Susan Vaill - Editor
Job title - Editor
Experience - 10+ years
“If you’re worried you don’t have enough credits to make someone want to interview you, put something on your resume that will still make them want to meet you. (I wrote “Girl Wonder. Able to solve problems in a single bound.” This got me my first real union AE gig). ”
Tell us about your job role and the kinds of projects you work on;
I edit scripted television series, both half-hour comedy and one-hour drama, for American studios and channels like HBO, Netflix, AMC, etc. I’ve been in the Motion Picture Editors Guild for 20 years, and I only work on union shows. But the real job of an editor is to be a Renaissance artist, a master of many skills. An editor must not only know visual storytelling, but also know sound design, sound editing, and sound mixing; film scoring, music supervising and music editing; visual effects, color correction, and graphic design. And last but not least: politics, diplomacy, crisis management, mentorship, and how to give and receive notes. I was an art history major in college and studied abroad in Italy. I named my S-corp Controposto, a term that describes the moment when the depiction of the human form took a literal step forward, from the rigid stiffness of Egyptian art to the natural grace and balance of Classical sculpture.
What does an average day look like in your post-production working world?
I always start by checking emails and messages to see if there’s any urgent requests or deadline that’s come up, or if any notes have come in from directors/producers/studio. It usually takes 1-2 months to edit a TV episode, from dailies to final mix and delivery (not including visual effects). If I’m on a series I usually wind up cutting from 3 to 7 episodes, depending on the size of a show’s order. If I’m in dailies, I start by scanning the script supervisor’s notes to see what scenes have come in and to go over any director’s notes. I usually watch the last take of the master of a scene, then scan through all the dailies so I can get a grip on the setups and coverage. If it’s a huge scene or has lots of improv, I’ll ask my assistant editor to script it, so I can cut it using Script Sync. But scripting is an onerous task for AE’s, so I try to only choose a few scenes to be scripted. Single-camera scenes and two-handers I cut straight from the scene bin. I re-cut as I go, making duplicates of my scene cuts and saving all the alts in the scene bin. I also stack up alt takes in the video tracks and alt temp score or songs in the audio tracks to be able to show options quickly to directors and producers. One thing I love about half-hour is that it’s so much easier to watch the full cuts. I watch my cuts a lot: sometimes first thing in the morning, or while I’m eating lunch or having coffee, or at night after outputs have come out. I find it helps me to watch them in different locations from the cutting room: at home if I’m cutting at a studio, or if I’m cutting at home to watch cuts in a different room, just to keep it feeling fresh and see it in a new way.
How did your career in post-production begin?
A friend in a high school art class taught me deck-to-deck SVHS editing to help her make a music video for a Jimi Hendrix song. Then I fell in love with film history and film theory in college, which led me to film school at USC where I promptly rediscovered my love of editing. I started assisting on documentaries, which is incredible training for editors in finding the story. But after working on a very tough doc about child abuse, I migrated to fictional scripted films and television. I began assisting the editor Victor DuBois, and we worked on the pilot of Grey’s Anatomy. I couldn’t believe how much I loved the smart female characters, the mix of comedy and drama, and the indie soundtrack. And I loved working with a female showrunner, and with so many great female directors. I stayed there for 11 years and cut 70 episodes.
Tell us about a career highlight;
1) 2005: my editing debut was an early episode of Grey’s Anatomy, “Into You Like a Train”. I worked so hard on it; my hands were trembling on the mixer as I output it. Then Shonda called me and said it was the best Editor’s Cut she’d ever seen. She hadn’t been able to stop crying. I loved that episode so much, handpicked each song, obsessed over the sound mix. I still remember every moment of working on it with my very first assistant editor and film school classmate Michelle Fellner. “I found the leg!” LOL.
2) 2019: working with director Alethea Jones on the Lodge 49 episode “Circles.” She took an already-spectacular script and sent me some of the most gorgeous dailies I’d ever seen. Just incredible visual storytelling, not a moment wasted. It was thrilling to cut together, and I loaded it up with so many amazing songs as it pivoted back and forth in time between 1961 and the present day. Alethea and I were so creatively in sync it was a professional high point for me on what was already one of my favorite shows and work environments. I shared that joy with two amazing assistant editors Sara Flatow and Lai-San Ho.
3) 2021: Hacks. So fierce, so funny, so feminist. I remember feeling like I was just luxuriating in the incredible writing and performances that I was getting to work with. Jean Smart OMG. On Hacks, I fully felt all my experience coming to the forefront, creatively and as an advocate for the show and the creators’ vision. And we did it all over Zoom. We still haven’t met in person! It was insane, exciting, challenging, and so much fun. But kind of devastating to not get to work in person with the wonderful editors and producers and my star assistant editor Marc Wiltshire. Hopefully, we’ll be together for season 2.
Which women in post do you admire?
Documentary editors: Kate Amend and Kim Roberts. Television editors: Yana Gorskaya, Jamie Nelson Pedroza, Cate Haight, Kelly Dixon, Claire Scanlon, Molly Shock, Dorian Harris. Feature editors: Lisa Lassek, Debbie Berman, Anne V. Coates, DeDe Allen, Thelma Schoonmaker, Sally Menke.
What advice do you have for other women wanting to start a career in post?
If you’re worried you don’t have enough credits to make someone want to interview you, put something on your resume that will still make them want to meet you. (I wrote “Girl Wonder. Able to solve problems in a single bound.” This got me my first real union AE gig).
Don’t lose touch with the people you enjoyed working with (they can be hard to find!). Claire Scanlon, a TV documentary editor I assisted in 2001 eventually edited The Office and suggested me for Grandfathered (2015) and Space Force (2020) which then led to Hacks (2021). She’s now directing TV shows and movies and I owe her so much for helping me find my way in comedy!