounds. In the production world, especially in a smaller market like Salt Lake, the Producer-Editor otherwise known as the “Preditor” has certain advantages as well. With skills as both an editor and producer you will raise your value to small productions, but more importantly knowledge that you gain as a producer will help you in the editing process and vice versa. I’m the first to admit that I am not an editor, at least not primarily one. I am not super-technically minded, and the FCP interface scared me (I didn’t want to break anything). I am the guy that the editor’s generally dislike because I think you can “fix it in post”. Usually I work as a Director or often a Writer, but more often than not, I am a Producer. We have 5 FCPHD edit bays at Kineto Pictures and just as many talented editors to work on my projects but with post production often being the most profitable portion of production, there were more than a couple of reasons why it would behoove me to learn the Final Cut ropes.

As a producer, this is what I sought: the abilities of FCP the limitations of FCP. the ability to take care of rough cuts myself. the power to intimidate novice editors with my knowledge of the hot keys for a ripple delete or a slip edit. Courage to overcome my interface fears. humility So I took a two-day course at NAB, passed the test, and am now an officially Certified Final Cut Editor (To certify or not is another discussion entirely). Now a two-day crash course doesn’t make me an editor, but I did gain a lot in the course. I am no longer intimidated by the interface but more importantly I realized a few things. There are some things I can do There are definitely some things I can’t do (but a skilled editor can) It takes longer than I would like to edit something.

Hot keys, man I learned a lot of hot keys (which separates the Editors from the editurds) I need to respect my editors more. It’s not the interface or the technology that makes a good editor, it’s just the hammer and it’s a poor carpenter who blames his tools. Beyond the simple things I learned more about the the post-production workflow which will help me as a Producer plan my post schedule. I kept on getting insights on FCP that gave me new ideas on ways to shoot and log the footage that would save everyone time, and the more I found out about editing, the more ideas that I got about how to run a shoot. Now I think I want to have a few Shoot-ditors and Dir-editors and Wr-editors around.

Knowing the whole production process will only help you in whatever niche you hope to develop. Since my certification I have had the chance to edit a few of my own pieces (including client work) and I think the without any actual practice editing, the class will mean very little. I also realized that there is a reason I am not an editor, and knowing how to swing a hammer doesn’t make you a carpenter. I like to keep talented editors around, but I plan on improving my own skills as an editor. Ironically, this experience has also made me firmer in my resolve to become a better editor.

Sure we are excited with tales from film school about the auteur who writes-directs-edits-scores-sellstickets to his own movie, but more often than not it is the sure sign of poor production. I think it is good for Production for a director to demand something unachievable from his editor and for an editor to offer a reasonable solution. The push and pull of production is a great cauldron for creativity. However, I think now I have greater empathy for the denizens of the dark room and the capacity to fill in perhaps if I have asked for one-too-many all-nighters.