How to get into Commercial Post House?

I started as an assistant editor doing commercials in LA, actually. My recommendation is to look into internal places within agencies. I started in the A/V department. Got bumped to assistant editor in their post production department. Got bumped to editor. Then moved out of the agency to a Post House.

Get a job as a runner / PA at a post house. You’ll usually do that and maybe move into IO/Vault.

If you show some editing prowess / software familiarity, eventually they’ll move you up

I used to assist regularly at a bunch of LA commercial post houses. fair warning, assisting is a demanding position that is extremely technical, requires developing rapport with the editor, And has a very different skill set to editing. Most assistants never get promoted to editor even after years of being good assistants.

Consider yourself a candidate for assisting if you know how to transcode, breakdown footage, create stringouts, prep for color/vfx/mix flawlessly with your eyes closed. If not, it’s fine, but make sure to be ABSOLUTELY honest about your knowledge and skill level. It’s not hard to learn, but they’ll never call you again if you fuck up. I’ve seen freelance assistants get blacklisted from a post house for messing up color prep once, Another got blacklisted for peeing with the bathroom door open from the same place (they’re kind of assholes there)

Your best bet is to walk in with your resume and say you’re available to assist or manage the vault or be a gopher (depending on your skill level). Don’t waste their time, keep it brief. You’ll be their last call but eventually someone will be in a bind and take a chance on you. Timing-wise your best bet is around Christmas when assistants take vacation and early January when everyone is slammed cutting suberbowl spots. Summer is the slowest, things get busy in the fall.

Mostly I've been cold emailing to post houses for assistant editor role or junior editor role but most of them comes back without a response

Network the hell out of LA. They already get tons of cold emails. Find someone who knows someone who knows someone. Don't ask for a job from that contact. Ask to buy them lunch and advice.

Ive been cutting spots for 30 years. When I wanted to get into editing, I tried to get a meeting with the exec producer/general manager at every commercial post shop I could find. I met a few people, all said they had nothing, two weeks later I got offered an interview. You have to do the leg work and actually get in front of people. It could take some time or it could be fast. timing and being in the right place at the right time AND patience. Once you get your foot in the door it will be very little to do with actual editorial work. you need to be willing to do everything and anything. I picked up the bosses wifes dry cleaning and ran a lot of errands while getting thrown little bones by the assistants and doing the grunt work they didnt want or didnt have the time to do. I wish you luck and good fortune. it WILL happen if you are persistent.

Apply for post pa, logger, receptionist positions as well. I dont know your experience level but if you are straight outta college but starting in an AE role is unlikely in this day nevertheless a Jr editor job.

The traditional route is reception/runner to Assistant Editor to Editor. But to get the foot in the door, you'll need some sort of networking connection. I imagine there are just too many people applying to those entry-level jobs for you get a response to a cold email.

I went the traditional route, but it's become less and less common (though I can only speak for NYC). As agencies took more and more work in-house, the post houses began to either shrink, or consolidate, meaning fewer overall post house jobs. And very few of the established editors are retiring, so some AEs have just sort of stalled out waiting their turn.

I think the in-house agency route is a good suggestion. The stigma with working in house has become less of an issue in terms of switching to a post-house later, and, because agency producers and creatives jump around so much, you'll grow a strong network in the industry.

Good luck.

i have heard that people in LA go to AA and NA meetings just to network ! fountain and fairfax was where i used to go.

Keep trying for entry level stuff. Prepare to be treated like shit. Be open to other career paths as well.

I've got a question regarding posthouses hiring editors who bring on clients - is the editor expected to keep bringing them in? Or is it just to get started?

What do editors get out of the posthouse? From where im at it looks like they are just renting edit rooms. Or do they help coordinate/produce? Do they necesarily do post on the projects too?

It's a bit different here, there's not a lot of offline post houses. We usually just work directly with prodco and director. Maybe the posthouse gives us an empty office if the workflow needs editorial to be close to post, but that's rare.

How is an agency different from a post house in the commercial world?

Network, network, network.

Have you been applying for positions at post houses that actually have job postings or are you just randomly sending your resume to people for jobs that don't exist? If there is no job posting and people don't know you then I wouldn't expect a response.

Most jobs in the industry and in LA particularly are about who you know as much as what you know. I work at a major studio and jobs don't even get posted to the outside world because when they need someone the hiring managers go through their contacts of people they have worked with in the past and liked and if nobody is available they may ask for referrals from other people that already are on staff.

Dont. Seriously. Follow your real dream. (like TV/Film shows)