Back in 2019 a senior editor at a tiny studio told me my pacing was broken

I was cutting a 30 second ad for a local furniture store in Austin, and the owner wanted this dramatic reveal. The editor, a guy named Derek who wore the same flannel every day, watched my first cut and just said "you're holding every shot way too long, trust the audience more." He showed me his version where he trimmed each clip by exactly 12 frames and it felt so much snappier. That single interaction stuck with me more than any course or tutorial I've paid for since. Has anyone else had a random piece of advice from a coworker that totally changed how you work?

2 comments

2 Comments

logansullivan5d ago

Derek sounds like a real one. Random small corrections from people who actually know what they're doing can cut through all the noise way better than a formal lesson ever will.

blair_dixon20h ago

Three tutoring sessions wasted before Derek. @logansullivan nailed it.