Lifestyle
The pioneering women behind the invisible art of film editing
Thelma Schoonmaker accepts the Oscar for achievement in film editing in 2007 for her work on The Departed.
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Thelma Schoonmaker accepts the Oscar for achievement in film editing in 2007 for her work on The Departed.
Mark J. Terrill/AP
When it comes to some of cinema’s most iconic films, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is about as different from, say, The Wizard of Oz as that technicolor fantasy is from Quentin Tarantino’s genre pastiche Pulp Fiction. But one crucial component links them: they were all edited by women.
If you think about it, you can trace other craft elements of filmmaking to previous mediums – cinematography derived from photography, production design coming out of the theater. But film editing could not have been invented without the invention of film itself. There would be no film without film editing. And yet, its practitioners don’t often grace the cover of magazines.
“The fact that editing is supposed to be invisible, which has contributed to editors not being visible, is what makes it such a great craft,” said Su Friedrich, a filmmaker and former professor at Princeton University. While there, she created a database cataloging films edited by women called “Edited By.”
But just what is film editing?
“Basically, you take thousands of feet of film — you know, hundreds of shots of different scenes, whatever — figure out what the best take is, what’s the best performance, what’s the best moment in that performance, and make it all flow in a way so that when we’re watching something, we stay completely in the story,” Friedrich said. “When you do it really well, nobody’s noticing what you’ve done.”
Friedrich created the database after noticing just how many of the invisible editors for so many iconic moves had been women, going all the way back to the very beginning of Hollywood.
“Women were hired for that, I think, in many ways because it seemed like a job that women did the way women did sewing,” she said. “You know, they’re good with their hands, this sort of ridiculous idea.”
Friedrich said this notion pushed women out of other jobs in the industry, like directing and cinematography. But because many people saw film editing – or cutting, as it was called then – as unglamorous, secretarial work, it proved to be an easier entry point for women in the industry. And it gave them a lot of creative control.
Margaret Booth Receives an Honorary Award at the 1978 Oscars.
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One of the famed editors of Old Hollywood was Margaret Booth, who began her career with D.W. Griffith pioneering revolutionary film editing techniques.
“She’s one of the people that really helps to create this kind of invisible style of classical Hollywood, believing that editing or cuts should be invisible so they aren’t obstructing the action,” said Erin Hill, an assistant professor of media and popular culture at UC San Diego.
Booth became supervising editor for MGM studios for more than 30 years. Legendary studio head Irving Thalberg actually coined the term “film editor” because of Booth. Another major figure was Anne Bauchens, who worked for more than 40 years with Cecil B. DeMille. She was the first woman to win Best Film Editing at the Academy Awards, six years after the creation of the category.
To compare, when Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win best director, it came 81 years after the first directing award was given.
Kathryn Bigelow accepts Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker in 2010.
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Kathryn Bigelow accepts Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker in 2010.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
“I mean, there are so many amazing examples of women who worked hand in hand with the director. And most of these women, I mean, their credits — they edited 50 films, 75 films, 100 films,” Friedrich said.
Friedrich says a lot of that work went uncredited, and as the craft became more popular, more men entered its ranks. But female film editors have remained a prominent force in movies.
Anne V. Coates won an Oscar for her work on the 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia, perhaps most famous for the scene when Peter O’Toole blows out a match, and the scene suddenly shifts to the sun rising over the desert horizon. That “match cut” is considered one of the most iconic in movie history.
The “match cut” scene in Lawrence of Arabia.
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At this year’s Oscars, Thelma Schoonmaker received a record ninth nomination for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, marking her 22nd collaboration with the celebrated filmmaker. While the frontrunner for the Oscar looks to be Jennifer Lame, who edited Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Speaking to NPR, Lame said she was drawn to the challenge of making all those dialogue heavy scenes move like action scenes.
“I really wanted to make sure that those scenes that are with [Lewis] Strauss and the Senate aide — and it gets into the weeds of stuff — that certain lines popped,” she said.
Another part of her job — of any editor’s job — was to help shape the performances, to know which take best serves a scene. She singled out the scene when Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer reveals the tragic fate of his lover to his wife Kitty, played by Emily Blunt.
“Ten versions of that performance are amazing, and for the longest time we had one version where he’s, like, staring at her and he’s looking at her. And then we realized, ‘You know what? I think it’d be better if he wasn’t looking at her, and, you know, he had more shame.’ And it was. So it’s just this just constant tweaking,” Lame said.
Hilda Rasula, who edited best picture nominee American Fiction, says her job is about realizing the director’s vision.
“You’re kind of a midwife to the film, you know? You’re helping them realize that vision in the best way you can and seeing it through to the very end until it gets born,” Rasula said.
Considering the gender connotations of “midwife,” Rasula doesn’t see anything inherently gendered about being a film editor, but she isn’t surprised that so many of the trailblazing editors in movie history have been women.
“I think it’s not a coincidence that it is a role that requires an enormous amount of empathy, feeling the chemistry of what happens between two people, three people on screen and understanding human nature,” she said. “Women are raised to be fairly social creatures. So I think this is a skill that maybe is inherent not to all women, but to the way women are raised in our culture.”
Men still make up the majority of the Editors Guild. According to a 2023 USC Annenberg study, 14% of best editing nominees across Oscar history have been women. Though that’s compared to less than 2% of the best director nominees being women. Erin Hill puts the onus on the industry to provide more opportunities for female editors.
“They would be greatly helped if we did more to recognize the structural and the kind of cultural barriers to advancement, and that takes a lot of inward looking,” she said.
Mara is a single mother of two in Minnesota. She and her family have depended on SNAP benefits to make ends meet.
Caroline Yang for NPR
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Caroline Yang for NPR
Although Mara is unemployed, she is busier than ever.
When she is not taking care of her two children, Mara is at her desk applying for jobs. She is surveying her belongings to see what she can pawn off to buy toiletries. Or she is sifting through bills, calculating which ones can wait and which need to be paid right away.
Soon, Mara, a single mom in Minnesota, may have another task on her busy schedule: figuring out how to afford food for her and her family.
That’s because of new work requirements for people receiving aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps.
“It would be so beyond hard” to lose SNAP benefits, Mara said. “Without SNAP, there’s no funds for food.” Mara asked for her last name to be withheld given the stigma tied to receiving government assistance. She is also worried that speaking publicly will affect her chances of getting a job.
Previously, SNAP recipients with children under 18 were exempt from work requirements mandating that recipients work, volunteer or participate in job training at least 80 hours a month. But now, under President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, that exemption only applies to those with children under 14 — which is how old Mara’s youngest child turned in December.
“It would be so beyond hard” to lose SNAP benefits, Mara said.
Caroline Yang for NPR
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Caroline Yang for NPR
The Trump administration has argued that the mission of the nation’s largest anti-hunger program has failed.
“SNAP was intended to be temporary help for those who encounter tough times. Now, it’s become so bloated that it is leaving fewer resources for those who truly need help,” the White House said in a statement in June.
But policy experts say the SNAP changes do not fully take into account the unique challenges faced by single parents like Mara or the sluggish job market in many parts of the country. They argue that losing food assistance will only create more barriers for recipients struggling to find work.
The timeline for implementing the new SNAP policy varies based on state and county. In Mara’s home state of Minnesota, recipients who don’t qualify for an exemption or meet work requirements will be at risk of losing assistance as early as April 1. Others may have more months depending on when they next need to certify they are eligible for benefits.
Over 100 job applications
Mara imagined she would have a job by now.
It was August when she was let go from her part-time administrative assistant role due to her workplace restructuring. Since then, Mara estimates that she has applied for over 100 positions. She has also attended job fairs and taken free workshops on resume writing.
She has been working since high school, she said, but “ I’ve never been out of work for more than one month, so it’s very difficult.”
Mara spends time working at the computer at CareerForce, a resource for job seekers in Minnesota, on March 4.
Caroline Yang for NPR
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Caroline Yang for NPR
Although she misses her old job, Mara said it didn’t pay enough to support her and her kids, so she relied on SNAP benefits.
Many recipients are part of the low-wage labor market, where job security is often unpredictable and turnover tends to be high, according to Lauren Bauer, a researcher at the Brookings Institution who has studied SNAP extensively.
“SNAP is supposed to be there to help people smooth that and not let the bottom fall out when they experience job loss,” she said. “And this policy doesn’t account for that at all.”
Mara’s lowest point came in November when the government shutdown led to disruptions in SNAP benefits. Not only was she searching for a new job, but she was constantly figuring out where to get her family’s next meal.
“I might be looking for food stuff during the day when I should have been looking for a job,” she said. “Then, I’m trying to make up that time in the evening after my kids go to bed.”
During the pause, Mara turned to food banks, which revealed other challenges. First, food pantries do not always provide enough for an adult and two growing teenagers, she said. Second, they often lack gluten-free foods, which is essential for her daughter who has celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes digestive problems if gluten is consumed. Gluten-free products tend to be more expensive.
If Mara loses access to SNAP again because of the new work requirements, she fears another stretch of long days spent looking for the right food and enough to feed her family.
“I would be so reliant on looking for food shelves or food banks,” she said. “There would not be time to even live.”
“We’re going to see increases in poverty. We’re going to see increases in food insecurity”
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that roughly 2.4 million people will lose food benefits in a typical month over the next decade as a result of the new SNAP requirements — including 300,000 parents like Mara with children 14 or older.
Gina Plata-Nino, the SNAP director at the nonprofit Food Research & Action Center, says many of the affected recipients will be single mothers who make up a majority of single parent households in the U.S. She added that the changes target a group that often lacks or struggles to afford a support system to help care for their children.
“How can they have a full-time job when they need to pick up their children [for] various activities?” she said. “And they are working — just not enough hours because they need to be there present for their children.”
Mara shops for groceries at a local discount grocery store.
Caroline Yang for NPR
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Caroline Yang for NPR
The new law also imposes work requirements on veterans, homeless people, young adults aging out of foster care, and able-bodied adults without dependents from ages 55 to 64.
It also toughened the criteria for waiving work requirements for recipients in areas with high unemployment. Previously, there were multiple ways to determine a weak labor market and secure a waiver. Now, it only applies to places with an unemployment rate above 10%. (Alaska and Hawaii have a different measure.)
For those who fail to meet the work requirement, SNAP provides assistance for up to three months within a three-year span. But Bauer from the Brookings Institution argues that it is not enough and the impact of SNAP changes will be widespread.
“We’re going to see increases in poverty. We’re going to see increases in food insecurity. We’re going to see increasing strain on the charitable food sector,” she said.
Mara holds her favorite anchor ring, which carries the inscription, “God for me provide thee.”
Caroline Yang for NPR
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Caroline Yang for NPR
As anxiety hangs over her head, Mara tries to put on a brave face for her children. She does not want them to worry, explaining that her recent struggles have reminded her how tough life can get as an adult.
“I remind them it’s not their responsibility and they’re not accountable for me or for what’s happening,” she said. “I say, just know you get to be a kid.”
Dylan Dreyer
Savannah Will Likely Come Back … Just Not Sure When
Published
TMZ.com
Dylan Dreyer is giving a small update on her embattled “Today” co-host, Savannah Guthrie, as the search continues for Savannah’s mom, Nancy — telling TMZ she does believe she’ll likely return to the show at some point.
We caught Dylan leaving NBC Tuesday afternoon, and she said while she thinks Savannah will come back, the timing is totally unclear — adding everyone at the show is simply giving her the space she needs because they care about her so much.
TMZ.com
Dylan also reflected on Savannah’s emotional visit to the “TODAY” studio last Thursday, saying the hug they shared was something they both really needed in that moment.
Catch the full clip — Dylan says the visit was incredibly emotional, adding Savannah clearly wants to get back to some sense of normal life … she just doesn’t quite know how yet.
Still, Savannah managed a few smiles during the brief stop by the studio, doing her best to keep moving forward during an incredibly tough time.
TMZ.com
As we reported, Nancy was taken from her Tucson home in the middle of the night on February 1. She was last seen entering the house just before 10 PM on January 31 after dinner with her daughter Annie and Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni.
Kevin Kline plays actor Richard Bean, and Laura Linney is his sister-in-law Kristen, in American Classic.
David Giesbrecht/MGM+
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David Giesbrecht/MGM+
American Classic is a hidden gem, in more ways than one. It’s hidden because it’s on MGM+, a stand-alone streaming service that, let’s face it, most people don’t have. But MGM+ is available without subscription for a seven-day free trial, on its website or through Prime Video and Roku. And you should find and watch American Classic, because it’s an absolutely charming and wonderful TV jewel.
Charming, in the way it brings small towns and ordinary people to life, as in Northern Exposure. Wonderful, in the way it reflects the joys of local theater productions, as in Slings & Arrows, and the American Playhouse production of Kurt Vonnegut’s Who Am I This Time?
The creators of American Classic are Michael Hoffman and Bob Martin. Martin co-wrote and co-created Slings & Arrows, so that comparison comes easily. And back in the early 1980s, Who Am I This Time? was about people who transformed onstage from ordinary citizens into extraordinary performers. It’s a conceit that works only if you have brilliant actors to bring it to life convincingly. That American Playhouse production had two young actors — Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon — so yes, it worked. And American Classic, with its mix of veteran and young actors, does, too.
American Classic begins with Kevin Kline, as Shakespearean actor Richard Bean, confronting a New York Times drama critic about his negative opening-night review of Richard’s King Lear. The next day, Richard’s agent, played by Tony Shalhoub, calls Richard in to tell him his tantrum was captured by cellphone and went viral, and that he has to lay low for a while.
Richard returns home to the small town of Millersburg, Pa., where his parents ran a local theater. Almost everyone we meet is a treasure. His father, who has bouts of dementia, is played by Len Cariou, who starred on Broadway in Sweeney Todd. Richard’s brother, Jon, is played by Jon Tenney of The Closer, and his wife, Kristen, is played by the great Laura Linney, from Ozark and John Adams.
Things get even more complicated because the old theater is now a dinner theater, filling its schedule with performances by touring regional companies. Its survival is at risk, so Richard decides to save the theater by mounting a new production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, casting the local small-town residents to play … local small-town residents.
Miranda, Richard’s college-bound niece, continues the family theatrical tradition — and Nell Verlaque, the young actress who plays her, has a breakout role here. She’s terrific — funny, touching, totally natural. And when she takes the stage as Emily in Our Town, she’s heart-wrenching. Playwright Wilder is served magnificently here — and so is William Shakespeare, whose works and words Kline tackles in more than one inspirational scene in this series.
I don’t want to reveal too much about the conflicts, and surprises, in American Classic, but please trust me: The more episodes you watch, the better it gets. The characters evolve, and go in unexpected directions and pairings. Kline’s Richard starts out thinking about only himself, but ends up just the opposite. And if, as Shakespeare wrote, the play’s the thing, the thing here is, the plays we see, and the soliloquies we hear, are spellbinding.
And there’s plenty of fun to be had outside the classics in American Classic. The table reads are the most delightful since the ones in Only Murders in the Building. The dinner-table arguments are the most explosive since the ones in The Bear. Some scenes are take-your-breath-away dramatic. Others are infectiously silly, as when Richard works with a cast member forced upon him by the angel of this new Our Town production.
Take the effort to find, and watch, American Classic. It’ll remind you why, when it’s this good, it’s easy to love the theater. And television.
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