Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/335006
36 CINEMONTAGE / JUL-AUG 14 up the material onto LTO (Linear Tape-Open) tapes — including dailies from camera and sound each day. This process is complicated and can be very time-consuming. But thanks to the meticulous work of Robertson, there is now a manual that covers the whole backup procedure, as well as workflows for dailies, onlines and deliveries. She also included screen grabs of the various settings and checklists of everything she, Angeline and Smith Holley are expected to deliver. Admittedly, this workflow has shifted how the assistant editors work on The Fosters. It normally takes a full day to do the work in-house, leaving assistants with typically one day before the editor's cut is due to complete temp sound and music scoring. But there is a lot to like about it for Angeline. "Knowing the workflow inside out makes the assistant editor indispensable," she says. "It's really important to know exactly what happens on set with the DIT through post-production. With this workflow, you really learn every aspect of the process: what happens on set with the DIT, ingesting the footage, the color that is being used, the codecs and the format. You know exactly what to do and it's knowledge you can take anywhere. At the end of the day, we're always learning something, and I find that very helpful." This rather untraditional workflow gives the assistants a leg up should they be promoted to editor, as was the case with Weinstein, who began on The Fosters as an assistant editor and was bumped up to editor during Season 1. "A lot of that assisting stuff really sticks," she confirms. "I would be very comfortable to online and do all the prep for my own show if I had to." But The Fosters is not the first show to handle dailies this way, according to Paige, who approved the workflow. Prodco, the production arm of ABC Family, adopted this cost-efficient workflow, he relates, adding, "This workflow is something that Prodco started doing on other shows of theirs. They pitched it to us and we thought, 'Let's try it and see if we can make it work' — and it has worked pretty well." Much of the credit goes to co-producer Trey Coscia, post-production supervisor Kyle Christensen and post coordinator Angela Gonzalez-Prendes, who are always looking for faster and easier ways to help Robertson, Angeline and Smith Holley get their work done. BENEFITS Despite the additional prep work that assistant editors are now doing on The Fosters, the consensus is that they're on the right track as far as managing dailies in-house. When you look at the shifting tides in TV editorial, where the norm The Fosters. ABC Family Sandra Angeline, left, and Debra Weinstein. CineMontage_Jul-Aug_14-4.indd 36 6/18/14 5:51 PM