Meg metzger (Alum, October 2015)

Researcher,  "American Experience"

I took The Edit Center course in Fall 2015 and have been working as an assistant editor and then editor ever since.  Before I took the class, I was working on documentaries on the production side, and while I was pretty sure that editing was what I really wanted to do, I worried that I might not be able to learn to edit without going to film school.  I had watched several documentaries get made and the process of editing a full-length film seemed mystifying and intimidating, but I had heard great things about The Edit Center so I decided to try it.

From the first day of class, I could tell that The Edit Center course was going to be really rewarding.  Each day was packed chock full of information, but the instructors were careful to present it all in a way that kept it from being overwhelming.  The course is incredibly well-designed and it covers a lot of ground.  It trains you on both narrative and documentary editing, the technical and the stylistic aspects, as well as what it means to make a career out of editing, and how to collaborate successfully with a director. By the second week, we were each working on scenes from a real film that was just going into post-production. Everyone in the class was passionate about what they were creating. The instructors were always available to watch a work in process and talk about what's working, what's not, and to help troubleshoot problems, much like what happens in a real edit room. And the instructors, along with the visiting editors who came in to present and discuss their work, really conveyed a love of the craft, which they passed on to the class.  Everyone in my class grew so much over the course of those six weeks, and at the end, I think we all felt a collective sense of pride and amazement at the progress we had all made, going from totally inexperienced to fledgling editors.  

When the class was over, I got a job as an assistant editor right away. For the first several months of that first assistant job, I kept my notes from the Edit Center course on my desk, and referred to them often.  I've since internalized all that information, but I still draw on the confidence that the course gave me: that there's a way through any material, even when it seems incredibly daunting at the onset.  I am tremendously grateful to The Edit Center for providing me with the skills to pursue a career that I love, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone considering editing.