Image source: Merlina McGovern image following an Illustrator tutorial.
We’ve all watched television shows and movies that glamorize our particular profession in ridiculous ways. Remember the characters on “Friends” who never seemed to work but lived in luxurious apartments in New York? Monica was a head chef at a fancy restaurant, a job notorious for its brutally long hours. Yet, she always seemed to be sitting around sipping lattes out of giant mugs at Central Perk with her friends -- not sure where she found all that extra time. One of my favorite YouTube series is called The Breakdown by GQ, where professionals (runners, ballet dancers, archers) comment on the reality of what is being portrayed of their profession in the movies. One of my favorites is Dominique Dawes breaking down the realistic, the unrealistic, and the downright painful of actors pretending to be gymnasts on film.
Being a copy editor may not be nearly as strenuous as professional gymnastics, but it too has gotten the movie glamor makeover. I was in the mood for a comfort watch and started up the 1999 rom-com, Never Been Kissed. I’d seen it before, but I only vaguely remembered what Drew’s character, Josie, did in the movie. Josie, at 26, is the Chicago Sun-Times youngest copy editor. Here was our profession, usually tucked away in dark corners, suddenly thrust into the glamorous leading lady’s spotlight.
Of course, this being the movies, Josie’s copy editor is painted with broad strokes. She’s mousy and bumbling. She wears oversized blazers and gaucho pants (Is it a skirt? Is it a pair of pants? It’s both!). This being a rom-com, we all know that there will be some sort of Cinderella type transformation before the end.
I’m not going to go through the plot of the movie (though in the year 2023, there are some severely problematic themes, like a teacher forming an attachment with a student and then being upset to find out she isn’t an 18-year old with an amazing knowledge of Shakespeare—insert “Ew, David” Schitt’s Creek gif here). What I am going to write about is the three things the movie gets wrong about copy editors.
1. Josie has her own office and her own assistant
This was my first WTF moment of the movie. Yes, the movie was in 1999, but way back in 1998, researchers were already writing about the impact of eliminating copy desks at newspapers (the result? Not good). In 2017, The New York Times discussed fully eliminating its standalone copy desk, merging the job of the copy editor with assigning editors (check out this in-depth article at Poynter about the decision).
Even without the ravaging of newsroom copy desks and during the golden age of copy editors, I can’t imagine any copy editors had their own offices let alone their own assistants. Even as I moved up the editing ranks, I never once had my own office. And an assistant? Hahahahahaha. I know this is a comedy, but, really, that’s hilarious.
2. Josie has no colleagues and sits in on high-level meetings
Although I’m a freelancer now and working on my own, at every publication that I’ve ever worked at, I have had multiple copy editor colleagues. At one time, the New York Times had 100 copy editors -- a number that is staggering to me. But, there Josie is, the youngest copy editor the Chicago Sun-Times has ever had, all on her lonesome. She sits in on high-level strategy meetings with the publisher of the newspaper, again something I could never imagine. Possibly for the manager of the entire copyediting department, maybe, but for a single copy editor? Nope.
3. Josie constantly corrects everyone else’s grammar
Now, there may be copy editors out there that do that. And there may be random pedants that do that as well. But no one I know would be so rude, and it’s certainly something I’d never do. Our jobs are already delicate balancing acts of cleaning up an author’s prose while not changing the author’s voice.
I admit, there is a difference between newspaper copy editors who must make edits quickly and authoritatively on timely, breaking news content. There isn’t time for a back and forth. I’ve got much more experience with book and white paper copyediting. Here, you are providing suggestions to the author. And the author, at any time, can stet your edits. With this mentality, I’ve learned to be diplomatic in my interactions. Even at my most diplomatic, some authors can take edits very personally. Every copy editor has the battle scars of a scathing author response for even the most innocuous edit (a subject for another post!). Being the conflict-avoidant person that I am, I would never correct someone’s grammar while they’re speaking. My editing is reserved for writing only.
One of the only things that I could relate to was Josie’s need for order. My desk is fairly organized, and I will certainly fix things that are misaligned; it’s just part of my nature. And I’m an introvert who prefers working with words to being the life of the party. I may not collect embroidered pillows like Josie, but my tastes are fairly nerdy (video games, fantasy novels). And I’ve known copy editors that love to knit. I’ve also known others that are published authors, musicians, and actresses. We are all a pretty diverse bunch. But, the one thing we all had in common with each other and with Josie, is a love of the written word. I love language, and I love books. You have to have a love for the sensuous twists and turns of language to spend hours and hours looking at words and making them sing.
What movies have you seen that have gotten your job horribly wrong? I’d love to see them in the comments.
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