Flair

Looks like editors of factual TV productions in the UK have a new kind of client to deal with. The ‘Edit Producer.’ I noticed this credit roll by on a TV show this evening. I wondered if the emphasis was on ‘edit’ or ‘produce.’ If it is an editor who supervises or produces the edit of a series with the help of different editing teams, or it is a producer who is solely responsible for producing the edit. I hoped it was the former. It turns out to be the latter:

With factual reality shows, the producers who were on set during the shoot will typically run the edit. This is because there is a huge amount of material and you need someone who was very close to the action with the editor to ensure nothing gets lost. Thus they will be credited as producers and so the term edit producer won’t be used. However with gameshows the edit is often run by someone who was not part of the production of the shoot but is brought in because they have a flair for assembling linear material into something compelling. A bit like a good record producer. The fantastic Adam Wood, who I had got to know well on Playing it Straight – he was the executive producer – was kind enough to think I could make a good fist of the Cash Cab footage that had been shot, so he called me and I came in to cut the establishing episodes. In fact, I’m proud to say that I cut the pilot that Adam used to sell the show worldwide.

(from a UK gameshow blog)

If the Edit Producer is the one with the “flair for assembling linear material into something compelling,” I wonder what the editor’s role is?