Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1536017
F E A T U R E tives to think about as we go forward. CineMontage: What changed the most as you'd be working on episodes, or looking at each other's episodes? Viswanath: We spent most of our time on structure and pace. Most of our collab- oration was about how to intercut scenes in a certain way, or finding clever ways to hand off information from one scene into an intercut of a different scene that wasn't written that way. My first cuts were very tight, but some of them were still 35 minutes long. We had to cut a lot of really good jokes and performances to get them down to 25 minutes-ish. That came through clever story structuring that we frequently passed back and forth between us. I think seven out of the nine episodes had their openings restructured. Erskine: So much changed throughout the process. There were various iterations of every episode. I miss the good old days of DVD deleted scenes because I think we would've had quite a little reel there. But at the end of the day, the reaction I've gotten from people I know who've watched it was that it moves at an amazing pace, almost relentless. Most of them binged the entire thing in a day, which I think speaks to how tight we were able to get it. CineMontage: Taichi, talk about the performances. Erskine: The performances were in- credible. One of the big challenges for me was that there were so many different ways you could go with some of these scenes and characters. Sometimes I would have three or four different versions of a scene. Tim Baltz, who plays the FBI agent, had a lot of crazy material. There w a s o n l y s o m u c h y o u c o u l d cram into it without it feeling overindulgent. That was where it was most helpful for this to be an all-hands-on-deck effort: "Let's all look at this. David, Varun — which of these versions makes you laugh the most?" But performance-wise, there wasn't a whole lot that had to be adjusted from a tonal per- spective. They were all pretty much right where they needed to be, especially the core actors, Asif, Saagar, and Poorna. CineMontage: Varun, you mentioned that your South Asian heritage made the show resonate with you. Can you speak to why it was important that "Deli Boys" represents this community? Viswanath: Having moved around a lot and trying to find where I'm from and where I belong, I gravitate towards shows about a sense of belonging. This show has a strong sense of place. It's very well-rooted in Philly and in this community. We're not trying to explain their lives or cultural nuances. They just are who they are. I didn't want any earnest explanation of culture. Erskine: At the end of the day, it is about these Pakistani brothers and their family, but it's also a universal show. I think that's why it's reached the audience that it has. The South Asian fans have been incredible, and the reaction has been so overwhelm- ing. My parents also love the show. My dad is a white dude from Jersey, my mom is from Japan, and it res- onated with them because t h e y ' re c u r i o u s a b o u t these characters as human beings and how they navigate this crazy situation they're in. CineMontage: Even though you hadn't worked together before, the three of you formed a great editorial team. D e a n : T h a t o u r E P s, J e n n i Ko n n e r and Nora Silver, and Kim Maree Smith at 20th TV, brought the entire editing team from "Deli Boys" onto their next show, Season 2 of "Nobody Wants This," is an extreme vote of confidence that makes us all feel like we're not just drinking our own Kool-Aid. We're all happy to get the opportunity to take another lap around the track together. ■ Peter Tonguette is a regular CineMontage contributor whose work also appears in National Review and The Wall Street Journal. David Dean 'This show has a strong sense of place.'