Priscilla Zambrano - Assistant Editor
Job title - Assistant Editor
Experience - 7+ years
“My role models in post are anyone who has ever taken a moment to help me, encourage me, or give me advice. I owe any and all success to the people who have taken a leap of faith on me. It’s something I intend to pay back throughout my career.”
Describe your job role and the kinds of projects/clients you work with.
I am an assistant editor in live-action scripted TV, although I have also worked in animation as an assistant editor and animatic editor! I’m currently working on season 3 of the CW show, Superman & Lois, and in the past I have worked on season 11 of Robot Chicken and (briefly) the Beavis and Butthead reboot on Paramount+.
What does an average day look like in your post production working world?
It depends! Every day is different on this thrill ride that is a VFX-heavy action show. If I’m working from home, I try to start the day by saying good morning to my roommate’s cat (who is the worst co-worker in the world, but we keep him around because he’s cute). If we are in dailies, I start the day by prepping footage for my editor. Every editor has different workflow preferences, so it’s important to communicate with them to see how they like their dailies prepped. Everything in this industry is about collaboration and part of my job is to make sure that my editor’s day goes as smoothly as possible for her. And that starts with day 1 of dailies! We receive our dailies overnight so they are ready for us in the morning, at which point I bring everything into Avid and sort it into bins for each individual scene that was filmed. After that, I organize all the shots in the bin by take, I group them (if multiple cameras were used), and then I go through each shot, adding markers after action is called and double-checking to make sure that everything was synced and grouped properly. I will also color code offspeed (slow-mo) footage to make it easier on our VFX team to see which shots are offspeed at a glance.
As I go through the footage, I keep all the paperwork from our script supervisor close to me so I can make sure that we have everything we need. When dailies are done, I hand everything off to my editor and take a coffee and/or snack break. Once my editor has finished a scene, she will pass it off to me to do temp sound work on it. A scene can take anywhere from minutes to several hours to do sound work on, depending on the type of scene it is. Dialogue scenes, with just a few characters having a conversation are usually quick, but heavy action scenes with lots of punches, whooshes, and explosions, can take all day. Aaaaaand repeat until everything for our episode has been filmed!
My other AE duties are more in flux. Once an episode comes together, I output cuts and send them off to whoever needs to see it (i.e. Editor’s Cut, Director’s Cut, Producer Cut, Studio Cut, then Network Cut), my editor gets notes back and so on and so forth until we are locked. Once we lock an episode and turnovers are done, my responsibilities broaden a bit and I start to work more closely with our online house and post sound team. Sometimes this involves sending picture references of the episode to our sound team as we get new VFX shots in, or sending new pickups to our online house, etc. The show I’m working on is very fast-paced. Often, we are locking an episode at the same time that dailies for the next episode are just around the corner (or have already started). It’s not uncommon for me to prep dailies for a new episode and then start a full turnover for the previous episode that we just locked. We all stay pretty busy!
How did your career in post production begin?
I always joke that my first NLE was Windows Movie Maker from when I was a child. I’ve been working on visual creative projects all my life. In fact, I initially wanted to be a graphic designer. My top choice for colleges was the University of California at Davis because it was the only UC that offered a degree in graphic design. However, for administrative reasons, I could not sign up for any graphic design classes my first quarter and so I wound up taking a class called “Filmmaking Foundations” instead. The rest is history.
After that class sparked an interest in filmmaking, I started working on campus as a videographer and editor creating promotional content for the university. By the time I graduated, I was the technical director of that studio and had 3 years of experience creating and editing content. That helped me land in the world of digital/viral videos, which I worked in for a few years before moving into TV.
What has been your career highlight?
Probably making Seth Green laugh during a review. (Just kidding. Kinda). It’s gotta be getting an animatic editor credit on Robot Chicken. I was an assistant editor for the season and both editors I worked with were very supportive of letting me edit (bit more info on this later). By the end of the season, my editor, Jeff Newman, vouched for me to get an animatic editor credit for the last two episodes of the season. It’s incredibly valuable for your editor to have your back during those conversations, and I have always been very grateful that he stuck his neck out for me.
Who are your role models in post?
My role models in post are anyone who has ever taken a moment to help me, encourage me, or give me advice. I owe any and all success to the people who have taken a leap of faith on me. It’s something I intend to pay back throughout my career. Two people immediately come to mind (because I work with them every day!): Isabel Yanes, a friend, fellow assistant editor on my show, and editor in her own right, was absolutely crucial in helping me navigate the steep learning curve that came with a VFX-heavy action show. Isabel, I tell you this all the time, but you’re the best and anyone would be lucky to work with you!
Becca Berry, my current editor. I actually met Becca on Robot Chicken. It was my first scripted show, and I was nervous as all hell, but on our first week working together, she told me, “If you see a sketch you want to edit, go for it!” And so I did. She wasn’t able to finish the season, but by the time she left, I felt confident enough to keep editing.
What advice do you have for others wanting to start a career in post?
Be vocal about what you want out of your career. You'd be surprised how many people rise up to help you. Oh, and be kind.
Tell us about some of your favourite projects.
I truly wish I had a more official link from the Adult Swim youtube page, but I’ve only been able to find third party uploads of this sketch (and I unfortunately only have access to the animatic, which I’m not at liberty to share!) But! I cut the animatic to this sketch on Robot Chicken season 11:
I was very excited to cut it when I read the script. My editor, Jeff Newman, let me take the wheel on it, and when we finally got to the review, everyone laughed hysterically. It felt good and I’m proud of it to this day.