Terry Pickford (born January 26, 1947) is a television personality and video editing pioneer. He was born in Windsor, Ontario, the first son of Edward and Norah Pickford. He attended Assumption High School and Kennedy Collegiate. He worked at CKWW and CKLW radio stations as an engineer in the mid-1960s when CKLW (The Big 8) came to be one of the leading radio stations in North America.
Pickford worked at CHUM Radio in Toronto, Ontario before moving to television as an editor and working for CFTO in Toronto and WGR in Buffalo. He moved to Hollywood, California in 1971 and worked in local television editing news, sports and remote broadcasts. He also worked on shows like Bowling for Dollars and Roller Derby.
The video editing process in those days was a tedious, labor-intensive procedure requiring as much luck as skill. The artistic side of editing was more often lost when confronted by time, technical and cost constraints. Pickford felt there had to be a way to allow the editor to become more involved in the creative process. In the meantime, he continued to develop his technical skills and the ability to "make good pictures."
In 1972, Pickford saw a demonstration of the new CMX 300 video editing system. It featured the first direct control of the editing process through a computer keyboard terminal using an edit decision list with SMPTE time code[1]. Pickford immediately recognized the enormous potential of this new equipment and on his own time learned everything he could about it. He quickly became proficient enough that in 1973 CMX Systems hired him to demonstrate the new CMX 50 offline editing system to industry professionals at a seminar in Studio City, California[2].
As a result, Pickford was subsequently hired by the PBS flagship station in Hollywood to head up their new CMX offline/online editing suite. For the first time, Pickford felt he had at his command the means to fully participate in the creative process. He was given the opportunity to edit complex, big-budget variety shows and nationally broadcast TV movies, documentaries and specials. During this period, he also was fortunate enough to hone his editing skills working with industry giants such as Steve Allen[3][4][5], George Schaefer[6], Marty Pasetta[7][8], Dick Clark[9][10] and Norman Lloyd[11].
At the same time, Pickford began developing methods to streamline the editing process. He learned routines, often by trial and error, to "clean" the edit decision list as he went along. He discovered how he could reposition whole segments of material without the need to completely re-edit them each time. He assembled edits in different orders to minimize reel changes and decrease online time. He perfected the use of the L-cut and "delayed dissolve," using these creative techniques to further reduce editing time by performing two edits as one. These and other methods, referred to by Pickford as "re-edit hell," nonetheless resulted in dramatic savings of time and money. These procedures were in time independently developed by others and became the industry standard.
During the 1980s, CMX became the dominant editing system in the television industry and was used by 90% of TV professionals[12]. The CMX system was eventually supplanted by newer and even more powerful editing programs during the 1990s. However, the basic edit decision list and its manipulation has remained essentially the same since 1972. The routines Pickford developed are now computerized and included in virtually all editing systems currently in use[13].
In 1977 the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences appointed Pickford to its Blue Ribbon Panel as a judge for the Primetime Emmy Awards[14]. He served in this position for many years.
Terry Pickford later went on to work in a similar capacity for ABC, CBS, Global Television and NBC. In 1988 he became an independent contractor and worked project by project at various venues until he retired in 1998.
Pickford also wrote and produced many historical documentaries including the critically acclaimed "Gas Chamber"[15] and "L.A. Underground"[16] for Los Angeles local television.
He received 6 Emmy Nominations.[17]
He currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Selected television work
- Barney Miller (1975)
- Welcome Back Kotter (1976)
- 50th to 53rd Academy Awards
- The Love Boat (1977)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1985)
- Wheel of Fortune (1986)
- American Gladiators (1989)
- Saved by the Bell (1993)
External links
References
- ^ http://broadcastengineering.com/mag/broadcasting_editing_systems/
- ^ http://digitalcontentproducer.com/mag/video_better_share/
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332088/fullcredits
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1478641/fullcredits
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=vZmFAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Terry+Pickford%22&dq=%22Terry+Pickford%22&as_brr=0
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074778/fullcredits
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332088/fullcredits
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271340/fullcredits
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396446/fullcredits
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049993/fullcredits
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0342060/fullcredits
- ^ http://www.editorsbench.com/documents/cmxrip.html
- ^ http://www.smpte-ne.org/articles/eulogy.html
- ^ http://www.howstuffworks.com/emmy.htm/printable
- ^ http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1152407/combined
- ^ http://us.vdc.imdb.com/title/tt1152495/combined
- ^ http://us.vdc.imdb.com/name/nm0681938/awards
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