The Rough Cut

Latest Episodes:

The Great May 18, 2020

Show notes

Of all the different types of projects to cut, comedy is notoriously the most challenging. A few frames in either direction can be the difference between a joke falling flat or the audience falling out of their seats. Editor Anthony Boys ACE has spent most of his career sharpening his skills on everything from slapstick to satire, and he gets to put them to good use on Hulu's new series The Great; a witty and wicked retelling of Catherine the Great's rise to power during the golden era of Russia. Anthony has lots to share in this episode, such as... how you can learn a lot about pacing a comedy through watching stand-up specials, how to carefully craft a pilot episode to pull the audience in, and then how to tie it all up again in a satisfying finale. Plus, lots of advice for those just starting on their editorial journey, including how best to make use of this global "down time".

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Westworld May 11, 2020

Show notes

Andrew Seklir ACE is literally and figuratively one of the biggest editors in sci-fi tv storytelling. Since his days playing college basketball for legendary NBA head coach Gregg Popovich, Andy has been the man behind the mouse on such sci-fi stalwarts as Ron Moore's "re-imagined" Battlestar Galactica series as well as Warehouse 13 and Eureka. For the past four years Andrew has not only helped bring HBO's Westworld to life; but has also garnered ACE Eddie and Emmy nominations for his efforts. Andy talks to us about; the rigors of managing complex story lines for characters that can have multiple iterations of themselves, how season pilots and finales differ from regular episodes, the benefits of co-editing and finally, what editing has taught him about directing and vice versa.

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Little Fires Everywhere May 04, 2020

Show notes

On this week's episode of The Rough Cut, editors Tyler Cook, Amelia Allwarden and Phyllis Housen bring the heat to Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere. The team talks about; not letting the characters get too "hot" too soon, their approach to cutting a show adapted from a novel, laying the groundwork for the show's aesthetic and style and lots more!

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The Masked Singer Apr 27, 2020

Show notes

Unscripted TV veteran Ed Servaites is our special guest on this week's Rough Cut podcast. As lead editor and Creative Director at Burnish Creative, Ed has helped bring shows like The Masked Singer, America's Got Talent and Dancing with the Stars to massive audiences every week. Ed talks about the tools and techniques he uses to keep his editing team in sync and on time, and why he hasn't used a master clip in years. We talk about "super teases, string-outs, day stacks" and all the things that go into posting the biggest shows in reality television. All that and how to get a job via Instagram! Plus, editor Steve Audette, ACE calls in to give us the "post" mortem on his remote editing workflow for the latest Frontline feature.

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Watch Frontline's Covid-19 episode here.

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The Voice Apr 20, 2020

Show notes

For eighteen seasons and ten years, supervising editors John Larson and Robert Malachowski Jr, ACE have helped make NBC's The Voice a hit show that continues to entertain and inspire TV audiences. On this week's Rough Cut podcast, they talk to us about marshaling the editorial army it takes to deliver such a big show under tight deadlines. John and Robert discuss the mechanics of how the show works as well as how they organize massive amounts of footage and quickly build it into stories that can move an audience.

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The Psychology of Sound Design Apr 13, 2020

Show notes

Originally featured as part of the 2020 SxSW Film Festival conference line-up, we pulled together an all-star line up of audio post pros to lead us in a discussion on the psychology of sound design. Sound editor? Sound designer? Re-recording mixer? What are those jobs and why is it frequently the same person doing all three? How do you use tools like EQ and Reverb to not just match dialogue and give a scene a "sense of space", but to make the audience feel a certain way about the scene and the characters within. Our panel features:

Ai-Ling Lee - Jojo Rabbit, First Man, La La Land, Deadpool

Will Files - Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Star Wars - The Force Awakens, War for the Planet of the Apes, Stranger Things

Craig Henighan - Roma, Tropic Thunder, Deadpool, Stranger Things

Whether you're interested in a career in audio post, or how to sharpen your audio skills as a picture editor, our guests offer tons of great insight and information.

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Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness Apr 06, 2020

Show notes

Editor, Doug Abel ACE is no stranger to the documentary scene, having previously helmed the Avid for filmmakers Michael Moore and Errol Morris. But it's probably safe to say that he's never been part of a project like the one that's taken over social media and consumed a healthy chunk of the world's internet bandwidth. Years in the making, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness began its journey as a sizzle reel pitched to CNN as a special on animal trafficking. It then evolved into the concept of being a movie expressly designed for one notable cable giant. And from there it became what it is today, a seven-episode thrill ride that's taken over streaming media.

"I've never worked on a series where the episodes just kept adding on. It's like we were flying the airplane and building it at the same time. So that's kind of the genesis of how it happened. It was just serendipitous and bizarre and really crazy. And on a daily basis…I'd get into the office 20 minutes late and everybody would be sitting around a table and I'd go, 'Oh God, what happened?' And they'd say, 'Well, Joe just revealed dah, dah, dah'. So there was a lot of just being nimble on the project and just being very organized".

Doug Abel, ACE

And the story that took place in the making of the series is every bit (okay, almost) as entertaining as the one that played out on the screen!

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Knives Out Mar 30, 2020

Show notes

In 2019 Writer / Director Rian Johnson's Knives Out surprised and delighted audiences with his modern take on the "whodunnit" mystery movie. To help deliver this wickedly stylish story, Rian turned once again to editor, Bob Ducsay. Having worked together on The Last Jedi and Looper, Bob and Rian's familiarity and shared sensibilities not only combined to make a great film, but also an enjoyable one to make.

"Making a movie is really hard and you work a lot of hours. And one of the things about getting to know somebody really well and providing what they need is that it makes everything all that much more fun. And we have a blast working together".

Keeping the audience engaged and informed, while at the same time creating the misdirection that's necessary in a mystery, was what made Bob's work on Knives Out truly admirable; most notably in the film's opening interrogation scenes.

"I would say that's probably the most difficult sequence in the movie, because it's so essential. And at the same time, you plop the audience in the same room for a really long time. And so pace becomes a very important part of putting that sequence together".

In this edition of The Rough Cut, Bob shares lots of anecdotes that working editors will enjoy and relate to, as well as great advice for film school students or anybody else that's trying to pursue a career in film-making.

"If you read a screenplay and the screenplay's great, you're probably going to have a pretty darn good movie. And if you read the screenplay and it's tons of trouble, every single place that there's trouble...when the movie is put together, it will be there. Almost all trouble leads back to the screenplay".

The Links

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Podcast with Bob Ducsay for The Last Jedi is HERE.

Find the transcript of this podcast HERE.

Podcast with Frontline editor Steve Audette is HERE.

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Send me your feedback at matt@theroughcutpod.com or even better, call and leave me a message at (781) 334-8369

Frontline : Covid-19 Mar 23, 2020

Show notes

In this moment of global crisis, Steve Audette ACE and the team at PBS Television's Frontline are in "all hands on deck" mode to tackle the unfolding tale of the coronavirus pandemic; using remote post-production workflows never tried before to turn around a film, at the level of quality Frontline demands, in just one month.

After cutting over 175 episodes (and counting) of Frontline, Steve has learned a thing or two about crafting compelling documentary films that illuminate audiences and leave them asking questions about not only what they just witnessed, but about the world around them as well. This time, as the featured guest on the Rough Cut podcast, Steve gives you the answers.

Mr. Audette begins by bringing us back to the mid-nineties to talk about joining Frontline and leading the charge into digital non-linear editing from tape and how he was received by the veteran editorial staff.

"I felt like they knew more than me in so many ways in terms of how to create and craft a story. I was, at that time, providing technical assistance rather than artistic assistance. So there was a real flow back and forth in terms of information and experience that really helped me later as an editor. It allowed me to look at a lot of people's timelines, and I got a sense of how these very experienced, very talented storytellers were building and structuring the story. And when I saw things that made sense to me, I adopted them instantly, and still do that to this day."

From there Steve details both the story development process and the incredible amounts of material and investigation involved in producing a Frontline film; and ultimately, the editorial skills that are required to make this all happen in a constantly evolving narrative under a very tight schedule.

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Better Call Saul Mar 16, 2020

Show notes

Better Call Saul editor, Chris McCaleb ACE has quite a track record with "fan favorite" hour-long dramas; starting with his role as an assistant editor on AMC's groundbreaking series, Breaking Bad. Since his time on Breaking Bad, Chris has gone on to lead editorial duties on such shows as Halt and Catch Fire, Narcos, Fear The Walking Dead, Lodge 49 and, now in its fifth season, Better Call Saul.

Chris talks to us about how even the best laid plans in storytelling can all be for naught. "I think every editor has had that experience where you have a great script and you have great footage and, for whatever reason, it just didn't work out the way that everybody had planned or everybody had hoped. Maybe in production they ran out of time or they had to cut half a day because of some scheduling reasons. And so I think you're always reinventing in the editing room. You're always trying to find a better way".

Like every editor, Chris has learned some valuable lessons along the way and shares one of his favorites here on the podcast. "The advice I always give people, which was advice given to me by Kelley Dixon, is that you've got to watch all your dailies. Part of my process is to just watch everything. Sometimes the best stuff won't show up on a script in the Avid. It'll show up on your monitor as a look that somebody gives or the look that somebody didn't mean to give because they're so in the moment...happy accidents...those are the things I look for".

And that's just scratching the surface of everything Chris has to say, so make sure to enjoy every minute of this edition of The Rough Cut!

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Email me your suggestions, stories and questions at matt@theroughcutpod.com or, even better, call and leave me a message at (781) 334-8369.

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