Vancouver鈥檚 film and television editors know they鈥檙e damn good, and they want American producers to know it, too.
On Sept. 25, IATSE 891 鈥� the union representing many film workers, including professional screen editors 鈥� will launch Damn Good Editors, a campaign and website dedicated to showcasing the reels and work histories of its editors in order to connect them with the myriad of American productions that shoot in Vancouver.
Lisa Robison has edited locally shot American productions, and she鈥檚 watched even more shoot in Vancouver, and then send their footage to be edited in Los Angeles. Photo supplied
Damn Good Editors has been in the making for three years, but the need for the campaign has existed for much longer, says Lisa Robison. Robison has eight Leo Awards, several Daytime Emmy nominations and more than two decades of editing experience to her name. She鈥檚 edited locally shot American productions, and she鈥檚 watched even more shoot in 麻豆传媒映画and then send their footage to be edited in Los Angeles.
鈥淎 lot of the times, the producers want to edit in Los Angeles, but we have some really great editors in 麻豆传媒映画that are on par with editors in Los Angeles,鈥� says Robison, whose recent credits include multiple episodes of Loudermilk, You Me Her, and Unspeakable, the award-winning CBC miniseries about Canada鈥檚 tainted blood scandal.
Of the more than 30 film and television productions currently shooting in Vancouver, only five employ local editors, according to Robison 鈥� and it鈥檚 to the detriment of the productions that shoot here and the local editors who aren鈥檛 getting the chance to work on these shows. 鈥淲e have a talent pool that really wants to work hard for directors that have a lot more experience on these wonderful shows that come to town, but because they want to edit in L.A., they can鈥檛, and it鈥檚 unfortunate,鈥� she says.
Robison didn鈥檛 set out to be an editor. She spent eight years in the camera department (鈥淲hen I was a camera op, I thought, 鈥楨ditors are inside all day, we鈥檙e out in the rain, they have no idea, they have easy hours, what stress do they have?鈥濃��) before severe asthma attacks sent her looking for new opportunities in other parts of the film pipeline. She soon found her calling in an editing suite.
Robison describes editing as the last line of storytelling. 鈥淥ur job is to put the best of the best together.鈥�
And she honed her skills and her storytelling voice on shows such as Highlander: The Raven, Cold Squad and The L Word.
鈥淚 really grew as an editor when I was editing The L Word,鈥� says Robison. 鈥淲e had so many great directors, and our executive producer gave us free rein to be creative in certain areas of the show and to cut with your gut and go with your instinct, and if you have a director that鈥檚 willing to work with you collaboratively like that, then you grow as a person. We have awesome talent here and we have talent that would only get better if they had the opportunity to work.鈥�
Robison is one 25 experienced editors whose work is showcased as part of the Damn Good Editors campaign. The campaign website will feature demo reels, work biographies and lay out the tax incentives 鈥� 28 per cent on eligible labour expenses 鈥� for American productions that opt to hire local.
Producers 鈥渘eed to believe that the talent is here,鈥� and they often don鈥檛, says Robison. 鈥淚 think they think, 鈥極h, they鈥檙e Canadian editors, they just don鈥檛 know.鈥� But what we cut in 麻豆传媒映画is mostly American TV, so we know the style they want, and because of Skype and Quicktime, it鈥檚 a whole lot easier than back in the day when you had to send edits by FedEx. I think we deserve a challenge and a chance to prove ourselves. The sad thing is, we鈥檙e not even being given the opportunity.鈥�
IATSE 891鈥檚 Damn Good Editors campaign comes a few weeks after the launch of the Directors Guild of Canada-British Columbia鈥檚 Just Watch Us campaign, which similarly seeks to highlight the expertise of Vancouver-based directors. The unions developed their efforts separately and didn鈥檛 coordinate their campaigns, says Crystal Braunwarth, an assistant business representative with IATSE 891. Braunwarth called the close launch of the two campaigns a 鈥渉appy accident.鈥�
The Damn Good Editors site launches Sept. 25. Learn more at .
