Cut to the Chase: 45 Years of Editing America's Favorite Movies

This groundbreaking book takes the reader behind the closed doors of the editing room where Sam O'Steen along with some of the world's top directors controlled the fate of many legendary films. Editors don't usually sit on movie sets, but Sam was there through the entire shoot and his editing tales are spiced with juicy anecdotes about exotic locations and colorful producers, directors, and stars.

About the Author

Bobbie O'Steen is a New York-based writer and film historian, dedicated to sharing the editor's invisible art with students, professionals and cinephiles. Educated at Stanford University, she is an Emmy-nominated film editor and author of two acclaimed books: "Cut to the Chase," based on interviews with her late husband and colleague, legendary editor Sam O'Steen, filled with stories from the cutting room and behind the scenes on such landmark films as "The Graduate" and "Chinatown." "The Invisible Cut" deconstructs the editing process, as well as classic movie scenes from such films as "Rear Window" and "The French Connection" through a cut-by-cut analysis.

Her latest book, co-authored with Bill Kinder, "Making the Cut at Pixar: The Art of Editing Animation," published this year by Focal Press, us an authoritative media-rich book about the editor's pioneering role in computer animation.

She hosts on ongoing event series, "Inside the Cutting Room," honoring master editors through screening and discussion at American Cinema Editors' EditFest and for Manhattan Edit Workshop's Sight, Sound & Story series. She has taught at the American Film Institute, Emerson College, John Hopkins University, The New School, and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She has also created an ongoing class series, "Making the Cut," where she explores the art and technique of the editing process, based on her interviews with over eighty editors.

Bobbie provides commentary and discussion for The Criterion Collection release of such iconic films as "A Hard Day's Night" and "Don't Look Now" and has written for various publications, including CinemaEditor Magazine, which named her "Film Editing's Greatest Champion.