Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546154
www.postmagazine.com 15 POST AUG/SEPT 2026 "This one very much functioned as a pilot," he says of Episode 1. "You're setting up the world. You are leaving it, hopefully, with the audience want- ing more. I had read all 10 scripts prior to doing Episode 1, so I knew the arc of the show. I think the game is to not give too much away, but also mak- ing sure people feel that this world is expansive enough that they're going to want to come back in future episodes." While production took place in the Northeast, Reiter and the editing team were in Los Angeles for the show's duration. "I've done that in the past with Hiro," he says of setting up close to the production. "On this show, it wasn't necessary. There were three of us working here in LA, and Harbor was doing the dailies and sending them back." The team was set up in space at Post Script in North Hollywood, which specializes in editorial rentals. In this case, they worked on Avid systems. "We did Atlanta on Premiere," Reiter recalls. "And I like Premier a lot…[With Avid], I think it's stability. I know our AEs prefer it...I love using script sync. When you're with a director or producer, and they just want to see every take of that line, it's so easy. It's a real time saver for me." In the case of Widow's Bay, Reiter says the production did not shoot endless takes, so the material wasn't overwhelming him from a media management standpoint. "They're very confident in their work," he states. "You can see that in the footage. They know what they want. They know when they have it and they move on." Editorially, he would receive material and begin cutting roughly a day or two behind the shoot, which was close enough for him to flag any issues that might need to be addressed while produc- tion was still taking place. Episode 1, for example, spanned roughly 12 shoot days, and with Hiro Murai directing the first block of episodes, it would be some time before he was able to view Reiter's cut. "I remember that he came back from Boston to look at (Episodes) 1, 2 and 3," notes the editor. "He had time before he started prepping his next block." While he was cutting Episode 1, Jen Bryson was editing Episode 2 and Isaac Hagy was working on Episode 3. "I think Jen did 2, 4 and 5. I did 1, 7 and 8. And then Isaac did 3, 6, 9 and 10. That was just a prod- uct of the order in which they shot. I co-edited 8 with my assistant Jing (Han). She's a great editor in her own right. I was busy doing the 107 director's cut when 8 was coming in, so she was assem- bling while I was working on 7. And then when I got freed up [from] 7, I went over to 8 and saw what she had done. It was so good! I came on and helped out a little bit and polished it, but she's the first credit on that episode." Reiter often received footage out of order from the script, so his process was to start creating shorts scenes and then he would put them aside. "And then when I start to get enough scenes to make a sequence, whether that's the beginning, the middle or the end, then I can start reassessing things because context is very important and my initial cut of something could be totally wrong." His reassessment might lead to him turning dia- logue sequences into a montage or adding a new piece of music. "It's tightening it and then assessing what it needs," he shares. "'What does this need? Is this working as three scenes? Can we intercut these scenes? Can we cut this scene in half? Does this need to exist?' But I can't get to that point until I see most of it or all of it." Their Avid workflow made use of NEXIS shared storage, allowing each of the editors to share cuts for the purpose of receiving feedback. "It's a very easy to go, 'Hey, come look at this.' Or, 'Hey, are you using that song in this, because I want to use it here,'" he says of the workflow. The series' editors also had to factor in visu- al effects that would be completed at a later date. Reiter would put placeholders on his Avid timeline, knowing that sequences were still evolving. He points to a sequence in Episode 7, where Widow's Bay founder Richard Warren is unearthed from his grave. The sequence was shot partly on a stage, on a boat in the ocean and enhanced with visual effects. "They're out on the boat — they're fighting," Reiter explains. "That was so piecemeal…It was a mishmash of stuff. The timeline looked crazy." Seeing those sequences come together, he says, is very rewarding. "There's nothing, and then you put them together and it's really exciting and fulfilling when you see it. But, it's a slog to get it there." Episode 6 - "Our History" - was shot on a different camera and in a different aspect ratio.