Editors' Letter In Trades
The Editors Guild placed the following letter in Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter on January 19, 1996
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To: |
The Directors Guild of America |
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From: |
The Editors Guild Committee on Creative Rights |
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Dear Directors:
We are aware that you are in contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The issue of directors' rights is of tremendous importance not only to you, but also to editors and all those involved in the post-production process.
In the last two years, we have witnessed an unprecedented erosion of your creative rights. Post-production schedules have been shortened to accommodate unrealistic release dates, and as a result, you are asked time and again to relinquish your contractual ten-week cut. First, you are asked to show the studio your work long before it is ready. Then the film is immediately previewed and after that first preview, it is often the audience who edits the picture.
The advent of digital technology has mistakenly created the illusion that the editing process can be continually shortened. In fact, the technology has had less effect than is commonly assumed. Post-production is still being accelerated the way it always has been - by adding additional editors. When this happens, the director's attention is divided and too many tasks are performed simultaneously: picture changes, looping, scoring, temp and final dubbing, negative cutting, answer printing, and all suffer. Too often we see pictures finished in a whirlwind process that leaves everyone, director included, dazed. Under these circumstances, there is no time for the real work of editing to take place: assessing the story and structure, shaping and polishing a performance, or most important, doing the work well. It is only after the picture is released that the creative team realizes where the power of their material lay, and it is only in hindsight that they understand what they could have done with a few more days or weeks - time that in retrospect seems all too inexpensive.
Janet Maslin, writing for the New York Times (August 8,1995) described many of the summer's forced schedule, big budget pictures as suffering from "sloppiness" and looking "amateurish." Release dates are driving the schedules and marketing is dictating these dates. Of course we need people in the seats, but what happens if they don't come back?
We unequivocally support you in your efforts to preserve the post-production time necessary to create work with coherence, power, and integrity. We understand the value of a single vision and respect the time it takes to realize it.
With solidarity and resolve,
Edward Abroms, A.C.E.
Stuart Baird, A.C.E.
Fred Berger, A.C.E.
Peter Berger, A.C.E.
Kent Beyda, A.C.E.
John Bloom
Francoise Bonnot, A.C.E.
Charles Bornstein, A.C.E.
George Bowers, A.C.E.
Wendy Greene Bricmont, A.C.E.
Conrad Buff
John F. Burnett, A.C.E.
Jacqueline Cambas, A.C.E.
Donn Cambern, A.C.E.
Bruce Cannon
Joanna Cappuccilli
Richard Chew
Lisa Churgin
Jim Clark
Anne V. Coates, A.C.E.
Arthur Coburn
Steven Cohen, A.C.E.
Scott Conrad, A.C.E.
Carmel Davies
Freeman Davies
Rudi Fehr, A.C.E.
Robert Ferretti, A.C.E.
Richard Francis-Bruce
Lois Freeman-Fox, A.C.E.
Tony Gibbs, A.C.E.
Mark Goldblatt, A.C.E.
Mia Goldman, A.C.E.
Margie Goodspeed
William D. Gordean, A.C.E.
Bruce Green, A.C.E.
Jerry Greenberg
Richard Halsey, A.C.E.
Gerry Hambling, A.C.E.
Janice Hampton, A.C.E.
Alan Heim, A.C.E.
Mark Helfrich, A.C.E.
Paul Hirsch, A.C.E.
Tina Hirsch, A.C.E.
Jack Hofstra, A.C.E.
Michael Hoggan, A.C.E.
David Holden
Peter Honess, A.C.E.
Maysie Hoy
Michael Jablow, A.C.E.
Michael Kahn, A.C.E.
Sheldon Kahn, A.C.E.
Harry Keramidas
Lynzee Klingman, A.C.E.
Bonnie Koehler, A.C.E.
Jane Kurson, A.C.E.
Robert K. Lambert, A.C.E.
Chris Lebenzon
Robert Leighton
Sid Levin, A.C.E.
John Link
Carol Littleton, A.C.E.
Andrew London
Barry Malkin
Richard Marks, A.C.E.
Craig McKay, A.C.E.
Sally Menke
Jim Miller
Randy Jon Morgan
Susan E. Morse, A.C.E.
Walter Murch, A.C.E.
Priscilla Nedd-Friendly, A.C.E.
Thom Noble
Lee Percy, A.C.E.
Anthony Redman, A.C.E.
William Reynolds, A.C.E.
Stephen Rivkin, A.C.E.
Tom Rolf, A.C.E.
David Rosenbloom, A.C.E.
Steven Rosenblum
Harvey Rosenstock, A.C.E.
Arthur Schmidt
Thelma Schoonmaker, A.C.E.
Robert F. Shugrue, A.C.E.
Claire Simpson
Robert L. Sinise, A.C.E.
Howard Smith, A.C.E.
Nicholas C. Smith, A.C.E.
Fredric Steinkamp
William Steinkamp, A.C.E.
Michael Stevenson, A.C.E.
James Symons, A.C.E.
Neil Travis, A.C.E.
Michael Tronick, A.C.E.
Jack Tucker, A.C.E.
Frank J. Urioste, A.C.E.
Mark Warner
Billy Weber
Ralph Winters, A.C.E.
Pam Wise, A.C.E.
Sidney Wolinsky
John Wright, A.C.E.
Don Zimmerman, A.C.E.
Peter Zinner, A.C.E.
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
Vol. 17, No. 1 - Jan/Feb 1996
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Copyright © 1996, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 776