Susy Benaim is one of the creative driving forces behind the FX miniseries, Clipped. She edited episodes one and three through five of the Gina Welch-created drama, setting a tone as well as balancing a large ensemble of players. It’s an entertaining drama about the Los Angeles Clippers and, on the surface, the immediate aftermath of the infamous Donald Sterling tapes.
Prior to Clipped, Benaim edited episodes of The Dropout and Mayans M.C. The editor is former a Junior Mentor for the ACE Diversity Mentorship Program, which she was once a mentee. Recently, she spoke with Immersive Media’s editor-in-chief, Jack Giroux, and shared some of the advice for aspiring editors.
In terms of advice, the biggest piece of advice is get the job with someone who wants you to cut. If you’re an assistant editor, find a partnership with an editor who wants to mentor you, who wants you to grow, who wants you to creatively play with them because that’s how I like to work. It also makes it just a lot more enjoyable in the room when your assistant is engaged creatively and in the story.
I like to have my assistants talk about the scenes we’re getting the day before we’re getting them. We discuss at length emotional anchors and what we’re looking for in the scene. So, when they do receive the dailies, they are looking for those things with that in mind. We’re mentally preparing ourselves to think like storytellers even before we get footage .
It’s very important to collaborate on all levels, and that is our main job, to collaborate with directors, producers, and showrunners. You are building that foundation. I love what I do so much, and yes, you do put up with the difficulty of politics in the cutting room and sometimes you have more than one creative head that you have to navigate. It’s a case by case scenario.
For me, I admittedly am a very fast editor, so I don’t work insane hours unless the person I’m collaborating with wants to go a little late, but it’s rare for me. So I can’t exactly say from that point of view, like, “Oh, the work-life balance is horrible.” That hasn’t been the case with me. I’ve been very lucky I was trained by very smart storytellers and people who really want to sit down and do the work. I’m also constantly learning new tools, so that also helps to keep you speedy.
Maybe cook and take a walk in the middle of the day if you’re, hopefully, working with someone who appreciates that. I do actually believe that taking time off is still creative work. Me taking a 10-minute, 20-minute walk in the middle of the day will actually set me up for a much better second part of my day. So, you find the balance in whoever you work with, and hopefully, they’re the kind of people who value creativity above just pushing through and getting it done.
I’ve been very, very, very, very lucky to work with amazing storytellers who know what they want, willing to play, and are not in this insane time crunch that we have to deliver a cut by the next day. Oftentimes they’re like, “Eh, let’s sleep on it.” Not the case throughout the entire industry, so pick and choose the right people and follow good people. I remember being told that early on in my career.
There’s [the attitude of], “Oh, but I want to do the amazing story, whatever it takes.” And honestly, I’ve managed to find both. So, it is possible. Attracting the right storyteller, collaborator, friendships, does lead to hopefully great work anyway, so shoot for that.
Clipped is available to stream on Hulu.
