Global Report 2018: Seeking the Advancement for Canadian Editors
We are fortunate in Canada to have a consistently growing film and television industry.
Our creative artists have developed their skills on both domestically and internationally funded films and television series. When productions choose to travel to Canada to shoot, they do so as result of attractive tax incentives as well as the knowledge that Canadian crews are both talented and experienced.
We consistently celebrate how many foreign productions film in Canada, yet it is rarely mentioned that a significant percentage of those productions are not edited by Canadians.
Currently, it is unreasonably difficult for Canadian editors to be recognized by foreign producers and directors as candidates that merit serious consideration.
We aim to generate discussion around barriers to employment and encourage change in the policies that have kept Canadian editors from being considered by prominent foreign production companies.
This report is intended as a constructive tool to address these serious issues facing Canadian editors, and we hope it encourages further discussion on the matter.
MISSION
STATEMENT
The Global Opportunities Committee seeks fair access to opportunities for Canadian picture editors in Canada and the world. With the recommendations contained within this document, we aspire to create an environment that will allow Canadian editors to flourish.
REPORT
OVERVIEW
The Canadian Cinema Editors (C.C.E.), an organization of post-production professionals dedicated to promoting Canadian editors, recently commissioned a survey to determine:
whether its membership would like to encourage government agencies and unions that represent editors (the DGC in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Atlantic Canada, IATSE in B.C. and Quebec, ACFC in BC, and AQTIS in Quebec) to take a more active role in promoting Canadian editors to foreign producers, directors, and showrunners who film here
whether its membership was interested in pursuing opportunities in foreign markets such as the U.S.
The answer to both questions was an overwhelming yes. While Canada has enjoyed a production boom in major centres, this boom has not extended to Canada?s picture editors. Many of the foreign shows that shoot in Canada choose to edit in Los Angeles or abroad, resulting in lost opportunities for Canadian editors. The survey reflects a strong desire amongst Canadian editors to access those lost opportunities and overcome the many barriers to working on foreign productions.
CURRENT
STATE OF
POST-PRODUCTION
IN CANADA
Canadians edited such critically-acclaimed series as The Handmaid?s Tale, American Gods, Hannibal, Orphan Black, Anne with an E, The Expanse, et Vikings.
In 2018, Canadian editors Wendy Hallam Martin and Julian Clarke won ACE?s (American Cinema Editors) Eddie award for their stellar work on The Handmaid?s Tale. Clarke was nominated for both an Academy Award and a BAFTA for District 9 in 2009.
Quebec editors Maxime Lahaie-Denis, Sylvain Lebel, Véronique Barbe, and Justin Lachance were nominated for an Emmy and an Eddie for their work on Big Little Lies.
In 2012, Toronto editor Don Cassidy won an Emmy for his work on the miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. Ron Sanders has been celebrated for his work on such films as A History of Violence et Eastern Promises; Richard Comeau for such films as the Oscar-nominated War Witch; and Mike Munn for the internationally-praised Stories We Tell.
Yet despite these successes, the statistics show that more needs to be done. While other below-the-line departments have flourished, this has not translated to comparable opportunities for editors.
Mairin (also known as Mo) was born in England and came to Canada in 1969 with her young family. She studied film in the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University and then worked professionally in the burgeoning film and television industry as a picture editor, story editor, post production supervisor and teacher.
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