I just spent two days at Amazon/MGM Studios in Culver City at AI on the Lot, the biggest AI filmmaking conference in the world. Paul Schrader, the man who wrote Taxi Driver, among other classics, stood up and walked the room through how he's writing with AI now. Studios that wouldn't say the word two years ago were on the main stage with their names on the work. Films are shipping. This isn't a prediction. It's happening, right now, in Culver City. And I want to say something to those of you who've been dragging your feet, or worse, nursing a grudge about it. I've made this argument before. When the Avid came out, I was one of the first to cut a studio project on it, and I spent a lot of time telling my friends to learn it before it passed them by. Some did. Some crossed their arms, said "That's not real editing," and waited it out. You know how that turned out. I'll be straight with you: the Avid was an easier sell. It obviously made our job better, faster, and more our own. This one's harder, because it doesn't feel like a new tool, it feels like it's coming for the job itself. I understand why that's scary. But hear me: it is not coming for you. Not if you're the one driving it. Here's the part nobody's saying: AI doesn't erase the editor. It puts the editor at the center. Everything becomes post. The person who knows story, rhythm, and how to finish a piece becomes more valuable when the tools get faster, not less. But only if you pick them up. You don't have to love it. You don't have to use all of it. You just have to stop pretending it's going away, sit down, and learn enough to have an opinion based on the tools instead of the fear. I wrote up the whole conference, every session, in this week's AIography newsletter. Read it. Not for the clicks, but so you can see with your own eyes that the people in our business are already doing this. Here is the link to the full newsletter.

For those who don't know, EDLs out of Avid default to being ALL CAPS. This goes back to spec compliance with CMX3600 and GVG EDLs. Nowadays, this is less important as most conform systems are computer based and not as strict. It also used to be that most camera manufacturers always created tape names that were all caps, so it was a none issue. E012C0021_250902_X01534 is an example of a tape naming convention that is fine. For those who don't know what this tape name is, I'll break it down. E012C0021 means, Cam Roll E012, Clip 21. 250902 is the shoot date: 09/02/2025 X01534 is unique identifier which is usually an abbreviation of the camera serial number. That said, there is a new camera naming convention that I've been seeing used lately and it in includes one lower case character. An example of this is A_0165C007_250911_095758_h1EGB You can see that the last h is lowercase. If you use the EDL Importer to create plates as ALEs, this will create problems because ALEs are case sensitive. Because Avid defaults to converting all EDLs to uppercase, it will display this name as: A_0165C007_250911_095758_H1EGB However, it is possible to change this. There are template files for each EDL that you can modify. You'll find these templates at this location on your computer: /Applications/Avid Media Composer/SupportingFiles/EDL_Manager_Templates/ I always modify both the File32 and File129 template. To do this, first close Avid if it is open and right click on those files one at a time and I open them with BB Edit. At Line 20, you should see toupper_conversion TRUE * Convert all comments and titles. Change TRUE to FALSE and save the file. Now when you export EDLs, your markers, reel names and all other text will be the normal case as it was entered. If you find the EDL Importer is giving you errors with using ALEs for subclips, this should be the first step in trouble shooting. Here is a link to Avid's help forum if you need additional help https://community.avid.com/forums/t/185759.aspx

Quick heads up: The certification quizzes for Feature Film Assistant Editor Immersion are live again. If you’re enrolled in the full course and want your Certificate of Completion, you’ll find the link to all the quizzes in the Module 1 → “Before You Begin” section under "Resources" at the bottom of the page. There are 131 questions total, and you need an 80% overall score to pass. You can take them however you like. One at a time, all at once, in any order. You can also retake quizzes as many times as needed. NOTE: Passing is required for Editors Guild reimbursement, if that applies to you. Thanks for your patience while we got this together. Onward to the big edit bays! 🎬✂️