#454 – How to Turn Shorts into Features

Jonny Elwyn -

Editing short films is a smart move for editors looking to build a career in features.

Let me count the reasons:

  • You build working relationships with new directors/producers/crew
  • They're quick to cut
  • They're (usually) fun
  • You get the chance to edit ________* for the first time.

I could go on.

In fact, I have gone on about this before:
#220 - Why We Should All Cut Short Films

But in this issue of Cut/daily, we'll get to learn from an editor whose work on a £4,000 indie short landed him in the editing chair of not one but two feature films.

The second of which stars Pedro Pascal, Walton Goggins, Elizabeth Reaser, Rufus Sewell and Lois Smith, and despite its indie roots has landed theatrical distribution in both the US and UK - no mean feat.

That film is The Uninvited, and it is now available to rent or buy in the US and UK.

*Drama/comedy/sci-fi/action/documentary etc.

Patrick Walsh Editor of The Uninvited

Editor Patrick Walsh, BFE found his way into the industry through a few unpaid internships in Soho editing houses, where he soon realised:

“Any important creative decision-making is made in the edit suite.

The only way anybody was going to take me seriously was if I could simply show them my ideas rather than trying to convince them I was worth listening to.

So I really started chasing editing full time from there.”

Patrick put in his ‘10,000 hours’ resulting in cutting commercials for huge brands, 20+ short films, a Sky TV series (Gunpowder Siege) and (now) two indie features; Goodbye, Hello, it has inadvertently turned me into quite a useful negotiator and diplomat, which has paid dividends with all the people involved in narrative work, and The Uninvited.

I wanted to know how he achieved all that and what the experience of editing a feature film between London and LA was like!

You have a great collection of shorts on your site. How have you managed to make those connections / find those shorts?

Have they led to bigger things?

Thanks! I got a little lucky starting out.

For many years I worked as an assistant editor at The Quarry under Paul Watts (Under The Skin, The Zone of Interest) who is legitimately someone who has earned the status of legend.

Merely being in his proximity meant people would often approach me with their short films in the hope that a little bit of Paul’s skills and artistry would transfer to their shorts via osmosis.

People were reassured that I’d managed to spend time in edit suites, as an assistant editor, with directors like Jonathan Glazer and Emmanuel Lubezki and Matthew Vaughn and that gave me a lot of legitimacy I otherwise wouldn’t have had.

I got to work on some amazing shorts with incredibly talented writers and directors and actors and cinematographers, and I think the trick was just saying yes to almost everything that came in.

More than anything, it was just really good editing practice, as I was exposed to different genres and a variety of styles and filmmakers and processes. I learned something new from each short that I could take into the next one.

One of those early directors who came hat-in-hand with a hard drive and compelling ambition was Jack Cooper Stimpson, who I’ve since cut everything for, including our first feature film which was an indie comedy-drama shot out in Los Angeles, Goodbye Hello - and off the back of that, the unit production manager out in LA recommended me to the producers of The Uninvited.

That all came from a tiny £4,000 short film.