The Zack Arnold Podcast How to Negotiate Your Real Value (and Advocate For Yourself) As an Assistant Editor | with Scott Jacobs
"You can't just stand up for yourself. We have to stand up together."
Scott Jacobs
When it comes to working the brutal hours that have become the norm in entertainment, negotiating for better pay, and fighting to make changes in industry standards, most of us feel helpless (and hopeless) about where to even begin. When I wrote Dear Hollywood: It’s Time For An Intervention About The Hours We Work this past summer, I was surprised to learn the majority of people in Hollywood have no interest in losing their golden time and overtime hours in exchange for shorter, more manageable workdays. While I have no interest in taking money out of anyone’s pocket, I do believe there has to be a better way than working 60+ hours a week and burning ourselves out just to make ends meet.
Here’s a crazy thought: What if we were paid for the value we bring to a project rather than the number of hours we clock in each day?
Today's guest Scott Jacobs, a longtime editor, AE, and MPEG board member, tackles this question with me. Scott has worked as an editor and assistant editor in both television and feature films on studio features such as The Bourne Legacy, Despicable Me 3, and Men in Black: International, and his TV credits include CBS' Person of Interest, NBC's Parks and Recreation, Fox’s The Orville, and he's currently working on Marvel's WandaVision for Disney+.
As a father of two, Scott has had to wrestle with difficult choices between the faster track of being a television editor and the higher negotiating power of feature film assistant editing. His role as a Board Member of the Motion Picture Editor's Guild has made him very aware of the salary discrepancies between features and television along with the major challenge of work-life balance. He feels strongly about advocating for better wages and more sane working hours while also giving people the tools to advocate for themselves.
If you’re interested in having a little bit more ammunition to advocate for a job that is more focused on value than hours, and most importantly working smarter (and not harder), my conversation with Scott is a must-listen.
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Here's What You'll Learn:
- How Scott went from video game junkie to finding a passion for film editing.
- Why he wanted to get a Masters from AFI and why he insisted on starting at the bottom of the career ladder when he graduated.
- His surprising strategy for networking and making connections right out of school in 2006.
- How he got his first job as a Post Production Assistant four months out of college.
- What connections and skills enabled Scott to jump back and forth between television and film.
- Why assistant editors in television are paid unfairly and should be paid commensurate with experience.
- KEY TAKEAWAY: Assistants in features have negotiating power (those in TV do not).
- Scott's candid thoughts on why the union can't negotiate making shorter working hours part of the contract.
- His plea for greater member involvement in order to negotiate change in the union.
- The many factors that led to Scott’s decision to go back to assisting in features rather than look for his second editing job in television.
- KEY TAKEAWAY: Learning the difference between external success and fulfillment is the key to good decision making.
- Why going after happiness before success is the better route.
- What Scott loves about the Peloton and how it's improved his life.
- Scott's Advice for making it in Hollywood...(I did not pay him to say this!)
Useful Resources Mentioned:
Ep132: How to Pursue Fulfilling Work and Find Your ‘Calling’ | with Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar
Editors Guild - IATSE Local 700 > Local 700 - Home Page
Continue to Listen & Learn
Ep128: How to Have a Successful Career Without Sacrificing Family | with Farrel Levy
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How to Go From Cold Contact to Your Ideal Mentor In Seven Simple Steps
Dear Hollywood: It’s Time For An Intervention About The Hours We Work
Dear Hollywood: We Don’t Want to “Go Back to Normal.” Normal Wasn’t Working.
Dear Hollywood…We Create Entertainment For a Living. We’re Not Curing Cancer.
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Guest Bio:
Originally from the North suburbs of Chicago, Scott Jacobs attended Western Michigan University where he was studying theater and vocal performance. While he was losing the love for performing, he wasn’t losing the love of wanting to be in the entertainment industry. Upon taking an introductory film course, Scott watched Baz Luhrman’s Moulin Rouge!. What captivated him the most were the visual effects and the editing. After reading more about film editing and discovering that the job combined his love of technology and theater, he knew that editing is what he wanted to do with his life. After his discovery, he taught himself iMovie, then Final Cut Pro, and finally Avid. This eventually led to Scott attending the AFI Masters in Film Editing program from 2005-2007. Since graduating, he has been fortunate enough to work on studio features such as The Bourne Legacy, Despicable Me 3, and Men in Black: International. Some of his TV credits include CBS' Person of Interest, NBC's Parks and Recreation, and Fox’s The Orville. Currently, Scott is thrilled to be working on Marvel's WandaVision coming to Disney+ in January 2021. Scott has also been serving on the Motion Picture Editors Guild's Board of Directors since 2017. He hopes to one day sit alongside the great film editors that have come before him and inspire others as they have inspired him.
Show Credits:
This episode was edited by Curtis Fritsch, and the show notes were prepared by Debby Germino and published by Glen McNiel.
The original music in the opening and closing of the show is courtesy of Joe Trapanese (who is quite possibly one of the most talented composers on the face of the planet).
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