Careers in the screen industries can often be inspired by any number of things. For editor Emily Lawrence, it became a way to marry two of her key interests. “When I was little I really wanted to be a vet, or something to do with animals. But as I got older I developed a love for music and technology. I used to watch so many David Attenborough programs when I was younger and loved the idea of somehow being a part of it.”
Bristol based Emily had been looking to start a career in the TV industry and was interested in exploring the roles available and the work involved in editing, saying “it felt like the perfect way for me to combine my love for animals with my passion for technology and storytelling.”
She secured a job working as an edit assistant for BBC Bristol and was eager to build upon her existing skills and learn new techniques to progress to a junior editor position when she heard about the ScreenSkills Junior Editor programme. “I heard about the course through an edit assistant group I’m a part of and was really chuffed to be picked to go onto the course, and that my production house supported this for me to be able to take part.”
The programme, supported by the Unscripted TV Skills Fund, responds to industry needs in helping build a skilled workforce and provides 20 edit assistants with on-the-job learning experiences and relevant skills training to help them make the next step in their editing journey. Following a successful first year, the programme is returning to welcome a second cohort in Spring 2024.
“I really enjoyed the course,” said Emily. “We learned a lot about the theories of editing as well as actual editing. We learned about laws, colour grading, cameras, different genres, codecs, paperwork and people skills, and the importance of all of this when becoming a freelance editor. All the teachers had great knowledge in different areas, and were friendly, approachable and helpful with any questions.”
The varied nature of the programme and the areas it covered proved especially helpful, says Emily: “I was expecting it to be mostly learning editing skills but was actually pleased that it covered so much more than that. It was interesting to learn the other aspects we would have to know as upcoming editors, for example about the watershed and different rules you have to think about as an editor surrounding television.
“One of my favourite parts has been to learn more about storytelling. It was good to be able to reflect and learn more about this aspect of editing as it is a really important skill in this industry. Other highlights were doing a group edit where we all had a minute each to edit and try and collaborate a four minute short story – this was a LOT harder than expected! – and creating a promo for my current production to showcase, as I got to use material I’ve been working with for the past few years.”
Some of the skills and practices learned are already coming into use for Emily: “I will be getting more practice in editing and have an agreement with my SP that I can continue to do this with producer colleagues writing me paper scripts to follow to support this. I don’t think this would have happened without the support of the junior editor programme.
“It gave me confidence to keep pushing to try and become an editor, and being able to put the course on my CV feels like it’s helped. I now feel confident to ask to do pre edits on my current production and to keep pushing to ask for new opportunities – I have a few bits of editing coming up in the pipeline that I’m very excited about!”
For Emily, there’s no doubt that her time on the programme helped her career, and is equally sure that it will help those joining the new cohort: “Courses like this are very important for people’s careers, it helps to gain confidence, get an insight into a career goal, and get to learn more about how to get to where you want to be.”
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