Assistant editor Assistant editors are responsible for maintaining a smooth flow of material from the production and post - production teams to the editor . Perhaps their most important duty is organising recorded material as it comes in so it can be accessed easily by the editor . In the course of their duties , they act as the editor ' s key liaison to other departments . They generally do not directly assist in the actual assembly of the rough or final cuts of episodes . They are usually required from the first day of principal photography to the last day of post - production . Editors , by contrast , begin their work only after sufficient material has been filmed and organised , and may not fully begin work until after principal photography has wrapped . On most projects , they are usually brought onto a project by the editor , rather than hired directly by the producer or director . However , BBC Wales seems to have a regular editorial staff who rotate duties on various episodes . It seems likely that various editing / assistant - editing teams are assigned to particular production block s by the production manager . Due to the overwhelming workload on even a single production block , various editing teams are used throughout the course of a season . Career advancement can be detected in BBC credit rolls . Ceres Doyle , for instance , began as an assistant editor on " Rose " , but by " Utopia " had become a full editor . This position has only been credited on - screen since the advent of the 2005 series of " Doctor Who " There may have been people who performed a similar function in the later years of the 1963 version of " Doctor Who " — indeed Tom Baker ' s wife , Sue Jerrard , was apparently an assistant editor on the original version of the programme — but the only editing credit given then was for film editor s . In other media . There are also " assistant editors " in audio and print . Big Finish Productions regularly credit assistant editors , who perform functions very similar to their television counterparts . They principally organise the various audio takes and cues so the editor can assemble them efficiently . Assistant magazine editors similarly control the flow of articles and comic strips into the editor - in - chief ' s hands , who then decides how to compose the issue . However , assistant editors of magazines may also be responsible for verifying that articles have been written according to the magazine ' s manual of style , that the facts contained in articles are correct , or for excising material which runs overlong . As opposed to their television and audio counterparts , they may in fact engage in the actual work of editing , as the editor - in - chief wears several managerial " hats " not worn by his or her television counterparts . Assistant editors for a publishing house such as BBC Books are the most distantly related to television assistant editors . They are typically engaged in giving a first read to a manuscript to help their editors understand whether it is worth their time to read the manuscript themselves , if the manuscript has not been commissioned . They may also provide primary editorial consultation to an author if the main editor is engaged in other , higher - priority work . Though similar to a television assistant editor as a conduit of information from the editor to other departments in the publishing house and to the actors who provide the content , they are much more engaged in the process of actually shaping the final product than a television assistant editor .