Oona Flaherty - Feature Film Editor
Editor
Experience 15+ years
“I’ve worked in drama, comedy, romance, animation, horror - and while I lean more toward either emotional character-driven dramas or dark comedies, I like to say, if it’s a great script and a wonderfully creative and kind director, I’m interested.”
Describe your job role and the kinds of projects/clients you work with.
I edit feature films, mainly narrative although I have also worked in the documentary world. I've edited studio films, including Sony Pictures "It Ends With Us" and Lionsgate's "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret", as well as movies for streamers such as Netflix and Amazon. I also edited an episode of the documentary series "Marvel 616", directed by Gillian Jacobs, and the feature documentary "Origin Story" with Kulap Vilaysack. My job as an editor is to piece together each part of the film - picture, sound, music - in a way that best tells the story in the most impactful way. I like to say we as editors are creating the psychological choreography of a film. That translates into all genres. I've worked in drama, comedy, romance, animation, horror - and while I lean more toward either emotional character-driven dramas or dark comedies, I like to say, if it's a great script and a wonderfully creative and kind director, I'm interested.
What does an average day look like in your post-production working world?
It depends on where we are in the post production process. There are generally three stages of feature film editing (as with any, but features tend to have longer periods of time for each stage). Production is the first - this the stage during which the film is being shot and editorial is receiving dailies from set on a daily basis. These days consist of reviewing the footage after it's brought in and organized by the assistant editor, who has checked all the footage against camera, sound and script notes to make sure it's all accounted for and in our system. I will then review the script notes to see if there are any notes from the director or the script supervisor about favorites, anomalies, ideas etc that could inform how I want to approach cutting the scene. Then I will review the footage and takes, firstly to see if anything looks strange or unusable so that we can flag it to production, and secondly to watch what we've got and take my own notes or start pulling favorites to start building the scene. I try to get at least a rough cut of all of the scenes we receive each day so that we don't fall behind production. In features, we generally have 6 days after production wraps to get our editor's cut done - which I try to include as much sound work and music (both temp score and songs) as possible, so it's pretty fast paced. The second stage is the Director's cut, which is at least 10 weeks depending on budget and schedule. An average day would be reviewing and working on scenes with the director. Oftentimes a director will leave me with a lot of notes that I then work on by myself, and then we reconvene to review. This is the time that we are really shaping the film and trying things creatively to get us to a solid cut of the film. The third stage is the finishing months, which are still filled with editing and working with the director, but now we engage with the producers notes, have screenings for recruited audiences and engage with the sound department, visual effects team, and composer more consistently to get us to a finished film.
How did your career in post production begin?
I had wanted to go to college for acting, but my dad, who had been a working actor, encouraged me to get a degree in something else. So I picked film - it felt creatively adjacent and I was a lover of the screen from a young age. It was in college that I found myself always gravitating toward editing. I was a dancer my entire life, and an actor and musician, and I found that in editing I was able to draw on all of those sensibilities and use them in a new and exciting way. I started my career right out of college working in animation. It was a fun job that really made me pay attention to facial expressions since you are literally making the characters react frame by frame. In New York City, I did some work as an editor in documentary and industrial work, but didn't really find my footing until I was invited by a friend to intern on the feature film "Last Night", edited by the amazing Sandy Morse. The editorial team and director were incredibly generous with allowing me in the room and showing me the intricacies of editing a feature film, that I knew it was the world I wanted to be in. Life happened and it took me a few more years until I was in Los Angeles and ready to start that journey. I had a two-year old at the time, but knew that I needed to get my hours and get into the union if I wanted to pursue a career as an editor. So I worked nights on a reality show and asked anyone I knew in the industry if I could come and sit in the room with them and take notes about how they worked. I sat in on reality shows, television shows, and features. Everyone was incredibly inviting and helpful. I still have that notebook full of all of the things I learned! Right around the time I was about to get my hours, I attended a three-night panel discussion put on by ACE for the ACE internship. I had noticed a feature film editor, John Axelrad, was there all three nights and decided to introduce myself and give him my resume on the off chance that he was looking for an assistant editor or knew of someone looking. As chance would have it, he was looking for an assistant editor for a feature. It was both an incredibly lucky moment and a moment that I worked really hard for. John was a great mentor, as was his previous assistant who spent a day with me going over what John liked as an editor and all of the paperwork and technical areas I'd need to get going onto a project with John. It was a big learning curve and I made mistakes, but we got through it and had a great time. From there, I kept getting introduced and recommended through people I worked with for my next projects.
What has been your career highlight?
Getting to edit the feature film "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret." was such a highlight for me in my career. Not only did I get to work with the great Kelly Fremon Craig and legendary James L. Brooks, but, as a female editor, it was a thrill to be a part of bringing such an iconic story about growing up female to the big screen. I was a big fan of the book and of Judy Blume as a girl, so reliving the book through editing the film was a unique experience. Kelly did such an amazing adaptation of the book for the screen, not shying away from the more "controversial" topics that landed the book on the banned book list. I remember getting the dailies for the scene when Margaret tries on a menstrual pad for the first time - I burst into tears! It's not something that I had ever seen in a theatrical film before. It's such a simple thing that all girls go through in one way or another, but to include it in the film felt monumental and important. I was also able to work on the film as a mother, so I related to both Margaret and her mother, Barbara. It was a joy to help bring the generations of women to life in the film, and working with Kelly was so much fun. We laughed and cried, and shared memories of our own lives that related to the film. Working with Jim Brooks was also an incredible opportunity for me. He has an infectious laugh and an unrelenting drive to try everything. While it was a lot of hard work, and we did version after version after version - I can still hear Jim saying, "I love it! Now make it 50% shorter!" over and over - it was like a master class in the art of editing. I am ever appreciative to have had that project as a part of my career.
Who are your role models in post?
Honestly, my biggest role models in post are those people who helped champion me through my early career. People who opened doors for me and welcomed me in; mentored me; recognized my talent and gave me opportunities when they could. It can be an intensely competitive industry, full of big egos. I really appreciated and was moved by the support and encouragement I got from these people. It helped keep me going and made me feel a part of an artist community, which is what I love about being a creative artist. I'm not sure I'd be where I am without writer, producer, director, editor and friend Josh Salzberg. We first worked together on "Welcome To Me", and he let me cut when I asked, walked me through things I didn't understand, included me on sound stages and in composer rooms, always asked for my notes and thoughts, and then recommended me for jobs. When he could fight for me to get additional editor credit, he did. He's not only incredibly talented but a genuinely fantastic human. Also, Mike Selemon, Sandy Morse, John Axelrad, Cate Haight, Kelly Fremon Craig, Liz W. Garcia, Shira Piven and Nick Moore. All of these folks are great collaborators and wonderful people who support artists and who supported me, and I hope to model them for those who come after me.
What advice do you have for others wanting to start a career in post?
The biggest piece of advice I have is don't expect yourself to have to know everything before jumping in. There is a community of people who will teach you and guide you if you make yourself available and willing to put in the hard work. Of course, learn as much as you can in the area you want to pursue, but you can learn a lot of it on the job. Do the PA job if you can and ask if you can sit in on something. And be open to constantly learning and growing through your projects, as well as through the people you work with.
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