Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1500026
43 S U M M E R Q 2 I S S U E F E A T U R E CineMontage: What's the trick to telling two independent stories that are none- theless linked? Zempel: On episode eight, when we get their backstories, that's when we really understand the two characters. I'm really partial to that episode because I think it gives so much depth, especially with Dan- ny and his relationship with Paul, and the conversation with Amy and her mother . . . . Their storylines are really separate—it starts with Danny, and then it goes to Amy— and seeing the ways that [the characters] were raised I felt really helped carry us to the finale when they confide in each other so much. Fuller: One of the biggest challenges is keeping it nice and balanced where you're rooting for the character at certain points, but then at some points you're shaking your head: "Man, you are a mess." . . . We had to make sure that everything was resonating where you didn't tip too far into, "Oh, I love this character," or tip too far the other way: "I hate this character." CineMontage: Jordan, why did you want to be part of the show? J o rd a n K i m : " B e e f " i s t h e k i n d o f project that I've really been waiting for, especially as a half-Korean person working in the industry. One of the last shows that I've been on more frequently is "Awkwafina is Nora From Queens," which I'm an editor, director, and producer on. That was one of the first shows that I worked on with a lot of representation in front of and behind the camera with Asian Americans . . . . When I heard about "Beef," it was another level of specificity. "Beef" takes place in California and has a lot of stuff in [Orange County] and Koreatown, where I spent a lot of time when I was growing up. CineMontage: Harry, can you talk about the performances? Yoon: It is so wonderful to see an en- semble Asian American cast and to have so many of them willing to be idiosyncratic, to not be noble, to be very specifically, with warts and all, who their characters were. Kim: One of the things that was great on our director's cuts was letting things breathe a little bit more than you have time for in straight-up comedy. In my director's cut of [episode] eight with Jake [Schreier, one of three directors on the show], I re- member we added three minutes back in of people thinking about and registering what had been said in some of these more intense conversations, like George talking about divorce with Amy. It's a pretty long scene and it's really emotionally intense. The act- ing was so incredible that it was riveting to even just watch the dailies and see that the actors are bringing everything they have to these scenes. Aside from the content and the repre- sentation, the pacing of ["Beef "] does not feel like a half-hour show to me. It feels like an hour-long . . . . You get to sit in these scenes and really give it the love that it needs to be with those characters in these emotionally intense moments. CineMontage: Did each editor work in- dependently? There are several episodes with shared credits. Fuller: The shared credits came mostly from necessity of schedule, where Jordan had to move onto another project, as did Laura. It was basically just like "next man up" and a team effort. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay on throughout the entire process . . . . There were some interesting debates. Sometimes one person would feel a certain way about a situation and the other person would feel not exactly the same. It was really nice to have those kinds of debates about what the motivation was and what the scene was about. Just to have the discussion we hope the audience members will have. Zempel: We all touched a lot of each other's episodes. It was very collaborative. We started doing dailies from home, and then our post team would do a 45-minute Zoom check-in on Friday, to see how every- one was doing as a way to build morale. We coordinated a dinner that Harry planned for us where we all met up for Korean barbeque and did karaoke afterward. It was great because working from home you don't get that camaraderie. Terrifying as it was to meet my co-workers for the first time and doing karaoke, I think it really bonded us. CineMontage: What do you hope people take away from "Beef"? Zempel: Amy and Danny meet in this one little moment in each of their lives, and then the show explores the full picture of these two people. The fascinating thing about the show is realizing that everybody is going through something. You never know what kind of day someone is having, how they were brought up, what they are dealing with. ■ Nat Fuller. 'Terrifying as karaoke was, I think it really bonded us.'