What corner of the market do you focus in?
We're in a small/medium sized market, but we do projects for big companies with small (three letter) names that run on national broadcasts. We have maintained a good working relationship with the Mouse in the Castle for many years, even through projects that have almost broken the company (and I don't mean just financially).
Our focus is "branded entertainment," so basically any vehicle to promote something that is also fun to watch. That often means series retrospectives, or recap specials. We also do advertising on the side, but we aren't an ad agency (they come to us with the campaign, we produce the video).
How big is your staff?
The entire company I work for has fourteen employees, including everyone on the "business" side of the company (finding clients, accounting, etc). For larger projects we rely heavily on freelancers. In fact, most of the freelancers we use used to be staff back in the day (probably the best thing about this company is the excellent relationship they maintain with ex-employees). There are three editors we typically use (it used to be four, but one of them passed away only a couple months ago, sadly; still have no idea how anyone could fill his shoes) and two audio guys (one for broadcast projects, one for smaller, non-broadcast, projects).
How many editors vs assistant editors?
That's a harder question to answer. We have one full-time editor, and me. My role isn't rigidly defined, but I often do the job of an assistant editor (mostly just media management and synching, I'm rarely called on for string-outs or anything like that). I also do some onlining, I'm involved in mastering of almost all projects, and in the past I've also done color grading. I was supposed to be groomed into the position of editor (or at least they told me that when I was hired), but I seem to have made myself irreplaceable in my current position. I'm also called on for IT, video engineering, audio recording, camera operation, telecom work, HVAC, and as an electrician (the kind that deals with wiring, not just lighting).
Offline editors vs online editors?
For the most part we edit online. Full res material is ingested into our system, and that's what people edit with. So when we get to the onlining phase of production it's color grading interviews, resolving technical issues, etc. And I'm supposed to be involved with that, though these days we're having few enough problems that the "offline" editors just take care of color grading and hand sequences off to me for mastering.
Do you have a post super, coordinator, or other levels of management?
Sort of. We have two sides to our business. There's produced stuff (anything where footage was shot) and Digital Out Of Home (in-store advertising, stuff for video bilboards in malls, etc).
On production we've got producers (they also serve as directors), above them is the Production Manager (my boss) and the guy who handles relationships with clients (including clearances and whatnot), and then the owner and the COO (I think that's her title).
On Digital Out of Home we've got our DOOH Production Manager (not the same guy as my boss, but I'm often working for him), the Production Manager (my boss; but he rarely has to get involved) and the COO (mostly there to make sure things are going swimmingly). Typically for DOOH, because the budgets are so low, editors don't get involved and everything is handled by our graphics guys. Back in the day DOOH used to be bigger, but it seems that no one wants to pay for shoots for DOOH any more.
How are your bays set up?
Two words: custom desks. My predecessor set them up when they moved into this space. So all the wood was custom cut and installed by him. The end result is mixed. Most spaces have plenty of room to work, but the seams between boards is not seamless, desk heights between bays are variable, and in some cases things weren't installed right (there's a story about a TV almost crushing one of our graphics guys because the mount came out of the wall; as it turns out, a ton of stuff was just attached to drywall instead of studs, much to everyone's horror; but not enough to re-mount everything).
The suites are pretty much the typical producer-behind-the-editor setup, except the editor is sitting at a 45-degree angle. So the big monitor, and the computer screens/keyboards are set in a corner. Speakers are mounted such that they can be pointed right at the editor. The "client monitors" are off-the-shelf TVs mounted on articulating arms for the producers, except they aren't calibrated and they're fed by HDMI (using SDI converters; praise AJA!). There are also CAT5e feeds for producers and editors to set up laptops, and exposed power strips for them to plug into. The biggest problem with the setups is that the TVs can't handle 24Hz signals, and only the two rooms with Nitris DX boxes can natively cross-convert to 29.97 for them, so they're not often used outside of those rooms.
Do you enjoy the luxuries of a private office?
I guess? Our biggest luxury is the Bunn-o'matic coffee maker. At the request of the producers we get whole-bean coffee and grind it ourselves (the remaining beans are stored in the freezer, even though a five pound bag doesn't usually last more than a week). During productions meals are offered to anyone working on a project. If people are working insane hours they're also welcome to use a couch instead of driving home, and breakfast will be ordered for them the next morning.
There's also business expenses (when traveling or working late), mileage reimbursements, and medical insurance (dental extra).
Beyond that we don't have much for luxuries. We have to pay for our parking space (though it's a good rate, and it's an assigned spot in a private garage), and as the only hourly employee I am expected to avoid overtime unless I'm involved in a project that demands it.
Shared room? Bullpen set up?
We rent two spaces in a building (which is one third owned by the company owner). They're on opposite sides of the building in offices diagonally from each other (so it's like a 20 foot walk from door to door). One side is the office side, the other side is the production side. Only the network and phone systems cross between them.
The office side of the space is a quasi-open area. Most of the producers get a sort of cubicle-like setup (permanently fixed walls, but they don't reach much higher than eye level; though the ceiling is like 20' high) and there are enclosed offices along one of the outer walls (the owner, COO, production manager, DOOH manager, relations guy, and one of the producers each have one).
There's a large open space on the production side when you first walk in. Graphics is walled off (though it doesn't reach the ceiling) and there are three almost cubicle like spaces. Two for our full-time graphics guys, and one with two workstations (a monster Mac Pro with two 27" screens and an ancient Pentium IV with Windows XP that apparently used to be an editing workstation).
There's also the "playpen" in the center of the open space, that's sunk into the floor (our entire floor has a raised floor) where we keep our DVD duplicator, printers, scanner, and a general workspace; when things are crazy my boss has been known to set up shop down there. Beyond that all our edit bays are enclosed rooms with doors.
What are the typical office hours like?
Depends on if we're working on a project or not. If we aren't, 9-5. If we are, 8:30 to six or seven. Unless we're mastering. Back in the tape days, before our legalizer (yes, we used to hand-legalize stuff with software filters; people seemed confused as to why cross-converting always illegalized things) this could mean staying as late as midnight to meet shipping deadlines. Now that we're doing digital delivery, and everything is typically derived from a single ProRes stream (with multiple deliveries usually only differing in audio configuration) those hours are far more tame, and I'm usually just checking in on uploads via VPN from home.
How fast is your typical turnaround on a project?
Depends on the project. Typically we can do an hour long show in about eight weeks, give or take. Though we've done entire corporate video series (~12 episodes, around 30 minutes each) over the course of a few months. Though at one point we agreed to a project turn-around of one week for a 30 minute special.
How often are you sitting with producers or clients, vs getting notes by email?
Since our producers are often also fulfilling the role of director and screenwriter, they're in the room with editors most of the time. They're often doing their own thing, though, like finding music, digging through promotional images we might want to use, sifting through footage on their own, etc.
Clients, however, are often not even in the same timezone as we are, so typically notes are done via email and conference calls for each rough cut we deliver. Usually we only do two rough cuts and a VAM, though we've gotten to know some clients so well that if it's to time the second rough cut has become the VAM in some instances.
Recently we did a project for a local client, and they came in and reviewed a couple rough cuts in the office, though most of their notes were via email. However that project was insane because they kept changing what they wanted and then when we finished didn't ask for the final for like two or three months.