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Meet the Collective: Nick Sweetser
This week’s Meet the Collective is all about Nick, a documentary pro who can cut in any style. We met by chance in Jersey City, hit it off instantly, and have been working (and laughing) together ever since. Now it’s his turn to tell the story.
James Barker
August 14, 2025
Almost three years ago to the day, I met Nick and his wife, Lex. It was my first year volunteering for the Hudson Pride Parade, and we were at the training night before the event.
Sitting there in my white-and-purple pinstripe jeans and a Mac Miller t-shirt, Lex and Nick came over to say hi. Lex admitted later it was the wacky outfit combo that convinced them to wander over. We laughed when we realized Nick and I were both freelance editors, while Lex and my wife Monica both worked remotely in marketing. Since then, the four of us have been tight friends, holding down the fort in Jersey City.
Fun fact: In terms of distance, Nick is the closest Collective member to our main office (my apartment).
Nick’s focus has always been documentary, but like any great editor, he can adapt to any style. He’s worked with us on Salty.TV’s vertical series Royally Screwed and the upcoming comedy web series Slick. Most recently, we teamed up on Arrested at Delaney Hall (you can read more about that project here.)
I’ll keep this short and sweet (pun intended) and let Nick take it from here.
Q: What’s a recent project you’ve worked on that felt exciting or creatively fulfilling?
A: I'd have to say my most recent documentary project, Arrested At Delaney Hall, touches on both the excitement and creative fulfillment I get from collaborating on a story. Directed by Lou Cacchione, this short documentary captures the standoff and false arrest of Newark's Mayor Ras Baraka by ICE officials at Delaney Hall, the first immigration detention facility opened by the Administration.
Inspired by the verité documentaries of Jon Alpert (No Contract, No Cookies: The Stella D'Oro Strike), Lou came to us with a strong sense of the story's structure and themes, allowing the event to speak for itself. He knew that he had captured something significant, that being, the first instance of a State official's illegal arrest by ICE.
Given the breaking news nature of the story, I only had a turn around of 5 days(!) to go from first viewing the footage to a locked story. I think one of the most creatively fulfilling things about this project, besides just getting over the finish line in that amount of time, was seeing the initial sense I got of HOW the footage wanted to tell the story, and having that idea carry all the way through to the final edit.
Sometimes as editors, we have to push, pull, and craft the puzzle pieces to fit the story. Other times like this, you turnover the puzzle box and all the key pieces stand out from the start, ready to be put together and start telling their story.
Q: Do you have a go-to creative tool, software, or workflow hack you swear by?
A: My workflow hack that I swear by is one from the old school film days, working with Dailies Stringouts, particularly, using them as my Source Clips in my timeline opposed to the original media. These are the first timelines I make on any project and they give you a much better overview of all the footage available.
When I do my first watch through of the material, I toss all my ideas for clips / sequences / themes / etc. in markers. When it comes time to edit, I can then quickly navigate the footage and conveniently reference all my notes in any timeline I work with.
Q: What’s a piece of media (film, show, music, book) that’s inspired you lately?
A: Something that has inspired me recently was the one-man comedy show inside a 2,000 slide PowerPoint titled Josh Sharp's ta-da! directed by Sam Pinkleton. I've always been drawn to stories that expand beyond a binary viewpoint, that seek to paint paralleling layers that together reveal deeper meaning, and I think this show expertly does that with so much heart and humor.
Q: How did you get into this line of work? What drew you to post-production (or your specialty)?
A: I feel like I took a weird path getting into this line of work. In college, I transferred degrees from Comp Sci to Film & TV Production. Unable to actually take any advanced Production classes, I talked my way into the Masters' Film Editing course during my last semester.
Through that course I met my first mentor, Director Jan Egleson. He gave me my first work out of college, restoring his Boston Trilogy of indie features, notable for being the first on-screen performances by Ben and Casey Affleck. Working on these projects, we had countless life and story conversations that have informed every Director-Editor relationship I've had since. That's has always been my favorite part of the work, the Conversation.
Q: When you’re not working, where can we find you?
A: Snuggling my angel and demon fur babies, Bitsy and Twitch. You can decide who’s the angel and who’s the demon :)
Q: What’s a fun fact about you?
A: I swam to the bottom of a deep cave in Croatia, touched a rock lit by the sun through a small hole in the roof, and have now achieved true happiness (according to "legend").
Q: Is there a link you want us to plug? Portfolio, Instagram, etc.?
Nick Sweetser (he/him) | Video Editor |📍New Jersey
🎬 Edits Etc. is a post-production collective built by artists, for artists. We bring stories to life with a full-service approach to editing, sound, color, and motion—always rooted in collaboration, integrity, and craft.
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