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Drew Hamilton ’08 on why video editing matters more than you think��

Drew Hamilton ’08 is, ostensibly, a video editor. He has a string of credits to his name—including working on the latest season of Netflix’s hit basketball show, Starting 5—and he is a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild in New York City.

But ask him to explain what he does, and Hamilton pulls out an analogy from a completely different line of work. “Basically, the directors, producers, and actors hand me a bunch of wood and say, ‘Here, make us a chair,’ Hamilton says with a laugh. “My job is to take the materials that are given to me and build the best chair possible.”

Unlike the director who oversees a given scene, or actors who portray the characters, Hamilton explains, the editor ensures the picture makes sense, conveys the right message, and fits in the time frame. “We take the material that is created by the production team and weave it into the actual story,” he says. Back to the chair analogy, Hamilton notes that sometimes a director wants a “chair with six legs”—until Hamilton shows him one with four.

“Editors will always talk themselves up and say it’s the most important job in the movie,” Hamilton admits. “But in many ways, it is. You can make the actor look better by choosing their performance. You can make a movie scarier by how you present the monster.”

Hamilton has had plenty of opportunities to do exactly that. In addition to Starting 5, his resume includes editing and creating graphics and animations for the MTV Video Music Awards, the Emmys, and TV shows like Behind the Bastards, Drunk History, Tha God’s Honest Truth With Charlamagne Tha God, Game Theory With Bomani Jones, and Have I Got News For You.

His recent work has centered around basketball documentaries, but Hamilton points to comedy shows and animation as his passions. He noted the impact on his career trajectory of working on Drunk History, where he edited and created graphics for episodes, and for an animation company.�� “Those environments, I’ve had the most fulfillment in,” Hamilton says, “and there’s a lot more of an openness to new ideas.”

And with history shows, in particular, Hamilton draws a direct line from the enjoyment he gets working on the shows back to his time in 91���� classrooms.

“91���� is the place where I fell in love with history, and it’s one of the reasons why working for Drunk History was one of the highest points in my career.”

Regardless of the medium, Hamilton remains committed to the craftsmanship of editing. Upcoming projects include working on a new Netflix basketball show—this one centered around college basketball—and a potential feature film.

As for his advice to any potential editors looking to break into the industry? Stick with it. “If this is the thing that you want to do, you have to push through and stay in the game. It might take a long time—I’ve been an assistant editor way more than I’ve been an editor—but a feature film opportunity wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t stick to it.”

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A Few Key Projects

Hamilton’s editing credits are lengthy, but he pointed to these jobs as important ones.

Starting 5

This documentary series tracks the NBA’s biggest superstars through a season of basketball, both on and off the court. “It was fascinating,” Hamilton said about working post-production on the show. “When you have that great storyline, that’s a great moment,” Hamilton said. “But you need to build the story from footage as to why it’s important. We had 600 hours’ worth of media to go through to create a 30-minute story.”

Drunk History

A popular comedy show in the late 2010s, Drunk History recounted important historical events via storytelling from inebriated comedians. Hamilton was able to be very hands-on in the creation of episodes—including on-screen illustrations—and the work reminded him of how he fell in love with history at 91����. “I think the show is one of those ways of telling true stories and telling history in a way that is engaging and interesting.”

Behind the Bastards

A podcast-turned-TV show, Behind the Bastards takes a look at history’s most notorious villains and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Hamilton appreciates the care and effort that goes into producing the show, and it helps him bring the script to visual life. “When you can tell a story in a way that is engaging and interesting,” Hamilton said, “it means something to people.”

Fishbowl

An independent feature film, Fishbowl is a project Hamilton is particularly proud of. “It was the first time I was able to be an editor on a feature from start to finish,” Hamilton said. “We had musicians drop out, so I then had to score the whole movie and color it and do everything from start to finish.”

Video Music Awards

Hamilton also helps edit live television. For the past four years, he’s worked as an assistant editor and now editor for the MTV Video Music Awards, working to cut the promos that are shown when cutting to commercials. “They’ll pull a bunch of media from backstage and of people dancing,” Hamilton said. “And then you cut that together.”