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With all the major changes affecting the editing market, it still seems to abide by the law of science: for every positive action, there is an equal negative reaction. Digital tools have opened up a world of possibilities to editors, and so clients now expect more from them. There is more content being produced today than every before, yet this means the budgets for each individual project is down considerably. The digital tools have made the mechanics of editing relatively simple, allowing editors to concentrate on almost entirely on the art itself. This has opened the doors for new editors like never before. But regardless of the climatic shifts in the editing weather, the market depends mostly on one thing: the economy, stupid.

RAMY KATRIB

Founder

Digital Film Tree

West Hollywood, CA

(www.digitalfilmtree.com)

STRENGTHS: "The best word to describe the editing market is chaos. There are a lot of young people coming into the market. Now that you can cut a feature on your computer, a lot of people are, and as a result, a lot of people in the business right now never went through a formal 'Film Fundamentals 101' experience. Some people say it's a strength, others would say it's not. Some people relish these new options but when you have to engage the process with so many new users it's never black and white. Some people flourish with having a lot of options, others don't. We still have a hard time explaining to clients what we're capable of doing on the desktop."

WEAKNESSES: "The cliche thing that's being talked about now, which is true to some extent, is the multi-tasking editor. You bring on an editor and he's expected to do the editing, the After Effects work and even the color correction. That is a dynamic that is growing because producers generally have less money so they want these super savvy creative guys to work on the project. But in our experience, more often than not, the companies that try that get punished because the skill sets to do color correction are so distinct and respectable. An experienced colorist know so many things that someone who is multi-tasking could never even approach. As a result, if you do try to get a creative person that can do a lot of things, you're likely to have some drop off in the quality of the production. So producers have a threshold for that. If it's passable then they'll run with it. So the quality of the programming is not getting better it's getting worse. With DV coming out and desktop tools, I think there's more bad content coming out now than at any time. The craft of storytelling doesn't change with technology."

OPPORTUNITIES: "We can provide post services using a new model. Traditionally, you go to a post house and there's a department where you do your online, another department where they do their color correction, another department for titling, and another for graphics. At Digital Film Tree, once a project is on the server we can attack it like a bunch of hyenas and do everything at the same time. Some clients have a hard time adjusting to new workflows."

THREATS: I am amazed by how many extremely talented people are looking for work. Some are so talented and their experience is substantial and varied. I'm taken back by that because I'd think if I had a resume like that I'd be in hot demand. I'm not sure what's going on but there's all these senior editors in their 40s and 50s looking for work. I don't know if there's a stigma out there but it seems older editors aren't working. Younger editors are a lot savvier with the new technology but they don't have the knowledge of their craft. It seems the fundamentals of filmmaking are not as important as they used to be. It's hard to understand this dynamic."

OUTLOOK FOR 2005: "The boutiques that are smaller and leaner and don't have the same overhead but are doing broadcast work--I see that trend continuing. Computers are getting faster and people are building a tolerance for desktop work. The boutiques that can engage the desktop tools and make it work are going to be successful. The bigger post houses will be affected, to some extent, by these smaller boutiques popping up. The rate of SD online has dropped significantly over the past few years. That same dynamic will happen with other services."

STEVE MCCOY

President

Filmcore

San Francisco & Santa Monica, CA

(www.filmcore.com)

STRENGTHS: "A strong economy lends towards more advertising and commercial broadcast advertising. In terms of more work, the economy is going to have a lot to do with that."

WEAKNESSES: "There are such a huge number of outlets for broadcast advertising. What that does is: spots can become oversaturated very quickly, which potentially means that you need more spots so they don't get worn out. But, if they make more, it brings down the cost of the spots and the quality. The amount paid for a spot runs the risk of being eroded. The really high-end work will continue to become less dominant because the budgets just aren't there that will allow the production values necessary. There will still be high-caliber work but the weakness is the continued saturation of the market and the fact that a lot of advertising will not rise to the high level of creativity that most people would like to see."

OPPORTUNITIES: "The digital environment continues to make it more and more accessible as far as what we can do for clients. We can do a lot of things very quickly, so clients can see how things will look once we get into the final finishing stages. The digital tools become more and more powerful and the ability to do a sophisticated job is constantly reaching new heights."

THREATS: "The biggest short-term threat is, God forbid, another terrorist attack that would hurt the economy. Other than that there's no real short-term threats. I know there's some anxiety over the power of Tivo and other like technologies as to what impact they'll have to the efficacy of commercials. That's a looming threat that we have yet to know what that impact will be. For next year I'm not concerned about that, but over time people have to think about it."

OUTLOOK FOR 2005: "2005 will be another year of growth over the past 2004. Ever since the end of 2001, which was really bad with the SAG strike, the recession and 9/11, every year has gotten stronger. It's going to continue to get stronger but it will be slow process coming back. I've been involved in post production for 30 years and this is the most bizarre cycle I've ever seen. Normally, we'd go through a tough period and then it would come back, and once you got through the tough times it would be good for a while. This has just been a very gradual pullout, that's been sporadic with moments of lots of activity and then times with very little, so it's not predictable. You can't plan exactly what's ahead because there's no real momentum."

LINDA RAFOSS

Managing Director

Version2

New York, NY

(www.version2.net)

STRENGTHS: "I think the business seems to be on the upswing. New York has become the seat of the editing market, more so than Los Angeles and London, in recent years. It's advantageous to be located in New York, which has experienced an increase in commercial work. It might be related to shrinking budgets and clients looking to save money by keeping the work closer to the agencies. Also, a number of creatives wear many hats these days and often oversee multiple projects at the same time. It is more convenient for them to collaborate with companies in their own backyard than to contract elsewhere. As a result, we've seen a higher volume of projects being brought to New York."

WEAKNESSES: "One of the major weaknesses is that there aren't as many directors located in New York. As the business becomes more director relationship-driven, this could cause a problem for companies focused exclusively on New York."

OPPORTUNITIES: "The marketplace is diversifying, which transforms and expands the ways in which people are targeted with marketing and products. It is our role to find and develop creative solutions for our clients and their project needs. While our core business is still commercials, there are many opportunities to work in other areas such as branded content and similar emerging media."

THREATS: "The biggest threat is competition from new companies being established or opening satellite offices in the city. You can't deny there is a reason why a myriad of companies are opening up in New York. As a company that has been rooted in New York for 15 years, we've seen many new entities set up shop in our community, which means more challengers for the same jobs. At the same time, it keeps us on our toes and makes for friendly competition."