Main Responsibilities of an Assistant Editor at Warner Bros. Discovery
Morgan's role as an Assistant Editor at Warner Bros. Discovery involves a blend of creative tasks, such as "adding creative sound design" and potentially cutting scenes depending on their editor's preference, and organizational duties including managing footage, communicating with other departments, and handling turnovers between post-production stages. The level of creative involvement is heavily dependent on the relationship with the supervising editor.
Sound Design, Post-Production, Video Editing, Collaboration, Communication
Advizer Information
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Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
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Traits
Morgan Hinshaw
Assistant Editor
Warner Bros. Discovery
Loyola Marymount University
N/A
Film, Media Arts, Visual Arts
Arts, Entertainment & Media
Creative
Scholarship Recipient, Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Assists the editor with various tasks, including sound design, scene cutting, and temp music insertion.
2. Manages the organization of daily footage and communicates with other departments (sound, music, color) to facilitate project turnovers.
3. The level of creative responsibility varies depending on the editor's preferences and may include a significant portion of the episode's editing process, such as cutting a quarter of the show in some cases.
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role?
The assistant editor's day-to-day involves a lot of sound design, which is important to mention because people don't typically know that. Ultimately, as the cut progresses, it's my responsibility to add creative sound design.
If the editor allows, you can also cut some scenes. You might also be putting in the temp score, the temp music, into the show as you go. What your responsibilities entail creatively really depends on your relationship with the editor and what they need.
Some editors are comfortable with their assistant doing a lot of things creatively, perhaps even cutting a quarter of the whole episode. It depends on that relationship, but you're essentially assisting them with whatever they need.
It involves organizing all the footage each day as it comes in and helping with various things. This also includes communicating with the higher-ups regarding sending cuts out and posting things online. You're also doing all the turnovers.
Every time an episode locks, meaning we're done with the picture editing, we send it over to the sound, music, and color departments. It's my job to be the communicator to all those departments, sending them the files they need to continue with the show and finish it out. But yeah, that's essentially the gist.