Shelly Westerman discusses how editing is a key part of television and Only Murders In The Building
Editing plays a key role in the creation of television, and Shelly Westerman is very aware of the importance of her role in developing the finished product of various episodes of television, including Hulu's massively successful comedy, Only Murders In The Building. Editing is not just about cutting and pasting clips together. As Shelly Westerman will discuss, editing is an integral tool in making sure comedy beats hit their mark and how that differs from delivering a more dramatic episode of Pose or American Horror Story.
Culturess: How did you get involved with Only Murders In The Building?
Shelly Westerman: It was through a friend who recommended me and heard that there were openings for editors so I got the interview and got it. I have an agent, but some jobs come through your relationships and your friends and your co-workers. It happens a lot in this industry so it really was a tip from a friend that opened the door.
Culturess: There's a lot going on in season three's musical episode. How did you land on turning it into a split screen structure?
Shelly Westerman: Well, interestingly enough, that episode was directed by Bob Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, and I had worked with them back in New York. Back in the day, I was their assistant editor. So Bob was the editor, and they were a directing duo. Now, flash forward to current day, and they're both directing. He's not editing as much anymore. So, it was wonderful to reconnect with them, and we had a shorthand with each other because of our past history, and we got the script, and it was scripted to be split screen, and that usually sends terror through editorial, you're like, 'Oh no, how am I gonna do this?' and it was multiple split screens and it was more scenes coming in and out, and it was like, 'Oh no.'
So Bob had the good idea to mock it up before production started because that was, like, episode eight, so we were already on our machines and doing episodes, so we had the resources. Bob said mock it up with title cards to the song and let's see how it goes. So, that was the first step. We made these title cards and played around with the split screens, and then our assistants Jamie Clarke and Diana Hyatt kind of jumped in to help, as did Payton Koch, our co-editor, and we decided to color-code the split screen so you could track it visually because it was super confusing. So we had these colors and then we were able to size the screens and map out the action to the beats of the song to match the lyrics of the song. We would send it to Bob and Shari and get notes. We went back and forth for about a week before shooting began, so we were able to present it to production and say here's our plan for the sequence so when they filmed the different parts of the action, we had a visual map in mind of how to frame the shots. So once we got the shots, it was a matter of plugging them in. We still had adjustments to make, resizing some stuff, and adjusting the movement of the split screen. But we had done a lot of work beforehand, which, really, we hadn't thought of that. That was Bob's idea. It was a saving grace for sure.
Culturess: When you are co-editing and episode is there a difference in the style that you use rather than when you are working alone.
Shelly Westerman: Yeah, I would say so. There's a lot of back and forth, which is great, and collaborative. We assess the scenes as they come in and decide whether I'm gonna do one, pass on it, and Payton is gonna pass on it as well, and we see where we both landed and then we do a combo version. There's times, depending on our schedule or what's going on, I might say, 'Hey, I'll take this scene.' and he'll say, 'Okay, great. I'll take another scene.' It's a very fluid relationship. It's very fluid, depending on the footage and the deadlines, and what we need to do. But, at the end of that, we would always look at each other's work and give notes to each other as well, and trade-off, I guess you'd say, trade off the baton at times. At times, Payton would be in charge of managing what's going into the cuts, and other times, I'd say, 'Okay, I'm gonna take it over. I'm gonna put the stuff in the cut.' So, it's very dependent on communication and having that trust with another person.
Culturess: How involved are you with the director and showrunner in the choices of which takes or which angles are used in the show's finished product?
Shelly Westerman: It's very interesting. In television, you have a lot of input with those choices in your work. The schedule is much faster than a feature film, where normally we would tear everything apart and put it back together over weeks and weeks and months and months. On television, you've got a much faster schedule. I listen to what I've always taught my assistants, and Payton was one of my assistants who became a co-editor, to listen to the dailies, the take from the beginning to the end, read all of the script notes entirely, so you're really trying to pay attention to what the intention is.
At this point, we have a relationship with the showrunner, predominantly. But, before we start shooting, you've got all sorts of meetings that go on. You've got a concept meeting, you have a tone meeting, you have a production meeting, you have a table read where they read the script. So, you've got a lot of information going into the edit, and you start to kind of visualize it in your head, and when you get the dailies, the editors have a huge influence on what's chosen and what performances end up in the final product, absolutely, it's thrilling. Then we'll do a couple of days with the director, we'll tweak or change takes or do whatever they want to do, and then, by this time, we've worked with the showrunner, well right now we're in season four, so we've worked with them on season two, season three, and now season four. So, we kind of engage the sensibilities, what they like or what they don't like. But, you're really going for what you feel is the best performance and hoping it sticks but allowing yourself to be open to notes and suggestions and changing things from producers, directors, showrunners.
Culturess: In what ways have your previous jobs helped prepare you to take on Only Murders In The Building?
Shelly Westerman: I think every job has an influence on your next project, tricks you learn. People say tricks, I don't know what a trick would be, but, I think you're influenced by a lot of it. I've had some fantastic musical song experience in working with the Ryan Murphy camp, and when you're with them, and they did Glee, you're working with the best music people. So I wasn't so afraid of doing the musicals for Only Murders because I'd say that was a help; having done something in that genre, or something similar to that, made me not as afraid to handle it.
Culturess: What is the most complicated part of editing an episode of television?
Shelly Westerman: Honestly, it's a lot of the politics. Technically, editors are great. We know our stuff. We know how to work the machines. It's the politics of it. Learning how to listen to people. Learning how to navigate notes from the studio, from the producer, from the showrunner, who might all have different ideas of what it should be. So, you're almost like the camp counselor, is what a lot of editors say. You're the therapist and the camp counselor. I think that takes up more of my day than editing.
Culturess: You've also edited for Pose. Is there a difference in the editing process between a show that would air on regular television in comparison to streaming?
Shelly Westerman: Sometimes, yeah. It depends on the streamer and the structure. Some of the streamers and television, have specific structure where you have to make acts with act breaks. Some of them, projects that I've done for streamers, it's like one program that's like an hour-long program with no commercial breaks. So, there's technical differences in that. Sometimes there's taste differences or schedule differences for sure when we have more time and can craft a project. It's always better. A lot of times in television you're on a super tight schedule to get it to air and you make the best thing that you can. For some of the streamers, I've been on shows where I've had weeks and weeks, if not a few months, to craft a pilot episode. Not usual but it's nice when it happens. So a lot of it is time management and being able to express your best artistic sensibility in a crazy hurry time slot.
Culturess: You've also edited for shows such as The Politician and Ratched. Does the tone of a more dramatic or more scary show, such as American Horror Story, differ on how you make edits in comparison to a comedy like Only Murders In The Building?
Shelly Westerman: Definitely. The drama pacing is completely different. I still haven't mastered a jump scare. I'm not the most versed in horror but I would always be like, 'I'm not sure. Do you see the thing first or do you see it afterwards?' It depends on the scene and how it's shot. I've learned to not be so scared of horror and so much of it is sound and music too. It's shocking the stuff that makes me shudder. I would watch the dailies and be like, 'Wait, that's just a normal dailies take.' And it's all the elements that come together picture, sound, and music that make that horror stuff so fabulous, so that was a big lesson.
The comedy is really it's a lot harder. People think, 'Oh, you work in comedy. That's so fun. You laugh all day.' I'm like, 'It's really hard. The timing has to be exact.' I'll fuss with a joke for days and it's a matter of frames. Two more frames. No, three fewer frames. No, six more frames to get it exactly right. It's fascinating every time. I'm like how can it be this hard? It's a joke. But, it's also hard to balance in today's climate where everything wants to be fast and tight so people pay attention. So I find that sometimes I struggle with that. I want a joke to have a little bit more air or a little more time or a reaction shot. So, you're always kinda balancing tighter, tighter, faster, faster. It's like, 'Oh my gosh. I need a second to take this in.' So, I spent a lot of days fussing over frames.
Culturess: What makes editing such an important part of the television process?
Shelly Westerman: We talk about this all the time, too. People don't realize everything that we do. They just don't. It's an invisible art for a reason. They don't know all the choices that were made by the editing team. We're choosing takes. We're choosing angles. We're pacing. We're laying out a preliminary soundscape that our wonderful sound team takes to another level. We're throwing in temporary music to experiment with tone and emotion and comedy, and then our wonderful composer comes in and we work with them, and then they re-sculpt that. So, we're involved in all of that. We're involved in the visual effects. We're temping visual effects to then turn over to our vendors to then do, and we're on to judge those and give feedback on those. So, it's like every element of the show, an editor has had their hands in. I don't think people realize that. When I've shown people things, or they've come to my cutting room to look at stuff, their jaws drop. They're like, 'Wait, what?" I'm like, 'Yeah, I put that footstep in, and I put that door close in. I made that shot darker so it was scarier until our wonderful color timer comes in and cleans up all of the raw dailies.' So people don't realize that editors have their hand in every element of that show.
Culturess: What types of projects would you like to work on in the future?
Shelly Westerman: I really am in this space right now where it's hard to get jobs right now. The industry is changing. There's a lot less available at the moment. I really wanna work with nice people, like it makes such a difference to work with people who care and who are respectful of you, I'm having fun in the comedy world but I don't wanna get pigeonholed into just comedy. I think because of my past career and past choices, I've gotten to do a little bit of everything, which is another kind of problem. People see that you only have one genre on your resume and they think, 'Oh, she's the comedy editor.' No, editors are editors. Any editor can edit comedy, drama, thriller, or action. That's our job. We're editors. So, I just wanna do something fun, something exciting, a good script. It could be anything. But, really it's about the connection with the team, producer, director, showrunners, and being with your tribe. Being with the people who care about you also.
Only Murders In The Building is available to watch on Hulu. Catch the season 4 premiere on Tuesday, August 27, 2024.