Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521956
25 S U M M E R Q 2 I S S U E F E A T U R E Pedrad said season two editors George Mandl, ACE and Keenan H i e tt (a l o n gs i d e C h a d R i tte n - baum, who served as assistant e d i t o r a n d w a s s u b s e q u e n t l y bumped up to co-editor) were "an utter joy" to work with. Mandl and Hiett " both had such a great sense of the show's tone and comedic sensibility," Pedrad said. "They were as eager to mine moments for the unex- pected and peculiar as they were to make sure the story tracks and that we're taking care of our char- acters. Since the shoot days also included a good deal of improv, the episodes really came together in the edit. The two of them made that process really fun from begin- ning to end by taking risks, trying things, and crafting moments that weren't necessarily obvious on the page." CineMontage recently spoke with Mandl and Hiett about working with Pedrad to persevere and to help tell her story in a way that embraces the awkwardness, humanity, and comedy that comes from growing up in an immigrant family. CineMontage: What's been most important for Pedrad in terms of achieving her vision for the show's tone and feel? Keenan Hiett: The show centers around Chad reconciling with his cultural back- ground and, at the same time, trying to figure out his way through high school, so there are a lot of very specific tonal things that we played with. She was precise with that in terms of individual moments and the awkward- ness. I remember her telling me at one point that Season 1 wasn't meant to be as cringe comedy as it ended up becoming known for, so I think there was some active effort to calibrate that a little bit more in the second season. But the cultural side of "Chad" — being a first-generation American and an im- migrant in an immigrant family — was a big focalpoint and one of the strong suits of the show. There are many great stories about immigrants in America, and families in America, and assimilating while trying to maintain your cultural background. But "Chad" has a very different voice. Nasim took the responsibility of it all very seri- ously and it shines through in the show in a big way. George Mandl: Nasim is an improv genius. She comes from a heavy improv background. "SNL" often infuses some of that into the writing, and she also came t h ro u g h t h e G ro u n d l i n gs a n d Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), so we really did have this embar- rassment of riches in the edit. We had so much material. It wasn't just "here's the script and a couple little things." Every scene had a lot of options. The sensibility of the show and the comedy of the show is pretty specific. It's subtle. What we think is going to work is not always what works best, and so we would often try things. In the spirit of improv, I think we approached the edit like that, and the result is that you have this beautiful character. I describe it as "cringe with big heart." It's got that person who is making every mistake available to him, but that you are still rooting for. CineMontage: How did you help balance A scene from "Chad," which puts its own spin on the high-school years. "Chad" has a "different voice," Mandl says. P H O T O : R O K U P H O T O : F R A N C I N E O R R