From Film Student to Editor of You
By: Hana Tariku, Blog Manager
From Film Student to Editor of You
Rita Sanders, editor of the TV show You, joined one of the Barbara Senior Harkins Foundation’s film screenings last month. She came along with other film editors and directors to share their knowledge on the craft and industry with prospective film students.
After the screening Sanders spent her time to indulge me on her work with You and to give advice to film students based on her past experiences.
When discussing You, Sanders stressed how important it was to make sure Joe Goldberg, the main character, stayed true to the character he was meant to be while being considerate of others and not commending his stalking behavior. Especially since the show was released during the Harvey Weinstein allegations and the Me Too movement.
“The first season of You was all about trying to figure out in the edit how to really balance the line between not glorifying violence against women with making this character relatable enough that you wanted to keep watching,” exclaimed Sanders.
Sanders went on to explain the editing process and how it played a role in achieving this goal. “Generally we have three editors, three assistant editors and we do every third episode. There was a lot of collaboration between the editors looking at each other's cuts and talking about the problems,” explained Sanders.
Sanders and her fellow crew were concerned of displaying the wrong image, since Goldberg is a sociopath that stalks and kills women, so plenty of time was spent rewriting the voiceovers and being conscious about highlighting the women who were victimized in the show as humans and not objects.
Sanders had much to say about her work with You and the editing she had learned and performed while working on the show, but she also gave tips on editing in general. “ The best editing is the editing you don’t notice, our job is to hide the editing as much as possible,” said Sanders.
Along with knowing how to mask your editing, Sanders explained the importance of matching your editing with the storyline as to make it stronger.
While working on You, she developed this skill because with a story as wild as Joe’s, the male antagonist, comic relief is needed in the editing by cutting it tighter and adding other comic features. But when Sanders edited the episode from Beck’s, the female protagonist, point of view she was inclined to cut it more loosely and less comically, giving her and the writers more space to tell Beck’s story.
Moving on from the cutting and clipping part of the editing process, Sanders shares how she felt after the release of the first season of You.
“For the first season of You I thought we were going to get creamed in the reviews, I thought we were making this incredibly unfeminist show...then we finished the season and I watched it and I was like ohh this is the most subversely feminist show I’ve ever seen,” exclaimed Sanders.
Sanders' own work ended up surprising her when the show was all done. During the process her emotions took hold of her and blocked the bigger picture of this production. But she was able to see the beauty of her work in the end.
Sanders began as an aspiring film editor and was able to flourish into the amazing editor she is today. Beyond being able to cut a show well, Sanders made it to this point because she was not afraid of throwing herself headfirst into the film industry. She advises for anyone looking to enter this industry to not be picky with the jobs they are offered. Even if you have your mind set on being a director, if you have the chance to take an editing gig, and are properly skilled for it, then take it! This could be your breakthrough into the industry, another job on your resume, or just a great experience; either way, it’s something you won’t regret.
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