We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Abbey Letizia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Abbey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

As an editor, you need to understand story. What is this film really about? How do I portray the subtext, or the underlining meaning? Editing isn’t about stringing together images that look pretty, but about telling a story, engaging an audience and bringing up emotion. I would tell myself to not worry about continuity, not worry about how pretty it looks, all you need to focus on is performance and story. The skills that were most essential to my learning was having people around me that were willing to take risks editorially. My director and I would try all sorts of crazy things that a lot of people would immediately shut down because they don’t believe it would function to tell the story, but a lot of the time, we found something that did. Additionally, understanding the software you are working on and being able to use it to your advantage and to its full capability, whether that be Premiere Pro or Avid. And of course, having confidence in yourself that you can figure out a problem, because 99% of the time, you can.

Abbey, 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?

Hi! My name is Abbey and I’m an Aussie film editor, currently based out of Los Angeles. I moved across the world two years ago to pursue my love of filmmaking by attending the American Film Institute, where I collaborated with incredibly talented people and fine tuned my knowledge of editing. They were the best two years of my life! I’m now out in the big wide world, working as an Assistant Editor for trailers and social media campaigns while also freelancing on the side, cutting short films. I don’t think I ever really decided I wanted to be an editor, I think it kind of just happened. It started in High School media class, where I made a film in my final year that I wrote, directed, shot and edited on my own, and I quickly realized how much I disliked every aspect of it apart from the edit, and how I could really make it my own in the cutting room. Then as I went into my undergrad program, I didn’t really know anyone and the transition from High School to University felt awkward and weird, and so I always gravitated towards the editing side of things as it felt like a safe zone, and something I knew I could do. Thanks to my mentor Pete Gurbiel, I was applying to AFI and flying to LA to make it my career.

I’m most proud of how my focus on editing hasn’t drifted at all in the last few years. I’ve taken on a million projects, often ones for free or for a very very low rate, but I knew the more I worked on and the more connections I made, the better off I’ll be once I graduate and am out in the world. I’m very driven, and I’m very passionate about filmmaking.

The shows I watch typically fall under the high school, teen, rom com category which is exactly what I love to edit. I have a real passion for comedy, female lead stories as well as LGBTQ+ themes. I feel like I understand this story very deeply and therefore can get into the minds of the characters.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I want to be working on films that I believe tell an important story and that I am passionate about. Whether that be small independent films, or major blockbusters. I just want to be fulfilled by the things that I am creating, and know that I may be making a difference for someone by creating that film.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative, is similar to the answer earlier, but knowing that I could be making something that could affect or change someones perspective/values/thoughts etc. I know that for me, when I watch films I’m always taught something new, or challenged on my views or able to understand the human experience a little bit better, and I want to be able to do that for other people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://abbeyletizia26.wixsite.com/abbey-letizia
• Instagram: @abbeyletizia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbey-letizia-b74914190/

Image Credits
Ilayda Cetinkaya Jenny Leavitt