ABSTRACT
Whether editing your own project or working as a hired editor facilitating a filmmaker’s vision, your creative skills, personal instincts, professional behavior, and moral compass will be called into action on a daily basis. This chapter will explore the various ethical dilemmas editors encounter as we take a story through its unpredictable evolution in the editing room. This includes the importance of an editor’s point of view during production, defining and redesigning the visual narrative, the politics of collaboration, boundaries of accuracy, and navigating the ratings board.
In this chapter, editors working in fiction, documentaries, and reality television will share their perspectives on how ethics shape stories, impact collaborations with filmmakers, and affect how editors navigate uncharted political waters. Through our experiences and stories about how we faced certain situations, you can, hopefully, begin to consider how you might solve your dilemmas when faced with creative and ethical challenges.1
