Morgan Jefferson - Video Editor
Job title - Editor
Experience - 5+ years
“Make friends, be nice to people, and be willing to do the work. If you find yourself working for a difficult client, always remember that there’s probably some solution that seems small to you but will blow them away.”
Describe your job role and the kinds of projects/clients you work with.
I'm a full time Video Editor for the agency VMLY&R. Within that, is the studio VAULT where we handle production and post production for a huge variety of advertising clients. I've had the pleasure of working with a lot of clients since being with VMLY&R including SmartWater, Sam's Club, Intel, Wahl, Sherwin Williams, and more.
What does an average day look like in your post production working world?
My day to day as an editor ranges depending where I am in a project and how many projects I have assigned to me at once. A slow week, I just have one client but I've had 2-3 projects going at once for most of the year. Projects can wrap within a week or take months. When starting a new project, in Premiere I like to bring in all the footage and organize it based on if I'm doing several social posts for one project or if I'm following storyboards. Then I usually hope I've been sent music so I can start cutting. If I don't, I usually lay out the clips on the timeliine in their order. Once I get that music in, that's when the real editing starts for me. Besides just the beat, you never know what little surprises a music track can give you that may let you add a little something special to your edit. Some days I may have a few more meetings on the books than I like but every other day we have a status Teams meeting with everyone in our studio. Since I've started we've grown from around 20 people to roughly 60. We have team members from Seattle, San Fransisco, Denver, Kansas City (headquarters), Chicago, Miami, and New York City who all call in and who we work with every day.
How did your career in post production begin?
Honestly, Post Production scared me a bit. After college I was trying to get on as many sets as a PA as I could (in the midwest) because I wanted to be in production. After about 6 months of doing that I got a call from a school mate saying she needed a second Assistant Editor for a reality show she was working on. Again, in the midwest this type of work was kind of unheard of. They also were switching to Avid which was new for me. I got up the courage to go in for the interview and the rest is kind of history. I got the job and made my way up from 2nd AE, to first, to online editor, and even overseeing a group of AEs. That first show though taught me some hard and amazing lessons in post production that I still carry to this day.
What has been your career highlight?
This question is probably the hardest because I tend to play things down. I'm not an Emmy or Oscar winner. I have had one local Addy which I'm incredibly proud of but I think what gets me most excited about my career is when a video I've made has made some sort of impact. Whether that be a pitch that I helped win, a video someone thought was funny, or something I've done that people loved that they've come back for more. Most recently a colleague told me because of my edit, a client was requesting more videos just like that. Of course, my colleague who was the set designer really deserves most of the credit but the fact that she took time to tell me that it was my edit that made the piece shine, really meant a lot to me. That's probably one of my favorite things about working for VMLY&R. I work with a lot of talented people and they are so gracious and group oriented. We make great work together as a team. I think that's really special.
Who are your role models in post?
I have a lot of role models in post! One that I'm constantly watching is Edgar Wright. Though he's a director, you can tell how much he thinks about what that final edit will look like and what needs to be done in pre and production to make that work in post. You need all 3 of those things for a successful video in my opinion and he seems to really understand that. My other role models in post have to be school mates and colleagues that have gone on to do great things. I have an old classmate, colleague, and friend Patrick Lawrence who started out in the midwest like me but now is editing some of the best new horror movies out there. Every time he has something new come out I am just so happy to see this amazing editor doing work that I know he's proud of and he's really do his thing in his style and I love that. I have to say all along my career there have been women in post who have been the complete back bone to projects and I don't think they always got the credit. My first AE that I worked under, Sarah Williams carried that show and she's working as an Editor now. I had a Post Supervisor for many years, Lauren Winchester who completely ran the ship and without her we would've been lost. Now, at VMLY&R we have a group of Post Producing women who run the damn thing and I'm happy to also be apart of a group of female editors too.
What advice do you have for others wanting to start a career in post?
Just jump in! You don't need to have gone to film school or have a great knowledge of computers. If you have a vision, all you need to know are the buttons and that's what Google and YouTube tutorials are for! This world is digital and video is everywhere. Make friends, be nice to people, and be willing to do the work. If you find yourself working for a difficult client, always remember that there's probably some solution that seems small to you but will blow them away. Give it a try before giving up and you will absolutely surprise yourself. As far as actually editing, I had a manager at one job, Dac McCabe tell me, "Just make it weird!" That first cut out of the gate is yours, so make it wild. All anyone can do is tell you to scale it back and either that will help you find the sweet spot or maybe they'll love it! Who knows? No fear in editing!