Post-Production

Film & TV Editing

The editor is sometimes called the “invisible director” — the craftsperson who shapes a film’s rhythm, pacing, performance, and emotion from raw footage, working in intimate collaboration with the director. This page covers every editing role, the ACE Eddie Awards, Oscar Best Film Editing, BAFTA, and profiles of the editors who have defined the craft — from Walter Murch to Thelma Schoonmaker.

ACE Eddie Awards Oscar Best Film Editing BAFTA Best Editing
1950
ACE Founded
1961
First Eddie Awards
3
Schoonmaker Oscar Wins
4
Walter Murch Oscar Wins
25+
Eddie Award Categories
Department Roles

The Editing Department

Editing departments range from a single editor and one assistant on a small film, to a team of a dozen across a large franchise production.

Picture Editor
Film Editor • Editor
The lead editorial creative, working directly with the director to assemble the film from raw footage. The editor’s decisions — which take to use, where to cut, how long to hold a shot — determine the film’s pacing, emotional beats, and ultimately its entire narrative shape. Great editors are credited as co-authors of the films they work on.
First Assistant Editor
Assistant Editor (ACE)
Syncs and organises all footage as it arrives from set, maintains the edit system, manages hard drives and backups, creates output files for dailies, VFX, and music, and directly assists the editor. A technically demanding role that is the primary entry point into a picture editing career.
Additional Editor
Co-Editor • Second Editor
On large productions, one or more additional editors may be brought in to cut specific sequences, handle action set-pieces, or maintain momentum when the principal editor is working elsewhere. Assembles scenes independently before handing to the lead editor.
VFX Editor
Visual Effects Editor
Manages all VFX-related work within the editorial timeline. Tracks which shots require VFX work, sends plates and references to vendors, inserts finished VFX shots, and handles the online conform. A specialist role at the intersection of editorial and post-production.
Music Editor
Music Supervisor (Editorial)
Assembles temp music tracks for editorial screenings, works with the composer during spotting sessions (choosing where music should begin and end), and syncs the final score to picture. The music editor is the bridge between the composer and the picture editorial team.
Dialogue Editor
ADR Editor
Edits all spoken dialogue in post — cleaning production sound, cutting ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) sessions, and ensuring voice clarity. Works within the sound department but interacts closely with the picture editorial team. See also: Sound Department.
Trailer Editor
Promo Editor • Marketing Editor
A distinct specialism — trailer editors typically work at specialist marketing agencies and create entirely separate assemblies from the film’s footage for promotional purposes. A skilled trailer editor can make any film look extraordinary.
Award Shows

How Editing Gets Recognised

Editing awards are among the most reliable Oscar predictors — films that win Best Film Editing at the Oscars often, but not always, win Best Picture. The correlation is particularly strong for action and thriller films.

ACE Eddie Awards
American Cinema Editors • since 1961
The definitive editing awards, named for the sound a film editor makes when spooling tape past a reader — an “Eddie.” The ACE is a membership organisation whose members include the most distinguished editors working today. Eddie Award nominations are peer-voted and cover a comprehensive range of categories across film, TV, and documentary.
  • Best Edited Feature Film — Drama
  • Best Edited Feature Film — Comedy or Musical
  • Best Edited Animated Feature
  • Best Edited Documentary — Feature
  • Best Edited Drama Series
  • Best Edited Comedy Series
  • Best Edited TV Movie or Limited Series
  • Best Edited Non-Scripted Series
  • Golden Eddie — Filmmaker of the Year
Annual • February • Beverly Hills
Oscar — Best Film Editing
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences • since 1935
The Oscar for Best Film Editing is voted on by the Academy’s Film Editors branch — making it a meaningful peer award, though it tends to favour action-heavy or structurally ambitious films over quiet, interior drama (where great editing is least visible). A strong Oscar predictor for Best Picture, particularly for action and war films.
  • Best Film Editing
  • Five nominees, voted by Editors branch + all members
Annual • March • Hollywood
BAFTA — Best Editing
British Academy of Film & Television Arts • since 1968
BAFTA’s editing award tends to track closely with the Oscar, though it sometimes picks a different winner — particularly when a British editor or a European art film is among the nominees. A useful signal in a competitive year.
  • Best Editing
  • Five nominees, voted by BAFTA members
Annual • February • London
Oscar Winners Archive

Best Film Editing — Academy Awards

Oscar winners for Best Film Editing from 2010 to 2025. Note: films with complex, multi-layered editing often win; films where the editing is invisible (character drama) are frequently nominated but rarely win.

Ceremony Editor(s) Film
2025 · 97th David Jancso The Brutalist
2024 · 96th Jennifer Lame ACE Oppenheimer
2023 · 95th Paul Rogers Everything Everywhere All at Once
2022 · 94th Joe Walker ACE Dune
2021 · 93rd Mikkel E.G. Nielsen Sound of Metal
2020 · 92nd Andrew Buckland & Michael McCusker ACE Ford v Ferrari
2019 · 91st John Ottman ACE Bohemian Rhapsody
2018 · 90th Lee Smith ACE Dunkirk
2017 · 89th John Gilbert ACE Hacksaw Ridge
2016 · 88th Margaret Sixel ACE Mad Max: Fury Road
2015 · 87th Tom Cross ACE Whiplash
2014 · 86th Alfonso Cuarón & Mark Sanger ACE Gravity
2013 · 85th William Goldenberg ACE Argo
2012 · 84th Kirk Baxter ACE & Angus Wall ACE The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2011 · 83rd Kirk Baxter ACE & Angus Wall ACE The Social Network
2010 · 82nd Chris Innis & Bob Murawski ACE The Hurt Locker

Trivia: The Oscar for Best Film Editing and Best Picture have aligned in the same year roughly two-thirds of the time. The correlation is weakest for musicals and intimate dramas, and strongest for action, war, and thriller films. Mad Max: Fury Road won Best Editing without being nominated for Best Picture by the Directors Guild — a rare divergence.

Notable Editors

The Most Decorated Editors of Their Generation

Thelma Schoonmaker ACE
American
Martin Scorsese’s editor since Raging Bull (1980), Schoonmaker is the most decorated film editor in Oscar history with three wins. Her dynamic cutting in action sequences — particularly boxing scenes — is inseparable from Scorsese’s cinema. She is also the sole credit on films like Hugo where the editing is seamless and invisible.
Raging Bull Goodfellas The Aviator The Departed Hugo The Irishman Killers of the Flower Moon
★ 3 Oscars • ACE Lifetime Achievement Award
Walter Murch ACE
American
The theorist and practitioner who defined the role of the sound designer and redefined the art of editing. His book In the Blink of an Eye remains the definitive text on the philosophy of editing. Won the Oscar for The English Patient (1996) and for Apocalypse Now (sound), and was the first editor to cut a major feature film on an Avid (nonlinear) system.
The Godfather Apocalypse Now The Talented Mr. Ripley The English Patient Cold Mountain
★ 4 Oscars (editing & sound) • ACE Lifetime Achievement
Michael Kahn ACE
American
Steven Spielberg’s editor for over four decades, Kahn won three Oscars and is inseparable from the Spielberg filmography. His instinct for commercial storytelling — knowing when to cut away and when to hold — is a masterclass in mainstream editing craft. He and Schoonmaker are the definitive director-editor partnerships of their generation.
Raiders of the Lost Ark Empire of the Sun Schindler’s List Saving Private Ryan Munich Lincoln
★ 3 Oscars • ACE Lifetime Achievement
Joe Walker ACE
British
Denis Villeneuve’s primary collaborator in editorial, Walker won the Oscar for Dune (2022) and has been nominated for 12 Years a Slave, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049. His work is characterised by long, measured rhythms that allow films room to breathe — a counter-programming to the rapid cutting of mainstream Hollywood.
Shame 12 Years a Slave Sicario Arrival Blade Runner 2049 Dune
★ 1 Oscar • ACE Eddie Award
Paul Rogers
American
Won the Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2023) — a structurally innovative film whose multiverse narrative required extraordinarily complex editorial decision-making. Rogers’ work with the Daniels duo demonstrated how editing can itself be a form of cinematic authorship.
Swiss Army Man Everything Everywhere All at Once
★ 1 Oscar • ACE Eddie Award
Pietro Scalia ACE
Italian-American
A two-time Oscar winner (JFK, Gladiator) and one of Hollywood’s most dependable editors for large-scale action and epic films. His work with Ridley Scott on Gladiator and Black Hawk Down helped define the editing aesthetic of early 2000s blockbusters.
JFK Good Will Hunting Gladiator Black Hawk Down The Martian
★ 2 Oscars • BAFTA