Anne Perri - Editor
Job title - Editor
Experience - 15+ years
“Editing is all about your instincts so stick to what you strongly believe is right for the story and don’t get rattled by all the noise around you.”
Describe your job role and the kinds of projects/clients you work with.
I primarily edit commercials for an editing company called Work Editorial and I’m based in their New York office. I work with a variety of commercial agencies and production companies based in London, New York and Los Angeles. Along with commercials I’ve also worked on feature documentaries, music promos, fashion films, art installations and short films.
What does an average day look like in your post production working world?
When starting a new job, I speak to the Director beforehand to get a sense of their vision for the script. My assistant will load my dailies and organise them into takes so I can view everything they have shot. I also request a bunch of sound effects and music tracks that I think might be good for the script. At this point, I start selecting my footage and organising it into the script set ups. I then start to flesh out a long assembly of the script so I can see what’s working. I like to experiment a lot before I get to my first cut as I want to see all the various ways I can tell that particular story. I then explore a variety of music tracks and add sound design to bring the film to life. Once I have an assembly, I start to craft the story and work towards the length of the film it should be. In between this, I’m generally juggling emails, texts messages and calls.
What has been your career highlight?
My biggest career highlight so far happened in 2018 when I was asked to work on a feature music documentary called ‘The Quiet One’ which was about the original bass player of The Rolling Stones. It took me a year to edit this feature film and it ended up having its first premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in 2019 in New York.
How did your career in post production begin?
In 2004 I moved to London and started working as a runner at a Production Company called Academy Films. Here I got to meet and work with fantastic Directors and would edit their mood reels for jobs they were pitching on. I did this for a year and realised that if I wanted to be a serious editor I would have to get into an editing company. I applied to a variety of edit houses and ended up getting a job at The Quarry and assisted the owner of the company for four years. After two years editing at The Quarry I moved to Work Editorial which I’ve been based at for nine years.
Women in post you admire?
I really admire Dede Allen, Thelma Schoonmaker and Sally Menke. All three have been incredibly successful in their careers and have done a number of films that I still watch over and over today. Dede for the tension and comedy she is able to create in ‘Dog Day Afternoon’, Thelma for the incredible boxing scenes in ‘Raging Bull’ and Sally Menke for the different perspective storytelling in ‘Jackie Brown’. There are a lot more female editors that I admire but these three always stand out to me.
What advice do you have for other women wanting to start a career in post?
The best advice I can give to any females wanting to get into the industry and work as an editor is to work extremely hard and become exceptional at the craft. Work on a variety of editing styles so that you don’t get pigeon holed into one particular style. Learn as much about the craft and other editors so you have the foundation and knowledge to build on. Editing is all about your instincts so stick to what you strongly believe is right for the story and don’t get rattled by all the noise around you.
Favorite piece of your work
One work that stands out for me that I loved working on was a film I edited in 2019 for American Red Cross called ‘Give Time’. It is a film made up of 5000 black and white photographic stills that tells the story of a women who is diagnosed with cancer but has her life extended by people donating blood.