editing

The RTS Bursary Scheme enables you come face to face with some of the most widely respected figures in UK TV, either through personal mentorship, or invites to RTS Conventions, Patrons’ Dinner and networking events. In the last year, our scholars have met the CEOs of media companies, the writers of their favourite shows and even David Beckham, but as guest speaker Bella Roberts points out, sometimes you just need to speak to someone going through it just like you.

It might be surprising, then, that one of its editors’ other work is positively whimsical. Mike Holliday’s CV includes considerably lighter-hearted shows, among them Horrible Histories and Ghosts. Sure, Baby Reindeer is also a comedy – when it wants to be – but it’s hard to imagine Donny Dunn ranting on CBBC. However, Holliday was hired because of, not despite this experience.

“It wasn’t drama they were looking for in my background: it was comedy,” he tells me. “That side is considered harder.”

What does the job involve?

I take all the material the director shoots and figure out how to tell the story in the most compelling and emotionally gripping way. There’s this misunderstanding that an editor’s job is simply to cut out the bad bits; it’s the opposite – you’re actually building something.

What editing software do you use?

I started just after the transition from film and I’ve always used Avid.

Do you regret missing out on film?

NEWS CAMERA 

Mark Davey is a camera operator at ITN. Presenting the news camera masterclass, he told the RTS audience that sound journalistic skills, the ability to form good relationships and a keen logistical sense were all essential for his job. Davey, ITN reporter Robert Moore and producer Sophie Alexander were the only news crew to film inside the US Capitol in January 2021, when pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the building claiming that the presidential election had been stolen from them.  

It was James Graham who reopened the casefiles of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? scandal, adapting his play for a hit three-part drama, Quiz, that recalled the origins of the ground-breaking quiz show and the scandal involving former major Charles Ingram. Ingram was accused of cheating by listening for coughs on the right answers from his wife, Diana, and fellow contestant Tecwen Whittock.

How to get into editing: Emma Lysaght: “I left school at 16. My father was a film editor so I grew up watching my dad cut film. It was something I’d always wanted to do.

“It was quite a male environment, I was very nervous and very shy. I didn’t get into the cutting room until I was 19. My dad knew of one female editor.

“She needed an assistant so I stepped in and became her assistant. Within the first few months I was cutting news for Channel 4, which was very pressurised but you know exactly what you’ve got to do in those three minutes.

Journalism

Clive Myrie

Journalist and presenter, BBC News

In an era of widespread concern about fake news, trusted and experienced correspondents such as the BBC’s award-winning Clive Myrie are more important than ever.

Is there a difference between editing TV drama and feature films? 

Pia Di Ciaula, film and TV editor specialising in drama: “On The Crown there is no difference because Stephen Daldry (the director) and I treat every episode like a feature film, but prior to that there was a big difference. 

“I moved to the UK (from North America) so I could edit independent films with the best directors and actors in the world.