Not The Same, But...

When I was an AD at ABC, I used to tell people how I loved the fact that my job had two parts--the studio, where I worked with the show as it was being shot, and the edit, where I fixed and tweaked episodes that were already shot to make them ready for air. Though parts of the same show, the two jobs were as different as night and day--the studio put me in the middle of a people-filled, sound-every-minute, fast-paced atmosphere, while the edit had me in a dark room, alone for most of the day. In the studio, my job, by its very nature, had me talking all day. In the edit, I could go hours without talking to anyone. In the studio, decisions needed to be made split-second. In the edit, decisions were often thought and re-thought, tested and retested.

As I talked to people about my job, I realized how rare it was for someone to be doing both parts of it. In most places, there were Editors and there were ADs. Two completely different people, two completely different skill sets. I came away from that job wanting to have that split again--editing, but not sitting in a dark, quiet room all day, every day, and production, but not having the noise and chaos and talking all day, every day.

I had all but given up ever having such a situation again. I have multiple resumes that highlight my different skill sets. In the comfort of my own home, I read about editing AND production, but I currently have a job that is just editing, and a side project at home that is just editing too.

But are they? What I have begun to realize is that while my titles may say "Editor," what I am doing is actually the closest I've come to the split I used to have. Maybe it's just me, gaining confidence in my post-soap world, finding ways to combine my skills in the jobs I do, carving out places that work. For, while no two jobs are the same, there are always shared elements, and it's when we find those shared elements that we can truly transfer our skills.

Today, I'm an Editor with a keen eye on the pace of production. Tomorrow, I may be a Producer or Director with an eye for the edit. Not the same, I know. And yet, maybe they are more the same than I thought.