# Skip Macdonald

Skip Macdonald is an American film and television editor known for his work on Breaking Bad (2008–2013), its spin-off series Better Call Saul (2015–2022), and the 2019 sequel film El Camino. He also edited several episodes for Fargo. Macdonald has earned a total of ten Emmy Award nominations. In 2014, he won an Emmy for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for the series finale of Breaking Bad.

## Career

Skip Macdonald began his career as an assistant sound editor in the 1980s. During this time, he worked on Heaven's Gate (1980), Things Are Tough All Over, and the Carl Reiner-directed Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) and The Man with Two Brains (1983). After completing Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers in 1984, Macdonald made his second collaboration with filmmaker Michael Cimino, after Heaven's Gate, with Year of the Dragon in 1985.
Macdonald's first project serving as an assistant film editor was in 1988's television film Little Girl Lost. In the following years, he assisted with the editing of Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991), the Perry Mason film The Case of the Killer Kiss (1993), White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf and Nell (1994), Kansas and In Pursuit of Honor (1995), and Primal Fear (1996). In 1997, Macdonald had his "big break" after becoming an editor for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
In 2008, Macdonald began editing the Vince Gilligan-created series Breaking Bad, a show that received universal acclaim and earned Macdonald (following three other nominations) the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series in 2014 for his work on the series finale. That same year, he worked on the drama series Fargo and earned three nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited Series or Movie. Macdonald made his second collaboration with Gilligan on the Breaking Bad spin-off series Better Call Saul, which earned him two more Emmy Award nominations. In 2019, he made his third collaboration with Gilligan on the Netflix film El Camino, a sequel to Breaking Bad centered on the character of Jesse Pinkman. The film, which also received universal acclaim from critics, earned Macdonald his tenth and most recent Primetime Emmy Award nomination.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Director | Credited as |
| 1980 | Heaven's Gate | Michael Cimino | Assistant sound editor |
| 1982 | Things Are Tough All Over | Thomas K. Avildsen | Assistant sound editor |
| 1982 | Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid | Carl Reiner | Assistant sound editor |
| 1983 | The Man with Two Brains | Carl Reiner | Assistant sound editor |
| 1984 | Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers | Tommy Chong | Assistant sound editor |
| 1985 | Year of the Dragon | Michael Cimino | Assistant sound editor |
| 1991 | Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man | Simon Wincer | Assistant film editor |
| 1994 | White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf | Ken Olin | Assistant editor |
| 1994 | Nell | Michael Apted | Lightworks assistant editor |
| 1996 | Primal Fear | Gregory Hoblit | Assistant film editor |
| 1996 | A Very Brady Sequel | Arlene Sanford | Assistant film editor |
| 2006 | Drake & Josh Go Hollywood | Steve Hoefer | Assistant editor |
| 2007 | Super Sweet 16: The Movie | Neema Barnette | Editor |
| 2011 | Low Fidelity | Devon Gummersall | Editor |
| 2013 | Over/Under | Bronwen Hughes | Editor |
| 2019 | El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie | Vince Gilligan | Editor |

### Television

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1988 | Little Girl Lost | Assistant film editor; television film |
| 1988 | Police Story: Cop Killer | Assistant film editor; television film |
| 1993 | Perry Mason: The Case of the Killer Kiss | Assistant editor; television film |
| 1995 | Kansas | Associate editor; television film |
| 1995 | In Pursuit of Honor | Co-editor; television film |
| 1997–1999 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Also assistant editor |
| 2000 | 2gether: The Series | |
| 2001 | The Chronicle | 1 episode |
| 2001–2002 | Special Unit 2 | 2 episodes |
| 2003 | Hunter: Back in Force | Television film |
| 2005–2007 | Las Vegas | Also assistant editor |
| 2006 | Weeds | Episode: "Crush Girl Love Panic" |
| 2007 | Big Shots | 2 episodes |
| 2008–2013 | Breaking Bad | Episodes Season 1: "Crazy Handful of Nothin'" Season 2: "Grilled", "Bit by a Dead Bee", "Better Call Saul", "Mandala" Season 3: "No Más", "I.F.T.", "Más", "One Minute", "Kafkaesque", "Abiquiu", "Full Measure" Season 4: "Box Cutter", "Open House", "Shotgun", "Problem Dog", "Bug", "Crawl Space", "Face Off" Season 5: "Live Free or Die", "Hazard Pay", "Dead Freight", "Say My Name", "Buried", "Rabid Dog", "Ozymandias", "Felina" |
| 2011 | Glory Daze | 1 episode |
| 2011 | Hell on Wheels | Episode: "Hell on Wheels" |
| 2013 | Low Winter Sun | 4 episodes |
| 2014–2015 | Fargo | Episodes Season 1: "The Crocodile's Dilemma", "Eating the Blame", "Who Shaves the Barber?", "Morton's Fork" Season 2: "Waiting for Dutch", "Fear and Trembling", "Did You Do This? No, You Did It!", "Palindrome" |
| 2015–2022 | Better Call Saul | Episodes Season 1: "Uno", "Nacho", "Alpine Shepherd Boy", "Bingo", "Pimento" Season 2: "Fifi", "Klick" Season 3: "Mabel", "Witness", "Sunk Costs", "Chicanery", "Expenses", "Fall" Season 4: "Smoke", "Something Beautiful", "Quite a Ride", "Something Stupid", "Wiedersehen" Season 5: "50% Off", "Namaste", "Wexler v. Goodman", "Bagman", "Something Unforgivable" Season 6: "Carrot and Stick", "Black and Blue", "Plan and Execution", "Fun and Games", "Breaking Bad", "Saul Gone" |
| 2016 | American Gothic | 1 episode |
| 2017 | A Series of Unfortunate Events | 4 episodes |
| 2018 | Here and Now | 3 episodes |
| 2019 | Chambers | 3 episodes |
| 2021 | Foundation | 2 episodes |

## Accolades

Awards and nominations received by Skip Macdonald :
| Award | Year | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
| Eddie Awards | 2012 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Face Off" (Breaking Bad) | Won | [15] [16] |
| Eddie Awards | 2013 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Dead Freight" (Breaking Bad) | Won | [17] [18] |
| Eddie Awards | 2014 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Felina" (Breaking Bad) | Won | [19] [20] |
| Eddie Awards | 2014 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Buried" (Breaking Bad) | Nominated | [19] [20] |
| Eddie Awards | 2014 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Ozymandias" (Breaking Bad) | Nominated | [19] [20] |
| Eddie Awards | 2016 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Uno" (Better Call Saul) | Nominated | |
| Eddie Awards | 2016 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Did You Do This? No, You Did It!" (Fargo) | Nominated | |
| Eddie Awards | 2017 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Fifi" (Better Call Saul) | Nominated | |
| Eddie Awards | 2017 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Klick" (Better Call Saul) | Nominated | |
| Eddie Awards | 2018 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Chicanery" (Better Call Saul) | Nominated | |
| Eddie Awards | 2018 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Witness" (Better Call Saul) | Nominated | |
| Eddie Awards | 2019 | Best Edited Drama Series for Commercial Television | "Something Stupid" (Better Call Saul) | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2010 | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series | "No Más" (Breaking Bad) | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2012 | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series | "Face Off" (Breaking Bad) | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2013 | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series | "Dead Freight" (Breaking Bad) | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2014 | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series | "Felina" (Breaking Bad) | Won | [10] [28] |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2014 | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited Series or Movie | "The Crocodile's Dilemma (Fargo) | Nominated | [10] [28] |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2016 | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited Series or Movie | "Did You Do This? No, You Did It!" (Fargo) | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2016 | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited Series or Movie | "Waiting for Dutch" (Fargo) | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2017 | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series | "Chicanery" (Better Call Saul) | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2017 | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series | "Witness" (Better Call Saul) | Nominated | |
| Primetime Emmy Awards | 2020 | Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited Series or Movie | El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie | Nominated | |
| Peabody Awards | 2022 | Enterntainment | Better Call Saul | Won | |