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from www.forbes.com – Sonny Malone is an award-winning adult movie editor and one of the only female editors on the male-dominated production side of the adult business.

This 20-year veteran’s nickname? Smutcutter.

Her clients include Joanna Angel, the founder and head of “alt-porn” production company Burning Angel, and her editing credits include “The New Devil in Miss Jones” and “Porn Star Pool Party.” Last year, she was inducted into the Adult Video News Hall of Fame.

Here, Malone reveals how she got her start in the porn business, why editing porn movies is harder than editing mainstream movies, and the weirdest thing she ever edited out of an adult video.

Q: What’s your name?

Sonny Malone.

Q: How old are you?

48.

Q: What’s your job?

Film/Video Editor.

Q: How did you end up working in the adult business?

I went to school for post-production. Then I did what most young, ambitious girls do out of school: I listened to my mother. She wanted me to have something stable to fall back on, so I ended up in accounting at some local stages.

Since I was still in the entertainment industry somehow, she was thrilled. My mom was sort of a stage mother — always wanted to me to be famous while she tap danced in the background to get some screen time.

I knocked around there and in the stand up comedy field for a while, until I had become the vice president of finance at a new post-production house. It sounds fancy, but it was only three of us. We all pitched in when it was necessary, and our main client was an adult film company.

When the post house went under and the adult company asked who our editor was, well, it was me. They hired me. The rest is history.

Q: What does a typical work day for you look like?

My dog wakes me up at 7 am. She is a very demanding Chorkie, so she gets my day started. She even has her own You Tube channel: missroxierules. After I walk her and check the email, I get my day in order.

Every day is different. Some mornings I work out before my day gets started. Some days I’m off delivering a hard drive to a client or a company.

I typically work about 60 to 70 hours a week. I have no set schedule because I don’t go to an office. I go from the bedroom to the home office across the hall.

Q: Does it pay well?

I have the roof over my head, bills paid, and food in the refrigerator.

When I get that just-right client, the money is steady, and that often matters more to me than an excessive amount.

Q: Do you ever get tired of watching people have sex?

Yes. I can’t lie there.

My home office is decorated with a lot of “Steamboat Willie” and Disney things. I sometimes need the distraction away from the sex.

You would think after being in this industry this long — over twenty years — I’d be immune. Then again, if I were immune, I would be bored and not do a good job.

There is a reason I have AVN Awards, and they are always in my eye line to remind me to do my best. But, they are also next to my “High School Musical” iPod locker. Go figure.

Q: What’s the secret to editing a porn movie?

The secret? I don’t know if there is one. It’s like editing anything. Is it lit well? Do I have all the footage? How can I edit this to please the client and make a well-crafted movie? Maybe that is the secret.

I don’t treat it as anything different than if I was editing a music video, or documentary, or anything else. I give the porn the same respect I give anything I edit.

Q: Do you hide your porn credits when you interview for non-porn jobs?

Yes. Often. I have two separate resumes, two separate business cards. I usually gauge the person I’m talking to and see if I can talk about the porn side of me or not. Recently I’ve had an attitude shift, and I usually jump into the porn right away. I’ve been in the business too long, and I’m too old to hide anymore. Ultimately, I am proud of the work I’ve done.

If anything, editing porn is a lot harder then mainstream. In porn it’s pretty much me, and this computer, and the director. In mainstream, there are assistants, and hangers-on, and ten people with twenty opinions.

Q: Are there many women who edit porn?

I know of one, maybe two, but one is also a director and works in mainstream, and one is a former performer. As far as another woman that only edits, I don’t know of any. I am sure there are others!

Q: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to be a porn editor?

Don’t think this is an easy job or fast money. This is work. Often long hours and hard work.

Some people think that it’s all free sex and and it’s easy. I can assure you, you will learn more about filmmaking and the post process then you will ever learn on any major motion picture.

So, if you want to learn the ropes, porn is the place to cut your teeth. You will learn how to be a problem solver when you are staring at a stuttering hard drive at 3 am, and the feature is due in five hours, and you are on your own with your laptop and three cups of cold coffee. You will get the job done.

Q: What’s the most unusual thing you’ve edited out of a porno?

When I was working for one company, there was one feature that had a mother and stepdaughter in a scene with one man. The actress looked directly at the camera and made sure to identify this other girl as her step-daughter. Didn’t matter — still had to take it out. Flash forward ten years, and many companies use the stepdaughter scenario all the time.

How times have changed.