The Art of the Edit - Part 1

[Author's note: if you received this via email, you'll need to click the link and go to the website in order to see the video portion.]

As a screenwriter, I'd love to think that I have the most impact on a movie - after all, if I didn't write it, it wouldn't exist.  Right?

The auteur theory presents the director as the creator of the movie.

In reality, the finished movie that you watch is made in the editing process.  And the final product can be far from what was written and what was shot.  In my first feature, Surviving Family, we split a major scene into 2 separate pieces to pick up the pace and bring a major character back on screen sooner.  And in my 2nd, Detours, we re-arranged the order of many scenes to create a better story arc.

This post looks at the changes to Surviving Family; I'll look at the Detours changes next time.

The pivotal scene in Surviving Family comes roughly half way through the movie:  the amazing Phyllis Somerville as Aunt Mary Giaccone explains to her niece Terry, played by the wonderful Sarah Wilson, why Terry's mother killed herself.  It's an amazing and emotional scene, and many viewers have cited it as their favorite.  But it's long, intense, and talky.  Here's an excerpt:

In the original edit of the movie, that scene was followed by an equally good and intense scene between Terry and her ex-boyfriend, played by the terrific JD Williams, best known for his work in The Wire.  Here's a brief clip from that scene:

But when we put the 2 scenes back-to-back, the sequence was (a) too long and talky and (b) left our wonderful leading man Billy Magnussen off screen for too long.

Director Laura Thies was the editor as well.  After feedback from test viewers, Laura watched the 2 sequences many times. "What happened?" is said in each scene. She inserted a short scene to split the 2 long ones, which also brought Billy back into the sequence.

Here's the piece that she used as a bridge:

It worked beautifully.  But if you want to see exactly how, you'll have to rent the movie for yourself - it's on Amazon Prime (free for members, starts at $2.99 for non-members) and on iTunes.

To be continued...

More Truth Within Fiction: An Alcoholic in the Family

Johnny Hopkins as Hank Malone in Surviving Family

I grew up hearing stories about my mother's alcoholic younger brother Hugh.  In a family where both parents were alcoholics, it was something of a foregone conclusion that it would hit at least some of the kids.  Hugh was next in line age-wise to my mom - 2nd and 3rd respectively out of 5 kids - so she was always trying to help him out.  He was a heavy drinker by high school, and was always in trouble - getting in fights, or landing in jail for whatever stupid idea he or his buddies dreamed up.

My mom gave him a place to stay more times than she could - or would - count.  Things would start out well, amid promises that it was "different this time."  Then the drinking would start.  Again.

Here's the scene from Surviving Family that's inspired by that; Sarah Wilson stars as Terry Malone, Billy Magnussen is her fiance, and the terrific Johnny Hopkins plays Hank (catch him next in Ed Burns' upcoming series Public Morals).

Inevitably, things would go wrong and the drinking would start again, usually in secret.  He sometimes stole from her.  He always disappointed her.  Sort of like this:

I spent more than a year showing Surviving Family at festivals around the US, as well as in Canada and Germany.  I was amazed - although although I probably shouldn't have been - how many people told me that they have a friend or family member just like that.  While I certainly wouldn't wish these problems on anyone, I'm damn glad that people can relate to the characters.

If you're wondering about the great restaurant location in the 2nd video - thanks once again to the great folks at Satis Bistro in Jersey City, NJ.

If you like the clips, watch the entire movie on Amazon Prime or iTunes.

Writing Truth Within Fiction

Surviving Family is fiction inspired by real life.  So nothing is literally true but many of the stories in the movie come from things that happened to people I know.

My mother's family was populated by alcoholics:  some were charming even (especially?) when drunk.  Others were angry and belligerent.  All were unreliable.  There's a scene in the movie where Terry's dad doesn't show up for her wedding - yeah, that happened.

When I was a kid, my best friend's mom used to scream and throw dishes at her husband, for reasons that no one could quite understand.  He would stand out of range and quietly ask her to stop because they couldn't afford to keep buying new dishes.  This became the inspiration for much of the character Lucia Giaccone (played by Lorraine Farris).

Check out this clip from the movie  - it features Phyllis Somerville as the wise and wonderful Aunt Mary, Sarah Wilson in the lead role of Terry Malone, Tara Westwood as her sister Jean, and Bill Sage as Lucia's husband Jerry.  In the flashback portion of the clip, Stevie Steel and Carleigh Chirico can be seen cowering on the stairs as the child versions of Jean and Terry, as their mom Lucia literally clears the table onto their dad.

A brief Introduction....

I'm a NJ-based writer & producer, with my 2nd feature - Detours - ALMOST done with post-production.  I'm very excited to get it finished soon.  But as any indie filmmaker will tell you - you're not done when it's done.  You've just moved on to phase 35.  Or is it 36?

I'll be writing more - much more - about Detours very soon.  But first a little about my first feature - Surviving Family.  It's a romantic drama - with a dose of comedy - about alcoholism, mental illness, suicide, and love.  And garden gnomes.  Not necessarily in that order.

The most amazing thing - for me - about writing & producing a movie that takes on subjects that are often taboo is learning just how many people are directly affected by these issues.  A stunning number of people have told me that it's their story or their family's story or their friend's story.   And that is damn cool.

Click HERE for the Surviving Family website, with links to watch the trailers & rent/buy on Amazon Prime or iTunes.

And here are a few of my favorite images - Billy Magnussen as Alex D'Amico + our poster, featuring photos of Sarah Wilson (left) and Tara Westwood as sisters, plus (left to right) Vinnie Pastore, Billy Magnussen, Bill Sage, Johnny Hopkins, and Phyllis Somerville.

Billy Magnussen in Surviving Family