“Media Composer is a dream on projects like this. It is a robust editing platform. Its media management is second to none.”

Keeping Pace with Reality

 

The most challenging scene in this episode to cut was our walkthrough when the Fab Five shows up. They meet our hero, Paula, and her partner Greg. It's challenging because Queer Eye is real. It's on the fly, happening in real time, not produced. You have multiple camera people coming in, five hosts, family, a hero, and you're in a confined space. We're trying to figure out what to cover as people are scattering throughout the house. We're in a bathroom for a scene. That's single camera coverage simply because they can't fit. That makes it my hardest scene to cut because we have to get out so much information. We need all five fabulous hosts to meet Paula, learn something about her and get that across, feeling real, emotional and true in a way that doesn't feel jumpy. We might have to use cutaways, B-roll and reactions shot later, but never in a manipulative way. We always want to be true to our hero's story. When I rewatch it, I think, ‘Oh my God, that was so much work to get right.’ I'm proud that we nailed it.

The Fab 5 (Antoni, Tan, Jonathan, Karamo and Jeremiah) on Queer Eye.

Fast and Focused Editing

 

I don't go in with a clear vision. There are format beats we have to hit, but when I get a scene or a stringout, I see what the footage is telling me. That's how I decide what the edit needs to be, whether it's an amazing reaction or a joke that has to be included. I make mental notes and then we do a pass based on that. I'm an intuitive editor and that's how I do my first cut. We'll go through and scale back where we can on storybeats, make sure we're telling the story, but where we can make space for an extra two seconds on an interview bite to have a reaction or emotion land.

 

What makes a scene work is if it's clear. That's the rule I abide by. What is the scene trying to tell us? What is the arc of a character in that scene? I have to know when I watch it, why that scene was included because we're always up against getting something down to time and having to lose things we like. That means recognizing what's not working, even if it's a great joke or an interview bite we like, it’s sometimes pulling these things out to make the whole work better.

 

Media Composer is a dream on projects like this. It is a robust editing platform. Its media management is second to none. We have multiple editors, multiple producers in an episode at one time. All of our projects are cutting simultaneously. We're sharing toolkits, media, music in real time and under tight deadlines. I cannot imagine it going so smoothly without a platform like Media Composer.

 

Media Composer has so many great tools and I'm constantly learning new ones. My favorite tool in Media Composer is Trim Mode and trim tool. So tops and tails, moving things off frame back forward. It's accurate, precise.

 

Before I knew trim tool and Trim Mode, I don't know how I got anything done. It helps with speed and efficiency, which is critical when we're turning around shows at the rate we do. There are buttons for tops and tails. I have it mapped on my keyboard. It's the thing I use most. I can select a new start point for a clip or a new end point. That allows me to cut down my sequence or my stringout quickly.

 

Another tool I love in Media Composer is ScriptSync. I use it constantly. Our producers use it constantly to build their stringouts, look for bites, find a nugget in a scene that we might not have time to watch in real time. I use it every day on every project. I cannot imagine being able to turn these shows around without ScriptSync. 

 

 

What the Emmy Nomination Means to Roth

 

My Emmy nomination was a huge surprise. It was a great honor for me to be included in this year's nominees. 

Working on the show and the episode, I did know it was special. Paula, our hero, is so raw, honest, excited about the process, and embraced it. It made it easy for our characters to shine. As an editor, I'm interested in what makes humans work. It is probably the most recognized show I've worked on where I've had people in the industry and also colleagues not in the industry, reach out and say, "I really love that episode," or "It was really special. It made me feel a certain way." I was lucky to be involved in that project.

Paula gets back on stage in the “She was a Showgirl” episode of Queer Eye.

My nomination has been an absolute gift because I've reconnected with peers in the industry, with people outside of the industry, and that's allowed us to catch up on other parts of our lives as well. My family is so proud. They printed out all the nominees, and it's on their kitchen cupboards. It's been an exciting recognition.

 

 

Learning Avid on the Night Shift

 

I came up through art classes, and I thought, "How can I make a living as an artist?" That got me interested in how people make movies, so I went to college to learn. I read Walter Murch's, "In the Blink of an Eye," which is the first I'd even heard about editing. I took an editing class in college, and once I was in a class with 30 people and we were all given the same footage. Everybody did something different with it, and there was no right or wrong way to tell a story with the same material. I was hooked. I realized the power of writing with picture, and I can't imagine doing anything else.

 

I first started using Avid on a night shift as an assistant editor. They said, ‘Okay, group all these clips.’ Then they left and I thought, "What is grouping?" I got the three-inch Avid tutorial book and went through page by page and did it. It clicked. It really is intuitive the more you do it. You learn by doing. That night learning Avid by grouping was tough. Sometimes you just have to get thrown in the deep end.

 

My editing heroes are my peers, because we're so collaborative. If I get stuck on something, it's like, ‘Hey, can you help give me a different perspective?’ Or ‘I love that effect that you use.’ In my day-to-day I am affected by the work that my peers and colleagues are doing. 

 

 

Ask for Help

 

If you want to be an editor, a cinematographer, or a writer, tell people, because mentors are out there, cheerleaders are out there, you cannot do it alone. It took me a long time to realize that. Reach out and ask for help, because none of us know where this industry is going in the next 10, 20, 30 years. We all need to network and lean on each other to see how we can take our skills, make them better, and apply them to whatever comes in the future.

 

I didn't realize how hard it is to switch between genres, whether it's unscripted, scripted, documentary, music videos. They aren't the same networks all the time. Try to always reinvent yourself and stay curious. I try to do a different genre of unscripted every time I switch shows so that I stay fresh and keep learning. If you know what you want to do, go after that from the start.

 

Anyone looking to start a career in entertainment or in media should absolutely learn Avid. It is the gold standard editing platform. I've used it for the entirety of my career. I can't think of a smoother system to get the job done.

 

About the Editor 

 

Jennifer Roth is a Los Angeles–based television and film editor with two decades of experience cutting virtually every genre and format. With over 50 titles to her name, she has shaped high-profile series like Queer Eye, Project Runway, Duck Dynasty, Deal or No Deal Island and Masterchef. In 2024, Roth won a Daytime Emmy for her editing work on The Book of Queer. In 2025, she received a Primetime Emmy nomination as lead editor on the season 9 premiere of Queer Eye, “She Was a Showgirl.” Roth’s career started with music, corporate, and live event videos before moving into longer-form projects. Driven by an insatiable curiosity about the world and a deep love of storytelling, Roth brings emotional intelligence and editorial creativity to her projects including glossy competition series, scripted comedies, cooking shows, and cultural documentaries. She has collaborated with nearly every major network and streamer and thrives on learning with each project and team. When she’s not buried in footage, Roth is goofing around with her husband and two daughters, taking art classes, traveling, and killing her garden one plant at a time.

The Fab 5 (Karamo, Tan, Antoni, Tan, Jeremiah and Jonathan) in Vegas on Queer Eye, Season 9.