I never finished my story about my road in the entertainment industry. So, why don’t we get into it now?
It was a little over a month before I got my next steady full-time job.
I lucked out so hard. I was applying on Staff Me Up to basically anything for which I thought I was even half qualified. And I applied to this assistant editor job.
They said they were mainly looking for help sorting b-roll. I’m sure I can help sort things.
So, I went in for an interview. I admitted that I’d never even worked on Avid (the editing software). But I said I’d watched other people do it and I love learning.
They were paying about 3/4 of a normal assistant editor’s rate (which was still better than a transcriber’s rate) for this job – because you didn’t have to do many of the normal assistant editor duties. They needed an extra set of hands, not a completely fully functioning AE (since they already had multiple people filling those roles).
They just wanted someone who could sort and label tons and tons of footage. They figured I was an organized person who’d already labeled tons of footage as a transcriber. They weren’t going to get any experienced AEs at that rate (while I was grateful or the pay bump).
I brought a thank you card to the office soon after my interview (since I knew they were deciding that day or the next). And my positive energy and willingness to learn got me the job!
I loved that job. The people were wonderful. I learned a lot.
The petty part of me wanted to say to my old boss, “You tell me to stand in line? Well, guess what? I already found someone who wants to encourage learning, not put an eager person in a corner. (Nobody puts Aurora in a corner! ;)) . And now, because you pushed me, I’m an AE way earlier than any of us thought I would be. I would’ve quietly sat at that job for many months just learning in my off hours and being thankful for what I had. But this is a million times better. So, um… in your face! 😉 (And yay for me!)”
Of course I never did that. And there actually would’ve possibly been a nice way to actually thank her for pushing me… but not really. I can’t fathom a way in which it wouldn’t have been at least mildly petty. So, I never spoke to her again.
But I came to be extremely thankful for me AE job. I also got to work nights at that job. (Is it even possible to get any better?) Originally, it was in a super convenient place. Then it moved pretty far away. That was the only downside. But even that was like, “Eh. It’s just a bus ride. Read a book.”
While I was at that job, sometimes I’d come in a bit early to learn about editing from someone who to this day is my friend. I also kept an assistant editor book (that I still have and use) where I wrote down everything as I learned it (throughout more AE jobs to come).
Thankfully, this job that was originally only supposed to be for a few weeks kept getting extended longer and longer. I got to work from October 3rd – January 20th. Woot!
What happened after January? We’ll talk about that next time.