One of the first jobs I had out of film school was being the assistant editor on an A&E reality show called House of Dreams. Working the night shift, I would gather all the tapes that were shot that day and start digitizing them. It may sound like tedious work, but it was critical to the creative process; if I made a mistake, not only would I be responsible for holding up post-production, but the editor could also miss an important take.
Recently I heard about a show using some new technology to help editors sync their edits from various locations around the world. This software would undoubtedly save time for the team and money for the production. But it wasn’t the editor who found and implemented it—it was the assistant editor. When editors are deep in a project, focused on crafting narratives and hitting deadlines, it’s impossible to have time for anything outside beyond the project itself.
In recent years, there have been concerns that artificial intelligence will take over editors’ jobs. Indeed, AI can already stitch together video clips to create a coherent plot, selecting only high-quality takes according to parameters the user can choose. But the human element to storytelling can never be replaced, and directors cannot converse with machines to convey how they want their film to feel. (It seems most industry professionals agree with me: the amusing website willrobotstakemyjob.com ranks video editors at just 13% risk of replacement.)
Assistant editors, however, are at greater risk. AI can sift through shots and automatically add meta tags to files, instantly identifying subjects and details. This is convenient but fallible: shots could easily still fall through the cracks or be misidentified.
I doubt the role will disappear completely, however. New technologies may simply transform the role of the assistant editor into something a little different. In recent decades, since digital took over from analog film, assistant editors have gone from actually assisting editors to being data managers and technologists. They used to physically tag tapes; now, they meta-tag them.
In some senses, the assistant editor was always a kind of data manager. Over time, it wasn't the job that changed—it was the data format.
When I first conceived of Alteon.io, I drew from two decades of experience working in the production industry in a multitude of roles. Being an assistant editor was one of them. Alteon was always fundamentally designed for those who aren’t normally considered when software is created: independent professionals, freelancers and those who do the underappreciated work that gets content made. I wanted to make a tool that would make their workflows faster and easier, along with the workflows, and lives, of creative professionals writ large. I’ve always said Alteon is the tool I wish I had when I was more actively working in the business.
To that end, I hope Alteon feels like an extension of your creative mind. Content creation should feel as organic as the thoughts that come to you. That's true for directors and writers, and is no less true for assistant editors. To all of you out there: we see you, and we appreciate you.