Once Upon a Timeline

From a small village in the north of England with absolutely no connections to film or television, he relentlessly pursued a career in front of the timeline. While working in McDonald's by day, he was cutting and making films at night, and after several years he got his first big break as an assistant editor on a drama series.

This week, David tells us the second part of his story… how he made that jump to lead editor. What happened, how he did it and how long it took. It’s a great story, and it’s exactly the kind of inspiring tale we love on Once Upon a Timeline.

Don’t forget to book your spot on this weekend’s epic four-hour webinar! We're going to go through dozens of high-end sync cutting techniques that will turn you into a dialogue pro.

Also, you can now go and book a front-row seat to this month’s live Bootcamp webinar. Our four-hour January masterclass is going to teach you every single thing you need to know about the completely misunderstood and undervalued art of sync cutting.

A new year so often symbolises a fresh start, maybe a re-evaluation, or a kind of psychological inventory about where we are. So what better way to kick off the New Year than an in-depth look into what I think is the fuel that drives all creativity itself; our will, our drive, that inner fire to create.

We can possess all the skills and abilities we need, but if we do not have that powerful drive inside us, that non-negotiable will to create and edit, then all of our endeavours will never even get off the ground. I think this is the perfect discussion for the start of 2021.

Enjoy the show!

In part two of her interview, Joanna provides us with her unique insight into many subjects that are at the core of our art form: from the complexity of interpersonal dynamics in the edit suite to creating self-reliance when building your career, and the unique considerations when cutting animation. It’s great to have yet another talented editing artist on the show to share so much wisdom.

Joanna is a comedy and drama editor working out of Brooklyn, New York where she co-owns the award-winning Senior Post. She’s worked on a ton of great projects including numerous HBO comedy specials, lots of comedy commercials with big brands and multiple seasons of the Golden Globe winning comedy-drama series, Ramy.

Comedy is an utterly alien genre to me as it’s probably the only genre that I haven’t worked in, so I was keen to pick the brains of a talented comedy editor, and I wasn’t disappointed. Our interview was fantastic, and Joanna gave some brilliant insight into how she approaches the genre.

On one side of the fence, some believe that having an impartial observer of the footage is a must in any kind of filmmaking. On the other side are those who think that this concept is outdated and out of touch with the new era of content creation.

Like many aspects in creative editing, we at Inside The Edit don’t think there’s a simple answer, so on this week’s show we’ll be discussing the range of issues at play. It promises to be a fruitful episode!

Lasse talks about the weaknesses and strengths of documentary thinking, what can be taken from drama in terms of structural techniques, and his thoughts on visual symbolism.

A masterclass in editing theory in itself, our chat with Lasse is full of insights, wisdom and laughs. I know you’re going to love it as much as I did!

It’s highly intelligent in its structure, amazingly scored and the visual style is nothing short of stunning. On today’s show we’re lucky enough to have the first in a two-part conversation with one of the editors, Lasse Järvi. Lasse and I talked for hours about some fascinating subjects and it was so interesting getting his perspective on the art of documentary editing. I learned a ton and I know you will too.

The first of three stages in edit mastery is often not talked about: the stage of imitation. One of the quickest and easiest ways to kickstart the learning process is to copy those who have mastered it before us, and this is exactly what I did.

There is a massive benefit to copying the hundreds of visual techniques and structures we see in films and TV shows every day. Not only can it give us a sense of purpose and progress in those early days, but it also inspires us to be the artists we know we can be.

We’re all standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before us, and in today’s episode, we take an inspirational look at that path.