If you want to hook your audience from frame one, there’s one story beat you absolutely need to get right: the inciting incident. It’s the moment that breaks up the “ordinary world” and kicks your story—or your edit—into motion. And where you place it makes all the difference.

To explain it, I l...

Ever feel like your edits fall flat, but you can’t quite figure out why? In this video, I break down one of the simplest but most powerful tools pro editors use: changing tempo to match emotion.

Most beginner editors run at a constant pace, like a commuter driving with cruise control. But pro ed...

When we’re editing, it’s easy to fall into the habit of dropping one long ambience track under a sequence of shots. It works, it creates flow, and honestly, it’s a totally valid approach. But if you’ve ever felt like your sound design is stuck in a rut, there’s a simple trick that can make a huge...

Ever run into the problem of trying to switch music tracks in the middle of a scene without it feeling jarring? In this video, I walk you through a pro-level trick I’ve used for years in broadcast TV editing—and it’s surprisingly simple once you see it in action.

The key is interruption. Instead...

When I first started editing, some of my biggest breakthroughs came from simply sitting behind pro editors and watching them work. With so many people working from home these days, this can be harder to come by, so I’m recreating that experience by inviting you into my edit suite. In this session...

I’ve been editing professionally for over 20 years—mostly high-end TV commercials—and I finally decided to tackle the question I’ve avoided since starting this channel: How much should you charge as a video editor?

The truth is, it’s less about an exact number and more about understanding budget...

Ever wish you could sit behind a pro editor and just watch them work? That’s exactly what this video is—a real-time editing session where I narrate my process as I build a simple scene using stunning sailing footage from Artlist (affiliate link).

In this edit, I’m assembling a short sequence for...

Most beginner editors focus on where to cut between scenes—but pros know the real magic is in how you transition between them. In this video, I sat down with director and former editor Scott Rice to break down four powerful scene transitions from our short film Treasure Imagination. These aren't ...

In this video, I sat down with my longtime friend and collaborator Scott Rice—an experienced commercial director and professor—to share some hard-earned lessons from working with difficult clients. This one’s packed with practical advice and mindset shifts for navigating tough edits and creative ...

Great editing isn’t about one massive choice—it’s about stacking a bunch of small, intentional ones. In this video, I walk through four subtle but powerful techniques that made a recent commercial work. I’m joined by veteran director Scott Rice, and together we break down how we approached this p...

In this video, I break down my five-step editing process using a real commercial I cut with veteran director Scott Rice. It’s the same framework I’ve used for over 20 years on big-budget TV spots, and I believe that using it will sharpen your edits instantly.

Watch as we unpack each step while s...