David S. Cohen

I was a features editor at Variety for 12 years. In that time, I edited more than 200 sections, from single-page previews of small film festivals to 15+ page packages that felt like a mini-magazine. Among my tasks as a features editor:

• Create an editorial budget/outline
• Assign writers
• Gather art options and choose art to fit the story and the page
• When necessary, add articles and pages. This occurred when strong ad sales meant adding more edit to keep our regular ad:edit ratio.
• Collaborate on layout with staff designers
• Copy editi and fact-check
• Writie headlines, subheads and photo captions
• Proofread pages (for my sections and other editors’ sections)
• Secure approvals from management
• Post and format stories in WordPress: writie new SEO-friendly web heds, meta-tag and link stories. Choose web-friendly art. Set up WordPress photo galleries.
• Oversee spending/budget and sendi writers’ payments through to payroll

This brought my directing training to bear: I would choose a team, manage them, coach them, help improve their work and then step out of the spotlight. Editors’ names aren’t on Variety feature sections; only the writers get bylines. But it could be very satisfying work.

It also sharpened my project management skills. At times I might have as many as 11 sections in various stages of the pipeline. Variety features are typically long-lead. Some could be done in as little as three weeks, but a “10 to Watch” list or Philanthropy photo gallery might require 90 days. Since everything had to meet hard ship dates, it was crucial to stay organized and make sure deadlines were met.

Sometimes I worked closely with the subjects of a section, but sometimes their involvement was minimal. This differs from the advertorial features I’ve created in that no one outside Variety gets review or approval on them, nor is any of this “pay for play.”