Editor Sarah Iben has joined Final Cut, New York. According to Final Cut managing director Stephanie Apt, Iben’s editorial style is what the firm had been seeking to round out its stable of five editors.
"Everybody in the company felt we needed somebody with a really strong comedy skill set," Apt explained. "So we started looking at reels and Sarah’s consistently rose to the top of the heap."
Iben, although not exclusively a comedy editor, employs some guidelines she’s gleaned from that genre. "There is a simplicity about [my work]," she managed to say between her humble objections to requests for self-analysis. "I tend to go more for simplicity. I sometimes use the word ‘clean’ to describe the work." Apt agreed, noting that Iben’s sense of timing "is impeccable, and there is a quiet intelligence about the way her work was done."
Iben is a graduate of Loyola University, Chicago, with a degree in communications/film. After graduating in 1992, she began a brief freelance career as a production assistant, and later as a production coordinator. Iben took a position as a telecine assistant at Cutters, Chicago, working from midnight until 8 a.m., but was soon moved over to assistant editor working on the new Avid technology. In ’96, after Iben had moved up to junior editor, she moved over to TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York, where she worked as manager/ editor of its in-house editorial company. In ’98 she crossed the country for an editor position at FilmCore Santa Monica. Iben returned to New York in 2000 to take an editor position at Lost Planet, remaining there until accepting her current position.
Iben comes aboard a Final Cut roster that also consists of editors Kirk Baxter, Gary Knight, Carlos Arias and Namakula Musoke.
