Committee Prepares For
Your Future

Karen Rasch has been named chair of a special subcommittee of the Foresight Committee, to investigate and develop a Guild membership consensus on long-range issues concerning the future of editing. These issues include how the editing room of the future would work, the roles and responsibilities of post-production crew, development of new technologies in both post-production and distribution, as well as the social, cultural, political and financial considerations and effects. The as yet unnamed committee will focus its initial efforts on creating and staging forums and seminars for the membership to gauge the interests and concerns of our members on these issues.

Karen believes, "While our Guild is in such an interesting state of transformation, with pressing issues to be resolved, it would be easy to lose sight of the fact that we do have some control over our working conditions and lifestyles. We feel it is important to take the initiative as we head into the future, to explore the potential for new jobs, to redefine and strengthen our position in the industry. If we want to have the best pay and working conditions, we also must take the responsibility to be the best trained and most professional people for those jobs as they evolve. We urge all members to provide us with your suggestions to make sure we are the best possible choice for employers whenever they are hiring crews."

The committee is asking all members to contribute their suggestions, questions or concerns to help develop a structure for the forums. Call Karen Rasch with your thoughts (check the Guild directory for her number).

Patrick Gregston, who joins Karen on the committee, says, "Editors have been at the mercy of other interests in the definition and development of our workplace, rather than creating or causing this development. We hope to formalize the discussion among editors, in order to have the voice of the members make a difference in the future."

The committee has already gained the interest of industry futurists. Linda Carpenter, Vice President of Advanced Systems Entertainment at Sony's Digital Studio Division, says "Sony is very interested in knowing what editors want the 'editing suite of the future' workplace to be. We look forward to further discussions in this exploration."