Shayna Thea - Editor
Job title - Editor
Experience - 7+ years
“Trust your gut, your sense of rhythm & your ability to story tell. If you don’t believe in your cut, no one else will. Be flexible and open to new opportunities. Keep in touch with contacts you make along the way so you’re on their minds when they are looking for an editor. And lastly love what you do!”
Describe your job role and the kinds of projects/clients you work with.
I am an unscripted editor who works in the TV, for shows on Fuse & Vice; Documentaries and the digital space, clients like Gordon Ramsay.
What does an average day look like in your post production working world?
I work at home so an average day starts with rolling out of bed, booting up the computer and making coffee. While days vary based on the content, I usually am diving right into where I last left off on a project, then about an hour into the day I’ll check in with my producer or director (or whoever the point of contact is at that point) and see if they need anything immediate from me. For content in the digital world I usually am given raw footage to work with so I’m syncing the footage, stringing it out, making the selects, the putting the polished piece together; music, color, sound effects, the works. For TV content it depends from client to client. Some are a bit more hands on so we may start the day with a zoom to discuss where an edits at and what the goals for the day/edit are. Others will just pass along the story producers cut and say “get at it”.
This last year I was working on a documentary and there was a lot more interaction with the director. As we were trying to find the story there was a lot of him coming over to sift through footage, see particular moments pieced together and testing different story lines. For the first few months I would just pick scenes to start working on and see what we could pull together from them. What was interesting to me, what pushed the overarching story forward, what interview lines we must haves in the cut. We also would continually just send each other voice memos with ideas, plus all my requests for the rest of the shoot.
But, the bulk of most days, it’s just me and Premiere working away.
How did your career in post production begin?
I started as an editor on a daily digital Hollywood Report show at AwesomenessTV where I had been an intern my senior year of college.
What has been your career highlight?
When I made the jump from digital editor to TV editor. I didn’t go to film school, and when I graduated college I thought I wanted to go into VFX. So when I started as an editor at AwesomenessTV and learned editing basically on the job; which was great. But after 7 years in the digital space, where I had since done a multitude of long form content, I was desperate to move to the TV space but was finding the jump impossible. But in 2020, which was a weird year for many reason for everyone of course, FUSE network was doing a season of their show “Made from Scratch” where they had their talent filming themselves and needed an editor used to a quicker turn around and shall we say, less than up to par footage, which was the perfect niche for me to hop into. Like many of us, post strike and industry changes, creating a new network of clients and connections is still a challenge but it was the break in my career I really needed and confirmed that I had what it took.
Or more recently, Selena Gomez breaking her Instagram hiatus after 18 hours to repost the video I edited of her and Gordon Ramsay, that was pretty rad.
Who are your role models in post?
My friend and fellow editor Malinda Guerra who just won the Emmy for A Black Lady Sketch show. So proud of her and her journey and hope to be able to have the success my girl has had.
What advice do you have for others wanting to start a career in post?
Trust your gut, your sense of rhythm & your ability to story tell. If you don’t believe in your cut, no one else will. Be flexible and open to new opportunities. Keep in touch with contacts you make along the way so you’re on their minds when they are looking for an editor. And lastly love what you do!