Eve Ashwell: Cutting out the noise

When editor Eve Ashwell first started out in Soho post houses in the late 90s, commercial editing still felt like a boys’ club. The hours were brutal, female role models were scarce, and the line between work and socialising could feel uncomfortably blurred in a way that it wasn’t for male editors.  

Nearly three decades later, after building a career cutting work for brands and artists from Amazon and Disney to Florence and the Machine, the tenthree partner is hopeful the next generation of female editors will face a different industry to the one she experienced. “It is still a predominantly male part of the industry,” she says, “but I do think that’s changing.” 

As I delved deeper into the role and gained more experience, I was learning so much and realised: this is interesting, I’ve really found something here.

Ashwell’s own journey began in 1998, inside a tiny London editing house. “I started running very young, while I was still doing my A-levels. I was just doing it because it was fun, it was summertime, and it all felt very exciting.” She didn’t have her sights set on becoming an editor, but she quickly fell for the buzz of London, the interesting characters moving through its post houses, and, more importantly, the realisation that none of it felt like work.  

Above: Eve Ashwell, photographer: Charlie Crane. 

Under the mentorship of acclaimed editor Adam Spivey, she learned to assist and fell in love with the unique blend of storytelling, problem-solving and people skills the role demanded. “Spivey was very generous with his time teaching me,” she says. “As I delved deeper into the role and gained more experience, I was learning so much and realised: this is interesting, I’ve really found something here.” 

Her career continued at Cut+Run, where she spent a decade honing her skill and crafting striking edits for global clients, before joining the assembly rooms as owner and editor in 2015. Now recognised as one of the leading editors in the industry, Ashwell has demonstrated her vision and versatility across comedic and emotionally resonant work for brands including Sainsbury’s, the BBC, Renault and Monoprix, as well as scooping awards at Cannes Lions, D&AD, The British Arrows and London Independent Film Awards. Almost 30 years into her career, she resides at London-based post production studio tenthree, where she joined in 2024 as a partner and editor.  

You have to be very confident existing in a space where things aren’t working, because editing is a process. It’s a stripping back. It’s finding those moments of magic that are going to work together.

A major turning point in Ashwell’s career came during her time at Cut+Run, when her boss moved to the US to launch Cut+Run’s American office, and legendary British commercials and music video director Daniel Kleinman asked her to step up to replace him as his editor. “For some crazy reason, still unknown to me, Daniel was like, ‘Cool, well, I guess you’re my editor now!’” she laughs. “I was so young, and he was unbelievably brilliant. I was so fortunate that he put his trust in me.” 

In 2010, the pair worked together on a new John Smith’s campaign, following the brand’s hugely successful ads starring Peter Kay. “At the time, I don’t think I even realised how big a deal it was. It felt like stepping into a whole new world of bigger work.” 

Above: In 2010, Ashwell worked with Daniel Kleinman on a new series of John Smith ads starring Peter Kay. 

A more recent highlight was editing Waitrose’ The Gastronaut, directed by Tom Speers through SMUGGLER. She got involved at the storyboard stage and worked closely on the animatic to shape the film before production even began. “We knew it wasn’t going to fit into a 90, let alone a 60,” she says. “So, we worked together to make the best storyboard for what he was going to shoot.” The project stood out not just creatively, but because of the atmosphere surrounding it. “Everyone on that job, the creatives, the producer, Tom, his producer, we all just had a lovely collaborative, trusting and respectful relationship,” she says.  

A huge amount of the time as an editor is spent thinking ‘it doesn’t work yet.’ And you must know that that’s not a disaster. That is the job.

Another standout has been the Burberry Postcards from London campaign directed by John Madden. Across four films, Ashwell says the process felt unusually effortless, as the entire team shared the same instincts from the start. “They were easy to put together because everybody was so aligned.”  

Above: The Gastronaut for Waitrose was a standout project for Ashwell, because of the respectful, trusting relationship between the creatives. 

For Ashwell, the key is building a relationship with the material long before anyone steps into the edit suite. By the time sessions begin, she wants the film to already exist in her head like a photocopied visual memory, and she’s become fiercely protective of that early stage. “Directors are always chomping at the bit to come in, because the agency is as well,” she says. “But the director obviously wants their time before [the agency].” Experience has taught her the value of guarding that initial creative space before too many outside voices enter the room.  

The environment was incredibly toxic - sexual harassment, brutal hours, bullying, a “just get on with it” culture that assistants today would find unrecognisable.

Over the years, she’s learned the most important skill is not technical, but trusting the process. “You have to be very confident existing in a space where things aren’t working, because editing is a process. It’s a stripping back. It’s finding those moments of magic that are going to work together.” That, she says, will never happen the first time you put a shot on a timeline - it’s a minute-by-minute process of finding the best way to tell the story that can only happen through trial and error. “A huge amount of the time as an editor is spent thinking ‘it doesn’t work yet.’ And you must know that that’s not a disaster. That is the job.”  

And although that job, as with any creative role, comes with its difficulties and moments of self-doubt, it’s made a little easier by the amazing people she’s worked with. In particular, editor Dan Sherwen, who she worked alongside at both tenthree and Cartel. “His work always feels alive and exciting in a way that’s hard to articulate. He has exceptional taste, and a fantastic ear for sound and music, which are such a huge part of an edit,” she adds. “I think he’s quite simply the best editor working. I love talking to him and he’s been hugely supportive of me, which is lovely. I feel very lucky to work with him.” 

Above: Burberry Postcards from London campaign felt unusually effortless, as the entire team shared the same instincts from the start.

She explains how the path into editing was extremely difficult for a female editor when she was starting out in the late 90s. While she believes things are improving, particularly with more female assistants now coming through the ranks, she says progress has been slow. “The environment was incredibly toxic - sexual harassment, brutal hours, bullying, a “just get on with it” culture that assistants today would find unrecognisable. A lot of women I knew just didn’t want to put up with that and eventually left the industry.” 

Part of the challenge, in her own personal experience, is that so many professional relationships in editing are built outside the suite itself. Directors and editors often continue conversations over drinks or dinner after long working days, and invitations to do something outside the edit room can be “confusing and complicated in a way that just isn’t the case for a male editor,” she explains. “I ‘lost’ quite a few relationships early on in my career with directors, because they got the wrong message, or became “disappointed” when they realised I wasn’t interested in anything extra-curricular. It’s a persistent disadvantage that compounds over a career, in an industry where directors are still mostly male.” 

Keep pushing on the director side - the more female directors there are, the more naturally a generation of female editors comes up alongside them.

There were also very few female editors for her to look up to at the time. “I could probably count them on one hand,” she says. Despite this, Ashwell credits much of her own progression to sheer determination. “I’m very stubborn,” she laughs. “Once I decide I want something, it’s quite hard to knock me off course.” Even so, she hopes the next generation will have a smoother experience than hers. “The normalisation of harassment, inequality and innuendo at work has evolved – though I do think these still exist in some form. But there is an awareness of the issues at least now, which there wasn’t when I was training. I do think things are changing,” she says. “It’s just happening very slowly.”