Documentary Editing is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

My subject line is a direct quote from the Alliance of Documentary Editors (ADE). ADE is a terrific organization born out of the tension between Reality TV and other Hollywood show producers–who expect that non-fiction editors can cut as quickly as editors on scripted films.

But they can’t. Why? “Because the documentary editor is also writing and shaping the story, the edit schedule for documentaries is necessarily much longer than reality TV or fiction,” says the ADE.

How much longer?

For an average documentary, a good rule of thumb for scheduling is “1 month of editing per 10 minutes of finished content,” according to theirGuide for Documentary Edit Schedules.

In other words, a 30-minute doc would take 3 months to edit, and a 90-minute documentary would take 9 months.

These estimates will work for grant applications. But how feasible are they for many independent film producers? If we use pay rates from the Motion Pictures Editors Guild–nearly $4000/week for independent film editors–a 90-minute doc would take 9 months, or 36 weeks. The cost? $144,000.

Yet, for many underfunded or self-funded filmmakers, there remains a huge need for a less expensive way to edit a documentary. This is a serious problem that has not been well addressed.

I set out to solve that problem a few years ago. My girlfriend came up with the phrase “Accelerated Post” and it stuck. This option aims to edit a feature documentary in ten weeks.

How is this possible? Learn more about how we can fast-track your edit.

(To be transparent: at New Doc Editing, we generally cut documentaries that take 4-8 months to edit, and many have played on public television. These non-fiction films didn’t have a detailed script, as narrative films do. The story/structure was discovered in the edit. And the 4-8 month timelines were ideal. (Recent releases include Double Dummy, We Said No! No!, and The Boys With Red Hats. See our podcast on editing this last film).

Thank you to director Mimi Malayan for this testimonial:

“New Doc Editing’s 10-week Accelerated Post program literally saved my project. I got the best editor I could imagine. He refined the script, eliminated all the extras, and went straight to the heart of what needed to be said. Combined with Karen’s review process, the two make an excellent team.”