Jessica: When did you realize that you wanted to be a professional editor?

Graham: Following school, I was doing a lot of freelancing. I also started a film festival with a couple of friends. It was just like a bi-monthly party that we would throw at a bar, and we would show international films and local films. You graduate from school, and you're so used to shooting all the time and watching films all the time and kind of doing it as part of your curriculum and then you graduate and it's kind of like this big, “What now?” 

There's the search for jobs, but there's also the search for a community: a community where you can get together with people and talk about movies, think about movies, and shoot movies. So a whole bunch of us that graduated… we didn't want to lose that. So we said, “let's get a festival together, let's watch films, and let's make films and keep the party going.” We would make promotional films for the festival, and I edited each of those. And then we ended up getting funding for a short film, which I directed and I edited, and [editing] was always a source of income. I learned that everyone needs an editor, and it was always something that I was interested in.

Jessica: What would you say was the turning point in your career? You graduated, started a festival, did some freelance editing work here and there… what led you to being Lead Editor at Modern Post in NYC?

Graham: I knew I wanted to move to either New York or LA so I went out and visited both of them. I just kind of had this gravitation towards New York. I basically built my portfolio and made it look like I knew what I was doing. I hit up every production company from Jersey City up to Midtown, found their website, found their contact information, and blasted them with my portfolio. People would be interested, they’d reach out, but then they’d ask if I could come into the office and I’d tell them I’m based in North Carolina. It was a lot of “Let us know when you live here and then we can talk” sort of thing.

I changed my strategy. This guy reached out from a small production company in Manhattan, and he was interested in talking, so I had a Zoom chat with him. I told him I was doing freelance work in North Carolina at the time and that I was based in New York city, which I wasn't. And he was like, “great, can you come in next week?” And I was like, “sure.” So I drove up and met with him. And then he was like, “can you come in and do a trial work week next week?” So I drove back to North Carolina, and then drove back up to New York. And then as I was driving back down, I got a call that he offered me the job. I had to completely drop everything and figure out how to change my life. I stayed there for a year and a half. Whenever I was thinking about transitioning out of that job, it folded, so it kind of like forced me out into the abyss of New York.

I was sleeping on the floor for six months on an air mattress, so whenever I got out, I had to figure out how to transition to a new job. I knew I didn't want to just go to another production company, so I needed to figure out how to freelance. But I didn't have that many relationships up here. So I just thought about every single relationship that I had, and I just hit up anyone that I could think of. I went out and bought them a coffee and just like maxed out all my credit cards with money that I didn't have. I’d slowly work in the conversation that I was looking for work and if there was anything that they could do. It got to the point where I had like one week’s worth of money left. Like “if I don't get a call in the next week, I have to move back to North Carolina” type of thing. I ended up getting a call from someone who had a connection at Viacom, and I got a week as a lead editor with them.

Later on, I got a freelance job at Modern Post, and I just really liked it. I saw the potential in it and I was like, “I'm gonna stick it out.” After six months, they offered me a full time gig. In four years, it's gone from four people to twenty people. It was just good timing. I got lucky. I think that they were looking for hungry, invested, creative people, rather than focusing on established editors, like people that could grow with the company. I guess they saw that in me.

Jessica: What project are you most proud of?

Graham: I think there’s been a kind of slow accumulation of different things that I'm proud of over the years. I did a Sufjan Stevens music video last year. That was pretty huge for me. I’ve been following Sufjan Stevens since high school, so to be working pretty directly with him and to have him love the video, is insane.

[The] Ariana Grande [video] was one of the first big names in terms of the musicians that I worked with and that was pretty surreal. And then, Justin Bieber came along. I guess I'm just really proud of all the levels that got me to this point.

Jessica: What advice do you have for students who are trying to build a portfolio or make a reel?

Graham: The value that I saw in film school was being around a collective of film-interested, really inspired kids. Kids who are like-minded, who want to make stuff, who want to talk about films, who want to watch films, want to think about films. Surround yourself with those people and go out and make stuff together because school is when you have the opportunity to do that.

You can't wait for the edit work to come to you. You need to be producing your own concept, working with the kids that are interested in directing outside of class, doing projects. I don't think that just doing the assignments in class is enough. Since getting my first job in New York, I've shown my resume once. It's a “show me what you've done” kind of world. I think that building a website is totally the right first move.

Jessica: What advice do you have for students, or recent graduates, who want to make the big move to New York or LA to start their career?

Graham: I would recommend doing as much work as you can while you're in school, or after graduation, getting a portfolio underneath your belt. And then once you feel like you're ready to move, you have to be a bit fearless. It’s pretty terrifying. There's a lot of competition. I think you just need to be willing to completely put yourself out there.

I couldn't afford an air mattress when I moved here. I was actually sleeping on the floor until I could afford an air mattress. And then it was that for six months, until I could finally afford a bed. I think that you need to be willing to do those kinds of things. Don't be too proud to take that job at that company that doesn’t necessarily align with you. Get in, get a paycheck, start building your portfolio, do a really good job, and work late. You're going to need to work late for a while. You're gonna need to be a machine. Transition when you have enough experience. Then, within a year or so, you should be able to actually start doing work that you're proud of. If you're lucky enough to get that first, that's great. But I think that you need to be willing to do the grunt work for a year or two, and not be too proud.

To learn more about Graham, please check out his website, https://modernpost.com/editors/graham-patterson/. 

To connect with him on Instagram, follow him @instagrahamsam.