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A production department

Editorial

The editorial department: who is in it and what each of them does

A cutting room is a small, dark, quiet room with two or three desks and a door that stays shut, where the film is made for the third time. The editor sits at the main desk, and everyone else in the room exists to keep that editor cutting.

Editorial starts before the shoot, when the editor and the first assistant set the room up, and it ends long after wrap, with the turnovers that hand the locked cut to sound, VFX and the grade. Around the room sit the post-production supervisor and coordinator, who own the schedule and the budget from wrap to delivery. The hierarchy is short and strict, the ladder is runner, second, first, editor, and MFJF's guides are clear that nobody is promoted on a timetable.

  1. Editor

  2. First assistant editor

  3. Second assistant editor

  4. Edit traineeEntry-level job

  5. Post-production supervisor

  6. Post-production coordinator

  7. Post-production runnerEntry-level job

Drawn from MFJF's own Foundations courses Edit Assistant (The cutting room: who is in it and what it does; An assistant's day; The map: where the rooms are, who you deal with, and the ladder), How to Become an Editor (from rushes to picture lock; the routes in) and Post-production Runner (What a post house actually does; Soho, the regions, the ladder), with MFJF's editor and post-production runner careers guides. The words are My First Job In Film's. © My First Job In Film 2026.

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Where next

Your recommended next steps

Picked for Edit Assistant. Signed in, they follow your stage and the roles your answers point to. See your whole MFJF journey, step by step →

  1. My MFJF JourneyOne page for everything MFJF has built, in the order you need it.
  2. My Reading ListThe books, blogs and bodies you have saved, in one place.
  3. Start the Stage 1 course: Edit AssistantTwo hours on what the job is, how people get in and what to do first.
  4. Get on the HotListPut yourself in front of productions looking for crew.
  5. Join MFJF DayPlayersDay work on productions for crew with the credits and the skills.
  6. Find your role in the career plannersEvery entry-level job by department, with a three-stage planner for each.
  7. Read the career guidesWhat each job is, the day, the way in and the pay: one guide for every role.
  8. See how it all fits on the career maps17 maps of how films get made: the people, the process and the departments.
  9. Who works whereEvery department on a shoot and every kind of film company: who is in each and what they do.
  10. Industry EssentialsThe books, industry bodies, websites and blogs worth knowing, department by department.
  11. Read the MFJF Survival GuidesStraight answers to what everyone starting out asks: how long it takes, what you get paid, and what to do every day.
  12. MFJF Academy workshopsLive sessions with people who do the job, and the monthly career clinic.
  13. Build your CV with the CV BuilderThe industry's format, built from your profile and your current CV.

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