Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1203636
P H O T O : M O N T Y B R I N T O N / C B S The core of the show was there from the beginning. Pictured: "Survivor" contestants Richard Hatch, Rudy Boesch, and Kelly Wiglesworth. 35 S P R I N G Q 1 I S S U E F E A T U R E challenge for editors is how to present the material in the most appealing way. Jeff Probst (Host and Executive Pro- ducer): From start to finish, "Survivor" is a creative collaboration. Brian Barefoot (Editor, 2000-Pres- ent): Everything is divided up on each episode. We have certain editors who cut the challenges. One editor cuts all the Tribals. Then we have four teams of reality editors and producers, and each team cuts one out of every four episodes. Every team has one Supervising Editor, a second editor, and sometimes an addi- tional swing editor who primarily cuts the camp life/reality scenes. At the start of each episode, we'll have a story meeting with our producer who was out on location, so they know what happened in detail. They give us an outline of the important beats for that episode. Then we screen hours and hours of footage. Sometimes that's the hardest part of the whole process. While screen- ing, we search for important story points and any fun or revealing moments with the contestants. Bill Bowden (Editor, 2008-Present): We have three challenge editors (Dave Armstrong, James Ciccarello, and An- drew Bolhuis) who rotate every third challenge throughout the season, our Tribal Council editor (Evan Mediuch), a previously-on/next-time-on editor, a super tease editor, a jack-of-all-trades (Jacob Texiara), and two swing edi- tors (Tim Atzinger and Andy Castor), w h o w o r k o n r e a l i t y s c e n e s e v e r y other episode. P l o w d e n S c h u m a c h e r ( E d i t o r, 2009-Present): Having producers who were on location and in post is hugely beneficial to the process and different than most reality shows which have dif- ferent producers for production and post. They have already outlined the show and broken it into "pods" that highlight the major events and tell the story. This structure is not set in stone; it's more of a map with some mandatory goals. Sean Foley (Editor, 2000-2006; Di- rector of Photography, 2011-2015): The genius of "Survivor" has always been that it is both a social experiment and game of strategy. Tribal Council is the destination of the story arc, so we typi- cally work backward from there. Who got voted off and why? Who else was in jeop- ardy? Who were the shot-callers pulling the strings? We start by creating a simple outline of the A, B and C stories for each tribe and then watch virtually every bit of footage we can to find enough moments to craft compelling scenes. The "Winner's Edit" A vital part of a typical "Survivor" episode is confessionals. A staple in real- ity television, it gives players the chance to talk to the camera and the audience directly with their thoughts and feelings about the events in the game. Probst: For most shows, [confession- als] are simply a recap of an event the player just experienced. Where "Survi- vor" differs is in the emotional depth of our interviews. Our producers are very experienced and use these interviews to try to uncover the real reason a person is playing this game. Why are they living in a jungle, surviving on little food and enduring the weather ? Then it's the editors who find the structure that takes you inside the player's head and brings the scene alive. The vast majority of our most moving moments come from the combination of a great interview in the hands of a talented editor. But not all interviews are created equal. Some contestants have monopo- lized screen time with their behaviors. Other players received minimal content as a consequence, which has been a cause for viewer outcry over the years. The fan community has even given the effect a name: the "purple" edit, named after no- tably under-edited contestant "Purple" Kelly Shinn from season 21. Barefoot: Our main objective is to tell a clear, entertaining story. Some con- testants will naturally "pop" more than others, and some are funnier or clearer in their narration than others, so they might be used more frequently. But we al- ways try to do justice to each contestant's experience. Some viewers will read a lot into "the edit," and I love that they're pas- sionate about it. It's a fun game between us and the audience, but they often read more into it than what is actually there. Mike Greer (Editor, 2001-Present): The contestants with the most compelling personal stories and who exhibit the most exciting gameplay, are going to be featured more prominently. If a player is just sitting around all day, doing little of interest, they 're going to see less screen time. On the other side of the spectrum is the person who will ultimately take home the million-dollar prize and the title of Sole Survivor. Diehard fans have taken to studying the edit of each episode in an effort to track who has the best chance of