Best Editing Companies in Los Angeles (2026)

Introduction

Los Angeles has one of the largest concentrations of commercial and long-form editorial companies anywhere, and most of them sit within a few miles of each other on the Westside. The 12 companies below were chosen for the strength of their editor rosters, recent work, and recognition in 2025 and 2026.

Much of that cluster is in Santa Monica, around Broadway and the streets between 14th and 19th, with a second group in Culver City and West Los Angeles. Several of these houses had a strong 2026. Cartel edited Coinbase's "Your Way Out", which won the Film Craft Grand Prix at Cannes Lions, and Union Editorial's Heineken work also took a Grand Prix at the festival. Work Editorial, whose Los Angeles office opened around 2022, has built a strong Super Bowl record. More of the work is long-form too: Union cut two Netflix docuseries in the past year, and MakeMake edited a WhatsApp documentary on Bukayo Saka.

Every company here has an active office in the Los Angeles area in 2026. Many are bicoastal or international, so the editor you want may sit in New York or London; it is worth asking. The list is in no fixed order of merit.

The best editing companies in Los Angeles

1. MakeMake

Founder-led · Santa Monica and Radio Hill · makemake.com

MakeMake is the studio Angus Wall built from Rock Paper Scissors, the editorial company he started in 1992. Over three decades it added a52 (VFX), Elastic (design), Jax, Primary (colour) and Indestructible (music), and in 2023 all of them were merged into one company under the MakeMake name. Wall remains founder and CEO, with Eve Kornblum as president.

Editing still sits at the centre of the business, alongside design, VFX, colour, music and film and TV marketing. Recent 2026 projects include the NBA Finals intros, main titles for Apple TV+'s "Murderbot" and the WhatsApp documentary "Bukayo Saka: The Time is Now". Editor Carlos Crooks joined in August 2026. The company has two Los Angeles bases, on Broadway in Santa Monica and at Radio Hill near Chinatown, plus a New York office.

2. Arcade Edit

Independent · Los Angeles · arcadeedit.com

Arcade is a bicoastal editorial company with offices in Los Angeles, on West Jefferson Boulevard, and in New York. Alongside editing it offers colour, VFX finishing and an AI practice, so a project can stay in one building from first cut to delivery.

Its client list is broad: Apple, Nike, Samsung, Toyota, Bud Light, Dodge, FanDuel and Netflix, through agencies including Wieden+Kennedy, BBDO, Goodby Silverstein & Partners and 72andSunny. Arcade has a long Super Bowl track record and a music video side that has cut for Jay-Z, Taylor Swift and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Adam Becht is executive producer in Los Angeles.

3. Cosmo Street Editorial

Independent · Culver City · cosmostreet.com

Cosmo Street has been cutting commercials, features and digital content for more than 25 years. Its Culver City office is one of five, with others in New York, Chicago, Kansas City and Miami, and a sister company, The End, handles VFX and finishing.

Recent work on its site includes ESPN, Progressive, T-Mobile and Microsoft. The roster includes Marlo Caine, Tom Scherma, Chancler Haynes, Aaron Langley and Kevin Anderson. Yvette Cobarrubias is managing partner in Los Angeles.

4. Final Cut

Independent · Santa Monica · finalcut-edit.com

Final Cut is a London-founded editorial group with offices in London, New York and Santa Monica. It was named Edit House of the Year at the 2026 shots Awards, where Jeff Buchanan was Editor of the Year and his Gucci film "The Tiger" won Gold for editing. At Cannes Lions 2026, On's "Shape of Dreams" took Silver in the editing category.

The roster leans toward fashion, luxury and tech, with recent work for Chanel, Prada, Apple and Airbnb. Suzy Ramirez and Rebecca Mitchell run the Los Angeles office, and LA-based editors include Antonio Gómez-Pan. Final Cut works closely with partner companies Machine (sound) and Significant Others (creative development and finishing).

5. Cabin Editing Company

Independent, certified minority-owned · Santa Monica · cabinedit.com

Cabin is an editor-led company with offices in Santa Monica, New York and London. It is certified as a Minority Owned Business Enterprise by the National Minority Supplier Development Council, and managing partners Maggie Meade and Carr Schilling run it with an emphasis on mentoring assistants into editors.

The roster runs to more than 30 editors, including Alvaro del Val, Fouad Gaber, Katie Cali, Kat Yi and Tom Hohle. Recent work includes Apple's campaign with Rosé, Reese's through Saatchi & Saatchi, Gap and Maison Margiela, and music videos for artists such as Phoebe Bridgers.

6. Exile

Partner-owned · Mar Vista · exileedit.com

Exile is a boutique editorial company founded in 2014 by executive producer CL Kumpata, who is managing partner. It has offices in Mar Vista and New York, and offers Flame, After Effects and VFX work alongside editing.

Its best-known editor is Kirk Baxter, David Fincher's longtime editor and a two-time Academy Award winner. Eric Zumbrunnen, known for his work with Spike Jonze, and Matt Murphy are also on the roster. Commercial clients include Nike, Samsung, Uber Eats, Snapchat, ESPN and adidas. Feature commitments can affect availability, so ask early.

7. Union Editorial

Partner-led · West Los Angeles · unioneditorial.com

Union is a bicoastal editorial and post company based on West Olympic Boulevard, with a New York office in SoHo. Marco Perez's Heineken work won a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2026, and Uber One's "Brian Cox Goes to College" won Outstanding Commercial at the 2025 Creative Arts Emmys.

It has grown well beyond spots. In the past year Union edited two four-part Netflix docuseries, "Marines" (October 2025) and a series on the Miracle on Ice (January 2026), and it has launched a production arm, Hunter. Advertising clients include Hyundai, BMW, Spotify, Walmart, Amazon and Honda. Michael Raimondi is president and Caryn Maclean is partner and managing director.

8. Cut+Run

Partner-owned · Santa Monica · cutandrun.com

Cut+Run started in London's Soho in 1997 and now has offices in Santa Monica, San Francisco, Austin, New York and London. Several longtime editors became partners in 2019. In 2026 its work won at Cannes Lions, The One Show, D&AD, the AICP Awards and the Clios, including Columbia's "Expedition Impossible" and campaigns for Claude and Andrex.

Recent projects include Xbox, Audi and Arsenal (Stephen Dunne), Roku (Ben Campbell), Toyota and Progressive (Andrea Mendoza) and Windows. Heidi Black joined the roster in 2026. VFX is handled through its partner Jogger Studios.

9. Whitehouse Post

Independent · Culver City · whitehousepost.com

Whitehouse Post is an independent editing and post-production company with offices in London, New York, Chicago and Culver City, and more than 30 years of agency and director relationships. Catherine Tobiasinsky is CEO, and the partner editors include Matthew Wood, Russell Icke and Adam Marshall.

Its site lists work for Samsung, Ford, Coca-Cola, KFC, Toyota and Comcast, plus non-profit work for UNICEF, UN Women and the Ad Council. Affiliated companies Carbon (VFX and design) and Lemonade Stand (production) are close at hand. Editor Angelo Valencia returned to the company in 2026, and Ximena Aguirre is executive producer in Los Angeles.

10. Work Editorial

Independent · Los Angeles · workeditorial.tv

Work was founded in London around 2006 by executive producer Jane Dilworth and editors Bill Smedley, Neil Smith and Rich Orrick. It runs London, New York and Los Angeles as a single company, and the Los Angeles office, led by managing director Marlo Baird, opened about four years ago.

Work edited four of the top ten spots in USA Today's Super Bowl ranking, for Budweiser, Bud Light, Xfinity and Novartis, as LBB Online reported in February 2026. Other recent work includes an adidas World Cup campaign, Caesars Sportsbook and Quest Nutrition. Arielle Zakowski, the office's first assistant editor, is now an award-winning editor there.

11. Cartel

Independent · Santa Monica · cartel.tv

Cartel is an editing and post-production company with offices in Santa Monica, New York and Austin. It edited Coinbase's "Your Way Out", directed by Oscar Hudson through MJZ, which won the Film Craft Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2026. Leo Scott was the editor.

The roster of around 25 editors includes Robert Ryang, Nate Katz and Paul O'Reilly, and clients include Nike, adidas, McDonald's, Ford and UGG. Cartel also runs a music video division and a films arm. Viet-An Nguyen is executive producer in Santa Monica.

12. Nomad Editing Company

Independent · Santa Monica · nomadedit.com

Nomad provides editorial, sound and graphics for commercials, online advertising and features. Its Santa Monica office on 19th Street sits alongside offices in New York, Austin, London and Tokyo, which makes it a practical choice for campaigns that need to be cut or versioned across several markets.

Alongside editing, Nomad offers VFX, design, colour and music video work in house. Susye Melega is managing director in Los Angeles, with Alaina Zanotti as senior executive producer.

What to look for in a Los Angeles editing company

Start with the editor, then the company. Commercial editorial in Los Angeles is built around individual editors, and clients often follow a person from house to house. Look at reels for the specific editor you would work with, and check whether they are based in Los Angeles or would cut remotely from New York or London. Both can work, but it affects supervised sessions and time zones.

Think about what else you need in the building. Some companies here are editorial specialists. Others, such as MakeMake, Union and Arcade, add colour, VFX, design or sound, which can shorten the path to delivery. Specialists are often happy to bring in outside colour and VFX partners, so either route can work if the handoffs are clear.

Ask about long-form experience if the job is a documentary, a series or a film longer than a few minutes. The skills overlap with spots but the workflow does not. Long-form needs a sound plan for transcripts, string-outs and the large volume of footage that comes with it.

Finally, agree how material moves between the shoot, the editor and the client. Rushes, proxies, cuts and notes tend to scatter across drives, download links and email. A company with a clear system for sharing cuts, gathering feedback and recording approvals will save days on a tight schedule.

How Fabric helps editing teams

Fabric gives an editorial team one workspace for footage, cuts, transcripts and client feedback, with AI search across all of it. Editors working across Santa Monica, New York and London, or cutting from home, can work from the same shared folders without shipping drives. There is more on this setup in Fabric for video editors.

Rushes and project files live in Fabric's cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and heavy video files open without a full download. That suits a proxy workflow, and the approach is covered in more detail in how to edit video without filling your SSD.

Finding the right take is often the slowest part of a long-form job. Fabric's audio and video transcription turns interviews and footage in MP4, MOV and other formats into searchable text with clickable timestamps, and search works by meaning across transcripts, documents and images, jumping straight to the moment. The blog post where is that B-roll? shows how teams use this.

For client review, any cut or folder can be published as a web page and protected with a password. Producers can send named tracking links and see who opened them and for how long. Clients and agency creatives can leave threaded comments through a shared link without signing up. Timestamped comments and drawing on video are coming soon.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best editing company in Los Angeles?

It depends on the job and, above all, on the editor. On 2026 recognition, Cartel edited the Cannes Lions Film Craft Grand Prix winner, Union Editorial's Heineken work won a Grand Prix at Cannes, and Final Cut was named Edit House of the Year at the shots Awards.

What happened to Rock Paper Scissors?

Rock Paper Scissors, the editorial company Angus Wall founded in 1992, was combined with its sister companies (including a52, Elastic and Primary) into a single studio called MakeMake in 2023. Its editors now work under the MakeMake name from Santa Monica, Radio Hill and New York.

Where are most Los Angeles editing companies based?

Most are on the Westside. Santa Monica has the largest group, including MakeMake, Final Cut, Cabin, Cut+Run, Cartel and Nomad. Cosmo Street and Whitehouse Post are in Culver City, Union is in West Los Angeles and Exile is in Mar Vista.

Do Los Angeles editing companies also handle colour and finishing?

Many do some of it. Arcade, MakeMake and Union offer colour or VFX finishing in house, and Cosmo Street works with its sister company The End. For a dedicated grade, see our list of the best colour grading companies in Los Angeles.

Do these companies edit long-form work as well as commercials?

Several do. Union Editorial edited two Netflix docuseries in 2025 and 2026, MakeMake cut a WhatsApp documentary on Bukayo Saka, and Exile's editors have long feature film credits. Ask to see long-form reels specifically, since commercial reels show only part of an editor's range.

Related lists

Editing companies in other cities: New York · London · Chicago · Toronto · Sydney

More in Los Angeles: Creative agencies · Post-production · Colour grading · VFX · Sound design · Video production

Run your edit house on Fabric: Fabric for video editors · Best cloud storage for video editors · Collaborating on a video project remotely