Sam Hopkins’ Evolution: “The Best is Yet to Come”
Sam Hopkins is an editor at Wave’s newly set up edit department Magic Edit and with his 17-year-long experience in the industry (14 of which as an editor across both long and short form), he has set a perfect foundation for the endless accolades his work has received through the years.
Having worked as head of editing at House 337 (previously Engine Group), Sam has also worked at Grey, The Mill and The Associated Press, across TV, film, commercial and music videos. He also worked on ‘OVERHEATED’, a climate film featuring Billie Eilish, Vivienne Westwood and Yung Blud, released in partnership with WeTransfer.
But behind the flashy names and awards, stands a true life-long passion that Sam has turned into a fruitful career. “For as long as I can remember I wanted to work in film and television,” he tells me. “I have always known what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go.”
Films rooted Sam’s dreams in reality and simultaneously provided him with the escape he needed to create new worlds. “That never left me,” he says. His dreaming, coupled with the knowledge that working hard gets you what you want together made him the person he is today.
At 16, Sam took the biggest leap of faith and moved from Sheffield to London, to dive into an industry light years different to what we know it as today. “Technology and accessibility were different 20 years ago. I knew that if I wanted to get into it, this was where I needed to be.”
The rest is history - a runner job at a video duplication company, in Soho of course, led to Sam becoming a video tape operator. And while many of these roles don’t exist after the analogue-to-digital migration of the industry, Sam holds the firm belief that those early days of his career gave him a strong technical backbone.
LBB> What did ladder climbing look like for you ever since you came to London and what are the most valuable lessons you learned from those years in your career?
Sam> I spent a couple of invaluable years in the industry before heading off to university to study screen production in Winchester. It was there where I really decided that I wanted to become an editor. Prior to that I’d always envisaged myself directing. Either way, I knew I wanted to work in an area where I’d be directly involved in the creative development of the story and narrative.
Upon leaving university I went to work at The Associated Press and then The Mill as a technical operator and media transfer supervisor.
I ended up making the move into being an editor and working my way up through various ad agencies and post houses before finally being head of editing over at Engine (House337).
I finally went freelance in 2022 after having an incredible year working on the ‘Kiyan Prince’ campaign (which won the Cannes Titanium Grand Prix as well as numerous D&ADs and British Arrows), ‘Dropped’, which had a great awards run, and then working on the Billie Eilish documentary, ‘OVERHEATED’.
It’s taken me a while to get to or approach the level where I want to be and it’s taken a lot of desire, determination and sacrifice – evening work, weekends, sometimes working two-three jobs in order to build a strong enough portfolio to attract the kind of work I want to do.
However I’m not satisfied yet - I want to keep pushing to do the best work possible.
There’s so many things I’ve learnt in my time in the industry. Being determined, patient, focussed and passionate underpins everything for me, that’s how I’ve managed to get to where I am.
I think being diplomatic, collaborative, and trusting your instincts are key skills as an editor too. You need to be able to problem solve and communicate well, and these are things I’ve developed a lot over the years.
The biggest things I’ve learned are that networking is crucial to building yourself up, and so is having thick skin – you’ll hear ‘no’ and you can’t let it deter you. If you believe in yourself, you’ll learn, develop and keep pushing forward.
LBB> You say at the start you were more interested in directing. What drew you to editing instead?
Sam> I’ve always loved being creative, whether it was writing screenplays growing up, drawing, or dancing. I’ve always enjoyed the process of expressing myself or expressing an idea through something.
I think editing was always such a natural fit for me, as it allowed me to be expressive. To take an idea and build on it. I think a lot of directors enjoy working with me because they know I can come in and add value to their work, and they can see the desire and commitment I have to the craft.
Editing is such a key component in production where you can push or move a story in so many different ways.
Films were a huge inspiration growing up, I loved sports films and that idea of heroes defying the odds. ‘Rocky’ and ‘When We Were Kings’ in particular. Music and dance were also big influences: hip hop, post punk, new wave and breakdancing amongst many other things.
On a whole, whatever medium it was (art, music, dance, or film), I tried to soak it up, be open to it and think about how I could interpret it and how it could influence the work I made.
I now get a lot of inspiration from ultra marathons which I’ve been running in my spare time for the past eight years. Running in remote places around the world opens your eyes up to worlds, emotions and experiences you might not always see or feel in everyday life.
LBB> What does being intuitive in editing mean and how do you listen to your intuition when cutting?
Sam> I think it means trusting yourself and your instincts. I’ve been told by different creatives and directors that ‘I just get it’ and that ability to see something and have a good idea of what it needs, I take a lot of pride in.
I think I am able to take an idea or story and run with it and that comes from trusting yourself and having experience. I’ve been in the industry for a long time now so I have plenty of experience and knowledge to draw on but I still love that feeling of seeing an idea for the first time and thinking about what you can do with it creatively, what the tones, emotions and influences are and seeing if that matches up with the director’s vision.
I also think editing is an instinctive craft - I try to listen to my gut and judgement as much as possible. I generally like to get to a first cut quite quickly and then refine and deduce thereafter.
I think this skill really comes to the fore when working on-set or on live broadcast, when you need to think quickly and instinctively. Having worked on a number of live sports events, the turnaround times can be crazy – minutes, not hours or days – so you need to prepare, stay calm and work fast.
LBB> You work across categories - film, commercials, etc. - which do you prefer and why?
Sam> They all require their own creative merits and skill sets and I enjoy them all for different reasons.
I often think it’s much more difficult to fit a story in 60 or 30 seconds, so finding things that link visually or musically in order to make it work is always a fun challenge. I like the change of pace too. I tend to do a lot of sports ads and promos, so cutting something fast, kinetic and frenetic is great.
On the whole though, I think working on documentary and film is something I prefer. You can influence and contribute something bigger to the overall message on long form and I find that more fulfilling.
I cut a feature documentary for the Discovery Channel last year with Ian Derry and Park Village and they put a lot of trust and faith in me to help weave and tie the story together which I really valued.
I’ve always loved telling stories - I think that feature is present across a lot of my work and I think that is something I’m able to do much more in longform. Bottom line though, is that I love what I do so, if it’s a great creative or idea then I’m in no matter the length.
LBB> Tell me about the documentary ‘OVERHEATED’, how you came to work on it and what the project was like for you.
Sam> ‘OVERHEATED’ was a whirlwind of a project that I made with Yassa Khan (Camp Productions) back in 2022 for Billie Eilish’s Overheated World Tour, which focused on climate change and the urgent need for action.
The documentary (40 minutes long) was done in a five-week period which is tight in most regards but I was also still working full time at Engine (House337) at that point, so I basically didn’t sleep for five weeks while working on this as I’d edit through the night and over weekends.
I’d worked with Yassa already a lot that year on a number of projects and we’d developed a really strong relationship – we both knew what the other wanted and where and how to push the documentary.
I think in addition to the lack of sleep and tight turnaround, a big challenge was processing and working through the amount of footage we had, and receiving that footage, which often came in from shoots in the Amazon, LA, Africa, amongst other locations. Sourcing archive footage with a limited budget also was a task within itself - due to the team being quite small, I’d often source and research footage myself.
We worked right up to the wire on this and it was a huge undertaking in the timeframe. However, it’s a project I look back on with immense pride - how we were able to deal with the pressure and still deliver. The documentary got some great reviews, was picked up by WeTransfer (WePresent) and had a run in selected cinemas internationally.
LBB> What is another project you're proud of that you’d like to highlight?
Sam> I think there’s been a number of jobs that I’m proud of for various reasons, whether that be the ‘Kiyan Prince’ campaign for the meaning of the project and how well it was received, the Anthony Joshua and Kano piece for Under Armour which was a rapid turnaround and gained 10+ million views in the first 24 hours or the RAF jobs I’ve done (Air + Space Ops and Regiment Gunners) where we could really push the envelope creatively.
However, the feature documentary I finished last year for the Discovery Channel (‘Beneath The Surface, the Fight for Corals’) was a huge undertaking and something I’m immensely proud of. Over 40TB of footage and a delicate story of science and humanity centred around coral reefs and the fight to save them against warming oceans.
I had to do a lot of research ahead of time in order to understand the science and subject matter. Then weaving the science and human story together so it gave the documentary a real heart and emotion took some time. Myself and the director spent a lot of time together cutting this and we built a real camaraderie and solidarity. The documentary went down very well and it sheds a light on a subject matter that needs urgent attention – that really means something. And that’s something I want to do – try and help create stories that matter.
LBB> What's your vision for the industry in the coming years? What do you think of the most recent tech developments and do you feel the benefit from them?
Sam> I think the industry is ever-evolving – it’s changed immeasurably in my time in it and will continue to do so. We’ve seen a lot of changes particularly over the past few years – covid changed where and how we work. The way people consume media has also changed and so clients and brands don’t just want the standard 30-60-second commercial. Having 360 social campaigns going across Instagram and TikTok is now just as key, as well as are longform brand-led documentaries (North Face Presents do it very well). Non-scripted documentary has also come back in a big way which is great to see and I think we’ll continue to see documentaries and shows being pushed more than ever.
Obviously the introduction of AI now can’t be understated - from AI voiceover, text-based editing, image and graphic creation. I think all of these tools can be harnessed and help develop better and more efficient ways of working. In short I think it’s important to constantly learn, diversify, stay up to date and be open to new ways of working.
LBB> And what does your career look like in the next few years? What are you most excited about?
Sam> For me, I want to continue to push as much as possible and keep evolving – to be the best editor I can be. How can I do that? By working on meaningful campaigns, documentaries and films, that motivate and inspire me alongside other amazing like minded people.
I’d like to keep editing feature documentaries, edit a feature film, do some big commercial work, finish some screenplays I’ve started and potentially even direct something. This is a passion and vocation for me, I love what I do and I think the best is yet to come.
