Education · 1 of 5

The path

There is no license and no required degree. There is a reel, and there are the people who have seen it.

1. 1

   High school diploma

   Grade 12

   Start cutting now. Phone footage, a friend's band, a school game. Nobody will ask what year you started.

2. 2

   Learn one program properly

   6 to 12 months of real practice

   Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer or DaVinci Resolve. Scripted television runs on Avid, almost everything else on the other two.

3. 3

   Degree, or not

   0 to 4 years

   About 65% of people in the job hold a bachelor's degree and 16% have only a high school diploma. A program buys you equipment, deadlines and a network, not a credential anyone checks.

4. 4

   Get in the building

   1 to 2 years

   Post-production assistant, media manager, loader. Low pay, long hours, and the only reliable way anyone learns you exist.

5. 5

   Assistant editor, then editor

   2 to 5 years

   You start cutting scenes when the editor trusts you, then take your own projects.