Carla Gutierrez is no newbie when it comes to editing documentaries about female icons — she cut the 2018 Oscar-nominated RBG, about the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Most recently, this Emmy- and ACE Eddie-nominated editor reteamed with RBG directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West on Julia, about the iconic TV chef Julia Child. (Read our interview with Gutierrez about editing RBG here.)
Carla Gutierrez
Gutierrez, whose other credits include The Last Out and Pray Away, says she has “a wonderful partnership in the edit room” with Cohen and West.
Let’s find out more…
What’s your relationship like with Julie and Betsy? How often were they looking at your cut?
We laugh a lot together, which I think it is very important for the intense process of editing to go well. We truly trust each other and enjoy engaging in conversation. I think trust and laughter make better films! After coming up with an initial story arc I would show Julie and Betsy segments of the film as soon as I edited a first pass. We watched the entire film all the way through often once we got to the rough-cut stage.
Was there a particular scene or scenes that were most challenging?
The last segment of the film was tricky to piece together. Julia did so many things toward the end of her life, but we didn’t want to simply list her many accomplishments at the end of the film.
We needed to close her personal journey while highlighting how she impacted the way that Americans view and connect with food. This segment finally came together when we decided to close the film by going back to the very first episode of The French Chef. Everything came full circle by showing how it all started.
Can you talk about working with all the different formats that the footage came in on?
Julia is a very heavy archival film, and we received the archival footage in all different types of formats. We decided to transcode everything to the same format/codec to make sure the vast amount of archival would not bog our edit system down. Adobe Premiere Pro is great at taking in any kind of video format, but when you are working with such a huge project with hundreds of hours of archival footage and hundreds of photos, it helps to keep everything consistent.
Did you do more than edit on this film?
I was only the editor. I worked closely with our incredible archival researcher, Abby Lieberman, and my partner in crime, associate editor, Grace Mendenhall. We had a wonderful team.
How did the pandemic affect the workflow?
Two months into the edit, New York City shut down and we all went home to work. Our associate editor Grace and I were already working on mirrored drives and sharing sequences with each other, so our workflow didn’t change at all.
We shared new archival and production footage over the cloud, and I had feedback sessions with the directors on Zoom. Since the directors and I had worked on another film before, our communication was incredibly fluid already. The trust we had built on our previous film helped us work smoothly through the pandemic.
Carla Gutierrez remote Premiere setup
You edit on Premiere. Is there a tool within that system that you rely on a lot?Oh, there are so many! The keyboard shortcut I use constantly is the E key, which extends the selected edit to my play head. I hit the E key at least a hundred times a day.
How did you manage your time?
I’m a mom, so I’m very productive during working hours. I also like to keep reasonable hours. Documentary editing is a mentally demanding job, and adding a lot more hours to the day doesn’t necessarily make the work more productive.
How do you work with assistant editors? Do you see the role of assistant editor as strictly technical or as a collaborator?
I view assistant editors as close, creative collaborators. I rely on them to keep the post moving with tech support, but it is extremely important for me to create opportunities for AEs to learn the craft and be exposed to the creative process. I was lucky to be mentored by the amazing Kim Roberts early in my career and that’s how I learned to edit long-form documentaries.
How do you manage producer’s expectations with reality/what can really be done?
As long as we are trying to capture the essence and the heart of the story, I find that producers and executives are very receptive to what we present to them. Limitations often give you opportunities that can lead to better ways of telling a story. You just have to be open to seeing limitations in a new light.
How do you take criticism? Do you find yourself defensive or accepting of other’s ideas?
I prefer to call it feedback not criticism. And I absolutely love tough feedback. I think the best way to approach notes is to try to understand what is not working in the cut. Then, it is up to us to come up with solutions. Sometimes people suggest fixes or ideas, but we are the ones that know the material the best and we know what is possible. So, instead of grabbing onto ideas of how to fix things, I try to really listen to the notes to truly understand what the problems are with our film.
When someone who is starting out asks what they should learn, what do you recommend?
They should focus on honing their voice as storytellers. Learn the craft of editing, not the technical aspects of it. You can always pick up the technical skills you’ll need, but learning how to tell a story with intensity and emotion is how you become an editor. Find mentors, watch as many documentaries as you can, and build a community around you that can support you.
