Register now: ScreenSask Factual Story Editor Accelerator | Feb 14 & 15 | Saskatoon | $75

2 day workshop, Feb 14 & 15, 2026. Both days included in ticket price.

Participants must attend both days.

No editing experience required. This workshop is designed for non-technical writers & story editors.

Learn how great factual and documentary television stories are built in the edit suite. This intensive two-day accelerator is designed for writers who want to develop the creative and technical skills required to work as story editors in factual and lifestyle television. Led by acclaimed showrunner/story editor Dylan Wertz and veteran editor Andy Bely, participants will gain a practical understanding of how raw footage is shaped into compelling episodes through stringouts, assemblies, and collaborative editing workflows.

Day One explores the creative process, roles, and storytelling structures behind successful factual programming. Day Two is fully hands-on, with participants working in Adobe Premiere Pro to create a stringout from real footage, supported by the instructors and an assistant editor. By the end of the workshop, participants will leave with real-world experience and a clear understanding of how to succeed as a factual story editor.

NOTE: Participants will need to bring their own laptop with Adobe Premiere Pro. Instructions on how to download a free trial version of Premiere Pro will be provided in the conformation email sent to you after you register. If you do not have access to a laptop, please contact ScreenSask so that we can work with you to accomodate your needs.

Details:

This two-day masterclass provides training for writers who are interested in learning the craft of using editing software to create stringouts and scenes.

In factual/lifestyle television, the story editor is a writer who works with the footage that has been shot (in collaboration with an editor) to craft the story as it is being edited. They do so by working with the footage to create a ‘string out’ of the story, which is then edited by the editor, and collaborate with the editor through rough cuts, fine cuts and locks of the episode. Story editors also collaborate with directors in the field, and their showrunner, to hone the story as it is being shot. In this way, the story editor is a key creative position in this genre.

This role is very different from the role of a ‘story editor’ in the scripted world (which sees story editors work with writers to edit their scripts), and is instead equivalent to the ‘screenwriter’ in scripted.

Because story editors in factual are working with footage in programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro and AVID Media Composer, and are often working with dozens if not hundreds of hours of footage, there are many technical, organizational and workflow management skills that they require (in addition to the creative storytelling skills which they must also master)

In this two day masterclass, leading showrunner/story editor Dylan Wertz and editor Andy Bely lead twelve writers through the process of story editing an episode of factual television.

Day One

A review of the basics of how a Story Editor and Editor work together to create a gripping episode of factual television. Outlining the different phases the cut takes from raw to stringout to assembly to rough cut, all the way to picture lock. Breaks down the elements of story used in almost every version of factual television, goes through the individual tasks the Story Editor and Editor takes in the process, and gives insider tips and tricks on how to make this process as painless as possible. By the end of Day One participants should have an idea of how the process is supposed to work and are now ready to take these skills and put them into action!

Day Two

Attendees will take everything they learned from Day One and put it into practice. They will get their hands dirty, working with Adobe Premiere Pro editing software to create a stringout from raw footage. The instructors will set them up with everything a working story editor would have before they set to work and then let them loose! The instructors (and an assistant editor) will provide on-going advice, support and guidance, help participants find solutions and offer technical support. Key elements to be addressed include several specific areas of expertise on everything needed to know to create a successful stringout, including but not limited to:

• Premiere Pro layout
• Premiere Pro tools
• Google docs
• Transcripts
• Scripts
• Stringouts
• Assemblies
• Frankenbiting

The goal at the end of the day is for participants to have strung out a full scene, and we will invite them to show their work to the rest of the class. There will then be an open discussion about the process and what challenges and solutions each attendee encountered while working with the footage.

By the end of this two day workshops, attendees should walk away with a clear understanding of how an episode of factual TV is made, what the working relationship is between the Editor and Story Editor, and how, as a working Story Editor, they can set their Editor (and themselves) up for success in the edit suite.