Eden Read: Making the cut

As with so many in the creative industries, Eden Read’s journey began when she was young, and initially came out of a love of “making things look nice. I was really into collaging and making jigsaws with my mum.” 

In her teens she became “that kid that was making films. My friends were always saying ‘put that camera away’, because I’d just be filming them and making little music videos.” 

Whilst she was constantly creating work in her own time, the more traditional side of school didn’t prove to be the right fit. “I was never very academic. I did slightly better in the creative side of school. But even then, I wasn’t a good pupil. I couldn’t really concentrate. I was always distracted, always talking.” 

I went to chat with the three partners, and I remember being like, ‘oh, my God, I’m talking to legends right now, I can’t believe it.’

Following her creative instinct, Read went to Norwich University of the Arts to do an entirely practical course in directing. Even here, though, things didn’t go entirely as planned. “I really liked the idea of being a director. That’s what I had set my hopes on. But I remember one of my tutors saying to me, ‘I don’t think you’re right for a director’s role’. I took it really personally but thought, ‘I’m just going to try something else’. I went along to an editing class, and something clicked.” 

This is where determination combined with passion and Read started to take her first steps to becoming an editor. Never one to simply sit back and wait, she began an internship with production company Spindle in Norwich, and it wasn’t long before inspiration struck. “Their editor, Tim, was the first editor I ever met. And I realised oh, shit, you can do this as a job. It can be a career.” 

Above: Read collaborated with director Loona Ria on Make Moves for Nike and Spotify.

After five years in Norwich, Read moved to London and began working as an assistant editor at White House Post. It was while she was working there that the assembly rooms reached out to her, as they were looking to expand their assistant team.  

This marked a pivotal moment in Read’s career – one that she was fully aware of, even at the time. “I went to chat with the three partners, and I remember being like, ‘oh, my God, I’m talking to legends right now, I can’t believe it.’ I was such a big fan of each of their work for different reasons. So, I felt like I hit the jackpot when I started there.” 

I’m coming up in a time where we’re looking for diversity and to amplify the voices that don’t feel like 10, 15 years ago, when there weren’t many female editors.

One of those legends was Eve Ashwell. An editor since she was 18, Ashwell has cut work for heavyweight global brands including Burberry, Disney and British Airways, as well as for music artists like Florence and the Machine. She is, in Read’s words, “an incredible editor, with such an eye for storytelling and narrative arc.” 

Once Read was at the assembly rooms she worked as an assistant, which included assisting Ashwell, before becoming an editor in her own right. Always emotionally led when it comes to collaboration, Read describes her job as “70 percent talking and 30 percent editing” and loves having others in the room with her when she is shaping work. 

Above: Read worked on Silver Linings with director and fashion designer Priya Ahluwalia.

One of her most fruitful collaborations has been with director Loona Ria, with whom Read created Make Moves for Nike and Spotify. Read describes Ria as “an incredible force of creativity,” and the attention to detail on the project is evident. “I think I cut that over a month-long period,” she says. “We did about 56 versions… It was boarded, but it was my job to find that story within the edit.” 

It’s a project which really resonated with Read, who says, “I love the pieces which matter or mean something. That piece was about being a teenage girl and all the ups and downs and frustrations.” Those difficulties and frustrations don’t stop when you become an adult, as any woman in the creative industries can attest to. Latterly things have started to shift in what has always been a male-dominated industry. 

Work with everyone and do everything. Have fun and meet people and talk to them.

Read says, “I’m coming up in a time where we’re looking for diversity and to amplify the voices that don’t feel like 10, 15 years ago, when there weren’t many female editors. I look around now and it feels like there’re so many popping up and so many good ones doing different things.” 

But change is slow, and there are still those whose archaic ideas you may need to challenge along the way, as Read points out. “That’s not to say that you don’t have the odd person who may have your age or your gender in the back of their mind and question how you do something, or not feel completely comfortable in your hands. But I’m quite stubborn. I really believe that I can win someone around if I try hard enough.”