7. The Editor Cuts Away

Eventually, as the shooting stops and the director’s interest starts to veer to the editing room, you need to get the film ready for its first screening—the editor’s cut. Although Adam may have already viewed many scenes that Wendy sent to the set on DVD, he can’t really tell how the movie plays without screening the film as a whole.

Usually, the editor’s cut is due for screening anywhere from two days to two weeks after the shooting wraps. This all depends on the budget of the film as well as the complexity of the footage. If you and Wendy are lucky, the biggest, most complex, scenes in the film were not the last ones shot. However, all too often, that is the case, and you are inundated with footage in the last week ...

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