Learn the Art of Cutting for the Meal or the Reel With Autumn Dee

The Editor's Journey From Advertising to Narrative Features 

"I had kind of a non-traditional path. It's not totally off, but I was lucky.

I went to a high school that had a video production program, so I learned Final Cut 7 when I was 16, and that's the first thing that got me into editing. I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker when I was little. I asked for a camera when I was 10. By high school I got into editing, and then in college we had to kind of try out everything, but I still leaned toward editing. And then by the end of college, I knew I wanted to edit.

I got into advertising at first because I had an advertising minor and I was living in Richmond, VA at the time. There's not a ton of long form post-production opportunities there. So at first I started out as an intern at a post-production company that did advertising, and then I became an assistant editor editor there. I realized that advertising's not necessarily where my heart is. I wanted to do long form, so I was able to pivot and not go all the way back, but also I wasn't able to make a parallel jump, so I just cut a lot of things in my free time and basically for free.

And then I did [SXSW success story] Shithouse—I cut that film while I was working full time and did it for almost no money. So that helped ramp up my narrative long-form career.

One of the biggest lessons for me just coming up was learning to invest in yourself, I guess. Someone told me early on it's either for the meal or for the reel—so being okay with taking projects that are low budget or maybe just simply for your reel, essentially. Because it's going to be good for your reel or a good connection.

I think sometimes people are against doing things for free or low budget. You don't ever want to be taken advantage of, of course, but there are projects that are worth it. At the end of the day. Then of course there's your day job, things you have to do that aren't interesting, but you still have to do it for the meal. I thought that was such good advice and it really helped me along the way."

The Challenges of Integrating Flashbacks 

"The flashbacks were scripted to be individual separate scenes that just play out and not at all in the placement that they end up in the film. One of the more kind of challenging parts of the film was figuring out how to incorporate them and just what to do with them in general, because when we watched the scripted version back, they were too long and slowing down the pace They weren't quite doing what the script had intended.

We spent a lot of time with the flashbacks. We did a version without flashbacks at all, and then we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to incorporate them, and then we kind of landed on the way where it is [in the final cut]. I like it as a surreal integration into the story. We're not stopping down to have dialogue in the flashbacks, which is how they were intended to be. So yeah, that happened throughout the entire edit, just figuring out where to put those.

The flashbacks and structure was one of the biggest challenges, and then the whole third act changed from what was scripted, at least the parallel storylines that are happening when the dad (Ewan McGregor) is looking for his daughter (Clara McGregor).

I wouldn't say it was a challenge, necessarily, but it just took time to get it to that place. Those were longer scenes, and we took out some scenes as well, but the pace of it wasn't as urgent and it didn't give that feeling of anxiety. So we got that parallel story to move a lot faster."

Finding Your Voice as and Editor 

"It's tough when you do your editor's cut before you start working with the director. [The first rough cut] should be, for the most part, cut as scripted. I'll do some creative liberties, but I don't really cut things out of the script too much just because the director has to see it as is first.

So that really did happen more in the director's cut and then all the way through the producer's cut. We did some test screenings and they weren't landing, so it truly was the entire process. But if it was up to me, I love restructuring and cutting things out, but I don't do that for my initial edit.

I hadn't worked with [director Emma Westenberg] before, so I erred on the side of keeping it to the script, but if you've worked with someone before and they just trust your instincts and trust you, then you can kind of dig into it. But it was my first time working with Emma."

How to Find an Agent as an Editor 

"The script came to me through my agent. I interviewed for it, and we just had a good interview and connection, and similar temperaments where, because part of it is like, are you a good editor? But then also can I sit in a room with you every day for months? So there's a hangability aspect too. You have to get along, and so I think we just hit it off and we became friends. It was fun to go into the edit around the same age too, so it just felt like a friend.

Finding an agent is is wild. There are agents for every position for basically every department head position on the crew. I think many people realize that.

I didn't get an agent until after Shithouse. Once Shithouse won SXSW that opened up a lot of doors. My agent is actually the same agent as one of my friends, who's a cinematographer.

She was looking for editors, and she likes working with emerging talent, and so I just connected with her through my friend and it worked out. Some agents only want to work with people who are going to make them money right off the bat doing huge things, but I'm lucky that I have an agent who likes to grow their talent.

At a certain point it's definitely worth it. They take commission, but there's so many things that they do that I personally wasn't good at doing myself. Like the way they advocate for you and the contracts and legal. And obviously the rate. They're the ones spearheading all of that, and we're creatives. It's like it's the last thing I want to do. So at a certain point, it's really nice to have someone who has your back who's doing it for you."