Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1501110
EDITING www.postmagazine.com 13 POST MAY/JUNE 2023 what he was trying to do. I love the kind of stuff that he wrote…And we just built a rapport. We're years in at this point, so it's a very rewarding and exciting creative relationship/partnership I would say that we have. "We don't have to talk much about things. I do see him quite a bit, but, it's like in any long-term re- lationship — there's a lot of unspoken communica- tion. I can tell when he doesn't like something if I'm sitting in the room with him. It's little expressions, head movements, whatever it is, you know? We're going strong and it's been the highlight of my career, working for him. We've gotten to do some pretty exciting things, so I hope it doesn't stop." Going back to Season 1, were you involved in the pilot? "They had not yet locked Episode 1, so I came in on Episode 1 and there was a small editorial adjust- ment that I made…I started becoming the last hands on the cut. [It's] just the way that it worked out. And that was a rhythm that Taylor and I got into, so by Episodes 103, 104, I was the last one touching it, and have locked almost every episode of Yellowstone since then. "During Season 3, the first three quarters, we were actually making Those Who Wish Me Dead, Taylor's last feature film, so I came on and did the last couple of episodes of Season 3. We have some very talented editors in our orbit that do incredible work." What is your workflow? "The way that it generally works out is, I travel to Texas every week-and-a-half, two-weeks to sit with Taylor, and we lock notes together. And that's a working rhythm that we have found that works really well. I am going to see him next week, so it's constantly happening that way. We're working on a new show, a show called Lioness that comes out in July." Are you far behind the production as far as keeping up with footage? I would imagine the shooting never stops? "It depends. It really does, because with Taylor, there are so many shows and often there are shows running concurrently. Earlier this year I was doing both Yellowstone Season 5 and 1923 Season 1 at the same time, so the short and unglamorous answer is that it's a ton of work and not a ton of sleep when we're in production. There's no shortcut. I might be working on an episode of Yellowstone and finishing that up and then transitioning into some 1923 foot- age that came in that day. "1923, for instance, started shooting in August and we premiered in December. It's a massive show with not only just a huge production, but a significant VFX footprint as well. It's a period piece, so there's a lot of work that we had to do in our environments. That was incredibly fast to go from production to premiere in three-and-a-half/four months on a show that size. Yellowstone tends to have a little bit more time, but with all these shows, we spend a lot of time shooting outside, so we were up against the elements in ways that are not entirely predictable. Our schedule is at the mercy of the elements more often than some other shows — maybe a lot of shows. We have a fair amount of stage work, but we also have a lot of exterior work. Sometimes there are episodes that I just cut by myself. There [are] some episodes where other editors are doing first cuts of things, and then hand it off to me later on. It's on an as-needed basis and it is sometimes by the seat of our pants." Yellowstone is edited on Avid systems