Unscripted Editor

About the Role This is a full-time role based in Los Angeles. We offer competitive pay, health insurance, and a 401k. We're a small team, so you'll have a lot of creative freedom and the opportunity to shape the editorial process. We're looking for someone who is passionate about storytelling and excited to work on groundbreaking original series. --- Job ID: 123456 Location: Los Angeles, CA Employment Type: Full-time Schedule: Monday - Friday, 9am - 6pm (flexible) Pay: Competitive, based on experience Benefits: Health insurance, 401k Contact: Please apply through our website. No calls or emails, please. EEO Statement: Early Media is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Scam Warning: If you are asked for money or personal information, it is not us. Please report it immediately.

About the role

We're hiring an unscripted editor to shape hours of real-world footage into premium, YouTube-style content—content that earns attention instead of just capturing it. You'll cut across our unscripted slate, including character-driven docuseries, challenges, and other formats, working alongside directors and producers who trust you to shape the stories.

Responsibilities

• Editorial from assembly to picture lock, delivering creative and polished edits on time at the highest quality bar.
• Find narrative threads, moments, and character arcs in raw footage—you're not executing a script, you're discovering the story.
• Create cuts with a YouTube-native sensibility: strong hooks, pattern interrupts, and pacing that holds attention.
• Maintain your edit pipeline with an Assistant Editor, keeping media and workflow clean at a high-volume, fast-turnaround cadence (e.g., turning 15-minute shoots into tight 5-minute pieces, delivered every 2-3 weeks).
• Ensure clean handoff to finishing with organized, consistent workflows so color, sound, and VFX run smoothly every time.
• Help build the editorial department—we're moving fast and iterating as we go.

Requirements

• Efficient editor with a strong creative point of view and a portfolio demonstrating clear storytelling instincts in unscripted content (docuseries, documentary, reality, or social-first formats).
• Fluency editing in a YouTube style: you understand the grammar of high-performing YouTube content—how to open a video, structure acts, place pattern interrupts—and can explain why cuts from large creators work.
• Proven fast-turnaround experience in environments where content ships on a regular schedule; you’ve built or adopted systems that make the process sustainable.
• Expert in Premiere Pro with years of experience in collaborative workflows, sync sound, finishing round trips, and proxy workflows.
• Working knowledge of other disciplines: you can create graphics, temp VFX, sound design, and beyond to strengthen creative intent.
• Strong organizational skills: detail-oriented with a focus on proper workflow, naming conventions, and the ability to run multiple projects on a high-volume slate without losing quality.

Nice to have

• Background in both short-form content and unscripted entertainment, comfortable shifting between formats, concepts, and episode lengths.
• Proficiency in motion graphics: able to ideate and implement GFX independently to aid storytelling.
• Experience working in a larger post-house, production company, or projects with multiple post-team members, understanding workflows at scale.
• Mentoring experience: you enjoy developing assistant editors and young talent.

Benefits

• Health insurance
• 401k

This is a full-time role based in Los Angeles. We offer competitive pay and a small-team environment with significant creative freedom and the opportunity to shape the editorial process.