The Saturday Night Live Film Unit is responsible for the short films (like this Wes Anderson horror parody) that get broadcast every Saturday night. Many are written, shot, and edited in 4 days or less, which makes for a very condensed and hectic production and post schedule. Last month, we interviewed Adam Epstein, the staff editor for the SNL Film Unit, and he not only provided technical information about how he works, but also some insight into how to be creative and effective on extremely tight deadlines. But that's not where the great info stops, because Adam is now gearing up to hit the road for his Cutting Edge Tour, in which he'll teach you everything you need to know in order to go from an empty timeline to an effective broadcast-ready piece.

Here's the trailer for the tour in which Adam tells you exactly what kind of things you'll be learning during these day-long seminars:

In case you haven't seen any of Adam's recent editing work, here's a piece that he cut for SNL, as well as the accompanying time-lapse of the edit:

The workshop is divided into two separate sections. First is the daytime workshop that teaches you everything you need to know from a technical perspective to get your edit in top shape. Essentially, Adam will not only provide the technical and organizational techniques that he uses day in and day out to make a living, but he's going to walk you through the specific workflow and tools for one of the SNL Film Unit pieces. Then, during the nighttime workshop, he'll talk about what we rarely hear about in editing courses: how to bring value to your clients with your unique voice and skill-set and how to develop your interpersonal business relationships so that clients keep coming back to you time and time again.

That second session is really what sets this course apart from other editing courses and seminars on the market these days. It not only provides an education in the technical aspects of being a jack of all trades editor -- everything from tailoring your workflows and organizing projects to compositing and sound design techniques -- but also some of the steps that you can take in order to have a fruitful career as an editor. It really is a comprehensive workshop that beginning editors and filmmakers in general should consider attending.

The costs of these seminars are $219 for the daytime, $79 for the nighttime, and $295 for both (plus the VIP option comes with a bunch of other free goodies). The workshops run from July 20th through September 23rd, and Adam is covering a lot of ground throughout the US and Canada. Here is the full list:

  • July 20 -- Fairfield, NJ
  • July 23 -- Toronto, ON, Canada
  • July 25 -- Detroit, MI
  • July 27 -- Columbus, OH
  • July 29 -- St. Louis, MO
  • July 31 -- Minneapolis, MN
  • August 2 -- Indianapolis, IN
  • August 3 -- Chicago, IL
  • August 5 -- Denver, CO
  • August 7 -- Salt Lake City, UT
  • August 9 -- Vancouver, B.C., Canada
  • August 10 -- Seattle, WA
  • August 13 -- Portland, OR
  • August 16 -- San Francisco, CA
  • August 17 -- San Jose, CA
  • August 19 -- Sacramento, CA
  • August 21 -- San Diego, CA
  • August 23 -- Anaheim, CA
  • August 24 -- Los Angeles, CA
  • August 26 -- Phoenix, AZ
  • August 28 -- Austin, TX
  • September 2 -- Dallas, TX
  • September 3 -- Houston, TX
  • September 5 -- Ft. Lauderdale, FL
  • September 7 -- Orlando, FL
  • September 9 -- Atlanta, GA
  • September 11 -- Charlotte, NC
  • September 15 -- Washington, D.C.
  • September 16 -- Philadelphia, PA
  • September 18 -- Boston, MA
  • September 21 -- Manhattan, NY
  • September 21 -- Nashville, TN

Some stops are already sold out, so head over to this page to see what tickets are still left. If the tour isn't stopping in your area, you can download pre-recorded videos of all of the content.

Link: The Cutting Edge Post Production Tour with Adam Epstein

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