Episode Details

"You can't just stand up for yourself. We have to stand up together."

Scott Jacobs

When it comes to working the brutal hours that have become the norm in entertainment, negotiating for better pay, and fighting to make changes in industry standards, most of us feel helpless (and hopeless) about where to even begin. When I wrote Dear Hollywood: It’s Time For An Intervention About The Hours We Work this past summer, I was surprised to learn the majority of people in Hollywood have no interest in losing their golden time and overtime hours in exchange for shorter, more manageable workdays. While I have no interest in taking money out of anyone’s pocket, I do believe there has to be a better way than working 60+ hours a week and burning ourselves out just to make ends meet.

Here’s a crazy thought: What if we were paid for the value we bring to a project rather than the number of hours we clock in each day?

Today's guest Scott Jacobs, a longtime editor, AE, and MPEG board member, tackles this question with me. Scott has worked as an editor and assistant editor in both television and feature films on studio features such as The Bourne Legacy, Despicable Me 3, and Men in Black: International, and his TV credits include CBS' Person of Interest, NBC's Parks and Recreation, Fox’s The Orville, and he's currently working on Marvel's WandaVision for Disney+.

As a father of two, Scott has had to wrestle with difficult choices between the faster track of being a television editor and the higher negotiating power of feature film assistant editing. His role as a Board Member of the Motion Picture Editor's Guild has made him very aware of the salary discrepancies between features and television along with the major challenge of work-life balance. He feels strongly about advocating for better wages and more sane working hours while also giving people the tools to advocate for themselves.

If you’re interested in having a little bit more ammunition to advocate for a job that is more focused on value than hours, and most importantly working smarter (and not harder), my conversation with Scott is a must-listen.

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Here's What You'll Learn:

• How Scott went from video game junkie to finding a passion for film editing.
• Why he wanted to get a Masters from AFI and why he insisted on starting at the bottom of the career ladder when he graduated.
• His surprising strategy for networking and making connections right out of school in 2006.
• How he got his first job as a Post Production Assistant four months out of college.
• What connections and skills enabled Scott to jump back and forth between television and film.
• Why assistant editors in television are paid unfairly and should be paid commensurate with experience.
• KEY TAKEAWAY: Assistants in features have negotiating power (those in TV do not).
• Scott's candid thoughts on why the union can't negotiate making shorter working hours part of the contract.
• His plea for greater member involvement in order to negotiate change in the union.
• The many factors that