How to get a career in Editing

Learn what it's like to be a professional film and video editor in this practical, hands-on workshop with Shirley Thompson, freelance documentary editor.

Film editing is a competitive business where creative people need to know the craft of filmmaking, master editing technology, know how to get jobs and get paid, and know how to take care of themselves personally and financially so they can have a long, successful career. A few film schools teach basic editing skills, but most editing and knowing how to collaborate as an editor is learned on the job. Freelancing is often learned through the school of hard knocks.

How does someone break into the film editing business, either as a recent college graduate, or as a mid-career change? Where can you find editing jobs? How do you know how much to charge for your work? What are the realities of balancing your work and your life?

A 40-year veteran of the independent film and television industry, freelance editor Shirley Thompson offers insights on how to get started working in the film and video industry as an editor and how to build a sustainable career.

This two hour workshop offers participants the opportunity to ask questions and engage in an honest talk-story about the challenges and rewards of working as a film and video editor.

Course content

• Learn what skills the most successful editors have.
• Create a niche for yourself that increases your value as an editor.
• Money talk: establish your value as an editor and get what you need to live a good life
• Develop your personal brand to attract the work you desire
• Manage your work-life balance to avoid burnout and maximize creativity

This class is for

• Aspiring filmmakers and those in the early stages of building a career and those who are changing careers who want to know more about working as an editor
• Assistant editors or early career editors who are looking to hone their skills and set themselves up for future work
• Experienced editors who want to shift into a new area of work or kickstart the next level of their career

Open to women and girls (cis/trans), femmes, non-binary, gender-fluid and gender-queer of all ages and all skill levels

Time: 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm.

Date:  Saturday,  February 4, 2023

About the instructor

Shirley Thompson is best known for the  documentaries she has edited and/or produced, including The Last Rodeo (2022), Savvy (2020), Finding Kukan (2016), Pidgin: the Voice of Hawai‘i (2008), Special Circumstances (2006), Surfing for Life (2000) & It’s Elementary (1996).

Many of the films she has worked on have received major funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. These films have garnered major awards, have screened at film festivals around the world and have broadcast nationally on public television. A New Orleans native who lived and worked in San Francisco and Dallas, she has been based in Honolulu, Hawai‘i since 2010. As a Latina and a daughter of immigrants, she is committed to filmmaking that builds bridges across cultures and communities.

https://www.shirleythompson.com/

Hawaiʻi Women in Filmmaking advocates for women and girls (cis/trans), femmes, non-binary, gender-fluid and gender-queer to tell their stories through film with an intersectional lens.

Questions? Email aloha@hawaiiwomeninfilmmaking.org