The Rough Cut TRC Special Edition: Editors Take us to School
When it comes to learning editing in film school, who better to learn from than ACE editors? When they aren't in the cutting rooms themselves, editors Yvette M. Amirian, ACE and Matt Friedman, ACE are in the classrooms of two of the most prestigious film schools in the world. Yvette has returned to the institution where she received her own filmmaking education, USC, to help inform the next generation as to what they need to know about the craft, as well as the career, of editing. At the American Film Institute, Matt asks his grad students to consider more than just how to put a story together, but to question why something works or something doesn't; never letting them forget that every frame matters.
Yvette M. Amirian, ACEYvette M. Amirian, ACE is an award-nominated film and television editor. After graduating from the University of Southern California’s (USC) School of Cinema-Television, she built a successful career and has been transitioning seamlessly between editing scripted and documentary content for the better part of two decades.
In 2011, she and her team received an Eddie Award nomination from the American Cinema Editors (ACE) for their work on Animal Planet’s Whale Wars. In 2017, she edited and produced John Singleton’s L.A. Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later for A&E, which was nominated for a Primetime Emmy (Outstanding Documentary Special). Her most recent project is an upcoming scripted feature for critically acclaimed filmmaker Robert Machoian, The Integrity of Joseph Chambers.
Yvette is a proud member of the Motion Picture Editor’s Guild, the Academy of TV Arts & Sciences, and ACE. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.
Matt Friedman, ACEMatt won the 2021 ACE Eddie for Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy) for Palm Springs, and was nominated in 2020 for "The Farewell". He was born in rural east Tennessee to a coal mining family living in the foothills of the Appalachians. After graduating from Oak Ridge High School with an emphasis in Extinct Ancient Languages, Matt headed for Chicago to attend Northwestern University. Due to a series of accidental registration errors, he ended up with enough credits for a degree in Economics as well as Film. None of his college film work involved blowing up model cars, however. He finished his Econ degree at the University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia, where he was offered AU$100 and a Sydney snow globe by a group of Australian students if he would vote for Clinton in '92 via absentee ballot.
Matt then moved to a spacious two bedroom apartment in scenic North Hollywood to begin his film career in earnest. Arriving just in time for the Northridge Earthquake and the fires and mudslides of '93, he was very lucky to begin working for a series of extremely supportive and wonderful editors, including (but not limited to!) Peter Teschner, Emma Hickox, Jill Bilcock, and Sheldon Kahn.
In recent years, Matt has enjoyed cutting a variety of different types of films and television pilots, including films in Spanish and Chinese, even though he doesn't speak the languages. He now lives in the Hollywood Hills with his wonderful husband Chris and their son.
In our discussion with educators and editors Yvette M. Amirian, ACE and Matt Friedman, ACE about teaching editing in film school, we talk about:
- What today's editors/educators learned from their own film school experience
- Crafting editing curriculums, or is it curricula?
- What editors can learn about editing from their students
- Taking off points for messy timelines
- The next steps right after film school
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