Emmy Award-Winning television film editor, Mary DeChambres, ACE, led a 3-day workshop with the Audio/Visual students from February 15-17.

DeChambres has worked on several shows students might recognize, including American Ninja Warrior, MTV’s Real World, and Project Runway, for which she won a daytime Emmy award.

DeChambres began her education at Sam Houston State University. She taught high school art for 10 years before entering a summer course in film editing at the University of Southern California and then an internship, which led her to her first editing job on MTV’s Real World.

Mrs. DeChambres said that her experiences as a high school teacher exposed her to a wide range of personalities, which prepared her for working with a wide range of people in the television industry.

Like many careers today, DeChambres has experienced significant challenges in the past two years because of working from home and having to work in isolation.  Since most post-production work is done via computer software, many of her peers still do most or all of their work remotely.

In general, one of the biggest challenges of working in post-production is “the need to be creative on a deadline,” she said.

Mrs. DeChambres recommended becoming a Personal Assistant for an editorial team as a great entry point for a career in post-production work.  Being a PA allowed her to “observe what everyone is doing,” and thereby get a better feel for what the job really requires.

For students interested in a career in television or movie post-production, Mrs. DeChambres had three main pieces of advice. First, start now with projects or internship programs.  

Second, get experience in the specific skills and software that you would be expected to use, which she referred to as “honing in on your craft.” 

Third, this type of technology work can be incredibly time-consuming, so it’s important to set boundaries for yourself. Take lunch breaks, for example, so that you can “give your brain a rest.”

Mrs. DeChambres’s most recent work can be seen on the Food Network show “The Julia Child Challenge”, which began airing in March.