Editorial Job Roles in the TV and Film Industry

My BTEC Media students and I are looking at job roles in the TV and Film Industries. We recently looked at managerial roles and I specifically wrote about production managers here. In this post, I will look at editorial roles in the TV and film industries.

Editorial jobs are often found in the print industry but there are also some notable editorial roles in the television and film industry. These jobs require a person to check over often written work such as scripts, reviewing the work that has been produced and give notes or suggestions on how to adapt and improve it, and perhaps collect and arrange bits of work together into a final piece. Some examples are script editors and film editors.

Script Editors analyse scripts in order to help screenwriters to identify problems with their work. They are involved in communicating between producers and screenwriters, helping to explain to a screenwriter the consequences of their choices. For example if a screenwriter wants a spectacular computer generated climax in outer space, the script editor may have to explain the producers concerns over the budget of such a set-piece. A Script Editor will help to strengthen a screenplay and get it ready for development. Sometimes they will be employed full-time by a production company but usually they are freelancers and therefore their fee and level of involvement can differ and be negotiated.

Script Editors must have an excellent knowledge of all aspects of screenplay writing and development. Their communication skills must also be excellent as they have a very delicate role in liaising between producers and screenwriters and therefore the business and creative sides of film and television production. Script Editors will be highly educated, often experienced script readers and will have likely taken a respected industry Script Editing course.

Again a great deal of this information came from the amazing Skillset website and more specifically the section on script editors. Next time I'll be looking at creative jobs in the TV and film industries. Again if any script editors read this, please get in touch, I'd love to hear from you!