Camille Getz - Editor
Job title - TV / Film / Commercial Editor
Experience - 5+ years
“Be reliable, follow through on promises and deadlines—make yourself into somebody a client or a coworker would feel confident recommending to another colleague for future work.”
Tell us about your job role and the kinds of projects you work on;
I am an editor, working primarily in the commercial, digital, and music video spheres, though I’ve also worked on quite a few documentary projects and several short films over the past few years. My clients have ranged from record labels and ad agencies to brands such as Vanity Fair and Vogue, to broadcast media companies like The Today Show. Every project is different, really!
What does an average day look like in your post-production working world?
My workflow changes a bit depending on the scope of the project at hand, but regardless of content my first day on a new project is always spent really familiarizing myself with the footage. Even if the project is already synced and strung out by an Assistant Editor, I still like to go through and take a good look at everything that I have to work with. It’s so important to be well acquainted with all of your footage—that way, if a Director asks to see a certain moment later on in the editing process, you’ll know what moment they’re referring to without having to comb through every individual clip in your project to find it.
As I watch down all of my footage, I’ll pull selects into a separate timeline, which I’ll then duplicate and use as the base for my first cut. From there, it’s really just a matter of diving in and piecing everything together until I have something that I’m proud to show the client, at which point the notes process can begin.
What’s been the highlight of your career so far?
In 2018, I was on a cross-country road trip and was staying the night in an EconoLodge in a rural town called Junction, Texas. My now-husband and I were watching Joe Dirt on TV, and during one of the commercial breaks, an ad for CÎROC vodka that I had recently edited suddenly came on. It was the first time I had ever seen any of my work on TV, and despite our physical surroundings and the movie that the ad was accompanying, I felt like I had truly made it. Peak glamour.
How did your career in post-production begin?
I actually grew up as a classical violinist/violist, so much of my time when I was younger was spent honing that craft. I had always played around with making claymations and homemade movies with my friends on our camcorder when I was a kid, but it wasn’t until I was 13 and I went to a video production summer camp for the first time that I tried editing in any serious capacity. It truly was like something magical clicked in my head—there was so much innate rhythm involved in editing, even in the absence of actual music—and I realized that this was the only thing I ever wanted to do. I still play music today, but much of my musicality is expressed through the pacing of my cuts now!
Which women in post do you admire?
Honestly, I admire literally any woman who has enough passion and drive to break into what is, generally speaking, a very male-dominated field. I also admire any woman in post who makes space for other women, lifts them up and celebrates their abilities and successes in an environment that can otherwise be uninviting or discouraging.
And if we’re naming names…I admire Joi McMillon. I admire Margaret Sixel. I’ve been quietly creeping on Taylor Walsh’s music video work for some time now. I could go on!
What advice do you have for other women wanting to start a career in post?
There will always be some degree of luck involved in this sort of a career path, but it’s also possible to make your own luck. Be reliable, follow through on promises and deadlines—make yourself into somebody a client or a coworker would feel confident recommending to another colleague for future work. So much of this industry’s hiring process is done via word of mouth, and I think you’ll find that a surprising amount of your work can come from fellow editors having to turn work down and recommending you instead. Reach out to people you’d like to work with and introduce yourself. Show them what you bring to the table and why they should want to collaborate with you. If you can prove to enough people that you are not only talented and dependable but also personable, the work will follow.
Tell us about your favourite pieces of your work;
It’s hard to pick just one, but right now I think my favorite piece is “Get Me,” a music video I edited for Justin Bieber’s most recent visual album. That video in general thrilled me because it really felt more like editing a short film than a music video—particularly in the fight scenes—but what really set that project apart for me was the collaborative process I had with the choreographer, Rhapsody James. I usually tend to feel a little salty during the notes process on most videos because I hate to see my edit being ripped apart, but literally, every change Rhapsody suggested during our session ended up improving the piece as a whole. It was just such a wonderful feeling to be so completely in sync with someone, and the video ended up being a million times better because of that joint effort.