Bobbie O’Steen is a New York-based writer who has been immersed in the world of film editing all her life, initially by her father, editor Richard C. Meyer (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).  She then studied film and earned a degree in anthropology at Stanford University and worked as a story editor (with Ray Bradbury and Howard Fast), screenwriter (Clem & Peewee), and film editor (Straight Time). Following an Emmy® nomination in editing for the television movie Best Little Girl in the World, she began to write about the invisible art.

Bobbie’s first book, Cut To The Chase: 45 Years of Editing America’s Favorite Movies, is based on interviews with her late husband and colleague of 23 years, legendary film editor Sam O’Steen. This book is filled with candid stories from the cutting room and behind the scenes on some of the most influential movies in motion picture history, such as The Graduate and Chinatown. In her latest book, The Invisible Cut:  How Editors Make Movie Magic, Bobbie deconstructs the editor’s process through interviews and frame-by-frame analysis of classic scenes from such films as Rear Window and The French Connection .

Bobbie regularly moderates EditFest panels in New York and Los Angeles, the most recent one paying tribute to Dede Allen and Sam O’Steen and their work on Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate. In 2010, she created a series of public events honoring master editors, where they screen footage and have in-depth discussions about their work at The Billy Wilder Theater for UCLA Film and Television Archive and at 92YTribeca. This year she began moderating a new series of evenings devoted to esteemed editors called Short Cuts, sponsored by American Cinema Editors (A.C.E.) and Manhattan Edit Workshop. She has been an Artist in Residence at Manhattan Edit Workshop and taught graduate film students at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Bobbie is a frequent guest on radio and podcasts and is also a regular contributor to CinemaEditor, Editors Guild Magazine and MovieMaker Magazine.

Bobbie believes that film editing is not only an under-appreciated art but is in great need of explanation, and she is dedicated to raising an awareness of the editor’s invaluable role and contribution.