We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dan Monro. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dan below.

Dan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

In 1995 I was the night shift online editor at a production company. The GM bought a new-fangled non-linear editor called an “Avid” that no one knew how to use. After my shifts I would go in to the closet where the thing was set up and teach myself how to use it.

When a big job came in that needed Avid, they hired a freelance Avid editor to do the job. After an 18 hour session, at a bout 3am, the editor had had enough and walked out. I happened to still be working. The client came into my suite and said “So-and-so just walked out – can you run the Avid? I said yes, despite very little confidence in my ability.

Well, the session went well enough, and the next day the boss called me in and said I was the new Avid Editor full-time, and booked for the next several months. It included better hours and better pay.

So, don’t wait for someone the schedule you to learn the gear…

Dan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have a BA in Telecommunications from Indiana University, graduating in 1985. By 1988 I was married and still had no luck in getting into television. At the time I thought I wanted to be a news photographer. I was working on a truck dock in Louisville, doing night shift loading, and my wife was working for K-Mart. She got an offer to open a store in Atlanta, so we moved. Through connections, I was able to get a similar job with the same company Whiteford LTL, down by the prison. (I just like being able to say ‘down by the prison’.)

Given the scope of the television industry in Atlanta, I decided that I would pay a headhunter to help me get a job. She arranged an Interview at WXIA-TV for a traffic coordinator, scheduling PSA’s and promos for programming. During the interview, the manager asked if I could run Enterprise scheduling software, which is what they used. I had been using Enterprise on the truck dock, so I as able to sit down and work immediately. She hired me on the spot.

Over the next several months, I wandered around the station during the night shift, introducing myself, asking what people were doing – being a pest. Within a few weeks they were paying me to do it, and within a couple of months I was working production full time. Studio production led to directing and making graphics (on a Quantel Paintbox). Editing was still not my focus, but I was intrigued by it.

In 1993, my wife had graduated from law school and took a position as a clerk for a Bankruptcy Judge in Jacksonville. Since Gannnett, who owned WXIA had a station there, I was able to “transfer”. I use quotes because they didn’t have any openings for directors, graphic artists or even floor directors. They hired me as a Commercial Producer, despite me having none of the skills needed for that job. More on that later.

In addition to writing and producing, I had to edit my own spots. We had a very small linear suite, and I figured out pretty quickly that I really enjoyed the editing part. I became adept at it, and started helping the other producers do their work. By that time, WXIA had an opening for an online editor, and so we moved back to Atlanta, and both our careers took off,

I found out later that my GM in Atlanta had called the GM in Jacksonville and said “Hire him. Doesn’t matter what for.” This is important, because it reflects the thing of which I am most proud. I have a reputation for having a good work ethic, great listening & mentoring skills and the ability to solve problems. I had it at the truck dock, and I have maintained it ever since. I have traded on that reputation for every job move I’ve made since that headhunter in 1988. I am known as a collaborator, not just a button pusher. My clients rely on my broad array of skills, and my ability to communicate them clearly.

I am proud of the fact that I’ve earned every recommendation I’ve gotten.

The final one came after I took an early retirement package from Turner Studios. A friend recommended me to the Criterion Channel, a streaming service for the Criterion Collection, which is one of the best collections of Art House, Independent, classic and emerging films/filmmakers in the world. I freelance for them on a regular basis, doing shoulder content for the films and for DVD box sets.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part of my career, besides being able to just make cool stuff, is the fact that I can make a living by using the things that come most naturally to me. Turns out all of those things are lucrative for a creative.

I have the ability to hyper-focus on minute detail, of long periods of time, and the patience to finesse and polish until I can FEEL the result.

I love to communicate, to collaborate, to create together. I was taught how to listen at a young age, how to empathize and to help when I see a problem.

Finally, I think my super-power is being able to see how to combine disparate elements into a cohesive whole, that can affect another person. Rhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics – it’s as much a part of editing as it is of music. To touch someone emotionally is a gift that I am grateful for.

There’s a line from a David Allen Coe song, “Mister, can you make folks feel what you feel inside?” That’s it.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

The concept of creative thinking as a valuable – and marketable – skill, has never achieved the importance it’s due in the explosion of content we now have. What was once only entertainment is now life consuming, and the monetization of that content can severely restrict, and even compromise creative expression.

People outside our business have trouble understanding the reason we need to get paid for creative thinking. By it’s nature, analytic thought appears quick and diligent, where creative thought seems rambling and vague. Metaphorically speaking, I spend hours wandering around, thinking about a puzzle, until I see the path forward. Then I run full sprint until I finish.

The thing that society could/should embrace, is the concept that the time it takes to create these ideas, these scripts, these programs, these songs, these designs – is all worth paying for. To rush creative thought, whether for deadlines or for fewer dollars per hour, is to negate the actual creative process – which is to stop and explore other options.

At the risk of embarking on a “Greed is Good” rant, I would suggest that we, as a society, need artists as much as we need insurance agents and investment bankers. We have embraced a world of uncountable entertainment options, but still feel aggrieved about paying for them, because so little of that fee goes to the artists who actually do the creative thinking.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dmonro.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmonro413/