![\"Q&A](\"https:\/\/www.productionbase.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Blog-QA-Emily-Cumming.png\")
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In our latest Expert Q&A we talk to Edit Producer, Emily Cumming, about life in the edit: building characters, dealing with Execs and the move to remote working.<\/strong><\/p>\n What was your first job in TV?<\/span><\/strong> What would you say has been the defining point in your career?<\/span><\/strong> What made you want to become an Edit Producer and what do you enjoy about the role?<\/span><\/strong> How does a day in the life of an Edit Producer look?<\/span><\/strong> How has your role changed during the pandemic, and have you managed to work remotely successfully?<\/span><\/strong> What has been more challenging are those times when there is a tricky or nuanced bit of editing to do and you\u2019re not sat there looking at the same thing as your Editor, but then it boils down to great communication and a bit of patience on everyone\u2019s part. There is software where you can actually see what the Editor is doing on-screen in real time (affectionately known as spy-cam, and it works both ways!) which wasn\u2019t in use on the most recent series I was doing, but I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll become more common as time goes on.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the most challenging production you have worked on and why?<\/span><\/strong> I once came on to a series to work with two Editors to recut the whole thing. Something had gone terribly wrong with communication somewhere along the line – the Commissioning Editor had apparently viewed a few episode cuts and said that the series was nothing like what they had asked for. It was a real challenge to repurpose an entire series\u2019 footage that had apparently not been shot or cut with the \u2018right\u2019 end result in mind. There were some big legal issues to surmount with the footage, as well as the obvious editorial ones! The edits where you and the Editors really have to dig deep and wrestle with the rushes to make them work are so valuable in terms of learning and helping prepare you for future challenges.<\/p>\n How do you approach characters to make sure you do them justice?<\/span><\/strong> In fast turnaround formats especially, things can get missed in the rushes or cut out at the last minute to get the content to time. So it\u2019s about bringing it back to the character’s USP and story-line. A whole scene or narrative can be transformed by finding a moment where a character lets their guard down or reveals something seemingly small about themselves.<\/p>\n What tips would you give someone who is starting out as an Edit Producer?<\/span><\/strong> Then once you get down to it, don\u2019t get overwhelmed by the volume of rushes. Check what logs exist to help you. Note, note, note. Be organised. Get the basics in – the crucial scenes that build your narrative. Remember, the last scene will usually dictate the earlier ones – how did the character\/story get to that point? You can leave holes for the rest in the early stages.<\/p>\n Also, there are no stupid questions! The worst thing you can do is be sat there not knowing what to do next. If you\u2019ve not got a task, find one. Even if you\u2019re early on in the edit and perhaps waiting on stuff from your Editor for you to cut down or script, you could be hunting down great music, watching other cuts of the same format, going through interviews, or trying to anticipate what might be needed down the line.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve worked across a wide range of shows, from Ob Docs and Factual Entertainment to Reality shows. Are there any other programme genres you would be interested to try and why?<\/span><\/strong> How has the industry changed since you first started out?<\/span><\/strong> We need to make sure that jobs are open to all those beautiful brains out there and I sincerely hope that those who cannot afford to do placements on low pay will be helped in and helped up more and more. There\u2019s no way I would be where I am now had I not had a chance to experiment and grow in smaller companies, who were willing to take a punt on me and allow me to learn from my mistakes!<\/p>\n Emily Cumming is an Edit Producer, and\u00a0a ProductionBase member<\/a>. If you’d like to be featured in a future Q&A,\u00a0let us know!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In our latest Expert Q&A we talk to Edit Producer, Emily Cumming, about life in the edit: building characters, dealing with Execs and the move to remote working. What was your first job in TV? 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\nAfter a stint as a Runner for a small indie in Brighton on a youth magazine show for ITV Meridian, I was lucky enough to be taken on as Production Co-ordinator when a vacancy suddenly opened up. I\u2019d been working in theatre before that, so I had some transferable skills and a bit of life experience. As well as doing all the usual Production Co-ordinator jobs for the magazine show and the other arts series the company made, I\u2019d run off copies of rushes for logging, drive the weekly TX master tapes to Meridian TV HQ, and swing a boom on location. I was able to get a real feel for what different jobs involved across the board as it was a small office and you could see and hear everyone doing their work. It was a very auspicious start and I\u2019m supremely grateful that I got it!<\/span><\/p>\n
\nProbably getting my first Edit Producer job. I\u2019d been in the edit before as a Producer\/Director and Producer, and even way back as a Researcher (regional telly really did give you incredible opportunities to upskill and grow!) but the EP job was a very new one at the time and I got some sound advice that it was going to become a \u2018thing\u2019. In that first job, I felt I\u2019d found a role that was going to be really natural and sustainable for me, personally. I\u2019m so glad that I went down that route and I am forever grateful for that steer!<\/p>\n
\nMy first Edit Producer job (as in, the first time I was working with rushes I hadn\u2019t been on the shoot for) was a new ITV format that involved quite a bit of historical storytelling using archive and dramatic reconstruction, and it really hooked me in. I\u2019d always felt at home in the edit; finding the story, hunting down the great moments, writing voiceovers and thrashing out ideas with the Editor. Creatively, I just love the process of starting with a load of uncut footage and ending up picture locking a programme that everyone\u2019s really proud of. There\u2019s nothing like that feeling!<\/p>\n
\nLike any other TV job – busy! For starters, a lot of it is spent with headphones on. Mostly, you\u2019ll need to be a scene ahead of the Editor, pulling and marking up actuality or interviews. Or maybe you and the Editor are splitting the load to get through all the material in the early stages, before passing bits and pieces back and forth. So you might be reviewing, cutting down and scripting a scene the Editors had their pass at, scripting an archive package, talking to the Field Director about pickups or writing up interview points that need to be covered. You might be moving post-its around on the wall as the programme structure starts to take shape or change, sorting out viewing times or requesting additional rushes so the editor can crack on and work their magic.<\/p>\n
\nWorking remotely has been successful, for sure! Edit Producers and Editors were starting to talk about home working before Covid happened. The role in itself hasn\u2019t changed at all. You\u2019re on the phone a lot instead of being in the same room talking, but when you consider that you spend so much of the day wearing headphones it doesn\u2019t make too much difference.<\/p>\n
\nI think most Editors and Edit Producers would agree that the biggest mountain to climb is when you know what the Exec and Commissioning Editor are going to want to see, but there are big holes or issues with coverage or narratives. It\u2019s your job to identify what those issues are, and make it work as best you can. If you can\u2019t sort out the problems easily in the edit, you need to raise them in the right way, with the right people, at the right time, whilst also offering up potential solutions. That’s not always easy.<\/p>\n
\nBy taking a forensic approach to the rushes. For every character who\u2019s a total gift, there are so many who take a lot more work. You need their story to be clear and for people to engage with them, so it\u2019s about asking; what are they up against and what\u2019s at stake? What would succeeding or failing mean to them and how could that change their life? What makes them as personalities unique and relatable?<\/p>\n
\nFirstly, if it’s your first day as an EP it would be unfair for people to expect you to know everything, so don’t panic. Talk to your Editor about who is going to do what in terms of getting through the material and agree a plan across the edit schedule.<\/p>\n
\nYes. I\u2019d love to do more jobs involving drama reconstructions and retrospective storytelling \u2013 for example true crime docs. As well as watching true crime obsessively on Netflix and Amazon, I\u2019ve absolutely loved working with Editors to get creative by making use of all types of available footage on the police documentaries I\u2019ve worked on, where for some stories the only original footage you\u2019ve got is from one police dashcam. It\u2019s such an enjoyable process and structuring an entire retrospective story would really appeal to me.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s way bigger now! When I was new to TV there were only four UK terrestrial channels and around twenty cable channels. Shooting was on tape and you had to be really economical with filming and what rushes got into the edit. But crucially, compared to when I was starting out, it\u2019s now so much harder for people to get into the edit in the first place, where you really learn what you need in terms of shots, sound, actuality, interviews, character portrayal, narratives – everything.<\/p>\nQ&A with Edit Producer, Emily Cumming<\/a><\/blockquote>