Grace McIntee, Editor
Editor
Experience 7+ years
“Your eye - the way you see things - is what allows you to create something that’s actually unique, so cultivate that. Be well-read and well-researched. Know what kind of things you like and don’t like.”
Describe your job role and the kinds of projects/clients you work with.
I’m an editor, mostly working on commercials and branded films, with clients like Nike, Meta, Spotify, and Samsung. After freelancing for the past 7 years, I recently found a home at House Post. I love to edit (period) but I especially enjoy exploring real human experiences and finding ways to tell those stories authentically. Editing has given me glimpses into so many walks of life. That feels like a huge privilege of the job.
What does an average day look like in your post production working world?
Something that appealed to me about post is that there are no average days. Every day requires something new from me. That said, work days always involve booting up my computer, checking what needs to be done, and getting it done—with a million screen breaks in between.
If I’m just starting a project I’ll spend the day watching down dailies. I usually do a couple passes of selects if I have time so I’m super familiar with the footage. This saves time when we’re on v52 of the edit and really having to dive deep into the footage to find what we need. The first pass I’ll ideally do before a kickoff call and without reviewing storyboards or anything—just using the footage alone to chisel out some possibilities.
I try to look at the footage for what it is because shoots don’t always go as planned. Storyboards change, scripts change. As the one person who was not involved in pre-pro or production, I try to honor the original concept while leaving room for how it could evolve. Once selects are done I start piecing things together, trying things out, exploring all options.
Despite having edited loads of projects, I still panic slightly at the start. There are a million different paths and I have to choose one. But things always fall into place sooner than I expect, and overwhelm shifts into excitement. Often it feels like I black out and when I come to, there’s a first cut in front of me.
I don’t like to be too precious about first cuts, so once I’ve got something good I send it off and wait for notes to roll in. I usually send cuts without any explanation or caveats because the viewer won’t ultimately be given an explanation—they’ll just see the end product. I let the director or client have that experience and then we get into the nitty-gritty.
How did your career in post production begin?
After spending most of my adolescence pushing Windows Movie Maker to its limits and then completely corrupting the family desktop with cracked versions of Premiere Pro, I moved from Iowa to LA straight out of high school.
I considered film school but as an impatient seventeen-year-old, I was eager to leave my hometown and test the waters in the real world. I made a deal with myself that if I didn’t have a solid foot in the door by the time my college-bound peers were finishing their degrees, I would go back to school.
After a year or two of working every minimum wage job I could find (barista, medical study participant, ice cream scooper, customer service rep), I landed my first job in post as an office assistant at a finishing house called Different By Design. I validated parking for filmmakers I admired, stocked fridges, burned and QCed hundreds of DVDs for festival submissions, and backed up Netflix shows to LTO tapes.
I learned about so many elements of the post-production workflow I had never considered. On the side, I was editing whatever I could get my hands on—wedding videos, baseball highlight reels, small music videos, and branded films. I never said no. After a year of assisting, my freelance work started picking up. I put together a decent little portfolio and took the plunge into full-time freelance editing.
What has been your career highlight?
I’ve worked on a lot of special projects but I always look back on my first official commercial job as a major milestone. A friend tossed me an opportunity to cut a campaign for Samsung and—despite it feeling so out of my depth at the time—I couldn’t say no. I knew how to edit, of course, but I had no idea what I was doing in the commercial space. The classic advice of “fake it till you make it” suddenly became more real than ever. Sending off the first cut, I was sick to my stomach wondering what I’d gotten myself into.
Around end of day, I got a call that the ECD at Samsung had watched it once and hadn’t said a word (terrifying!), then asked to watch it a second time, and finally broke the silence with “I fucking love it. No notes from me.” Naively thinking this was the way first cut feedback would always go, I started privately calling myself “one cut wonder”.
While I very quickly learned this was not the norm, I’m grateful I had this experience on my first job—it was a huge confidence booster in the moment when I most needed it.
Who are your role models in post?
My former boss turned good friend Cris Cardenas, currently director of post-production at HAUS, is definitely someone I look up to and admire in post. He is my go-to when I have a question or need some advice on navigating this industry.
I also really admire director Sean Baker for his incredible films which he edits entirely himself. I massively relate to his mentality around post-production. He controversially said he believes editors should be credited as co-directors, and I won’t disagree... I took his lunch order a few times as an assistant at DXD which I was pretty geeked about.
What advice do you have for others wanting to start a career in post?
Understanding other people’s perspectives is important, but having a strong perspective yourself is key. Your eye—the way you see things—is what allows you to create something that’s actually unique, so cultivate that. Be well-read and well-researched. Know what kind of things you like and don’t like. Creative work is all about getting on the same page collaboratively and trusting each other.
This is not as technical of a job as it seems. Knowing your way around an editing software is the bare minimum. It’s more important to have a vision and the ability to communicate it with clarity.
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