Conversations With Collaborators

There are actually occasions when I do refer to these theories overtly in the editing room. A typical example comes when we are in the middle of editing a film and have just had a big screening. I’ll get a note from someone—a studio executive, a network head, a friend of the director’s—that says something like, “This area is boring. Can you cut out this scene?” Or we’ll get a suggestion to drop some lines of dialogue.

At times like these I will often ask myself and my collaborators, “What would we lose that is crucial to the film if we lost the scene?” I am usually not asking if the scenes or lines should be cut. I am really asking, “What is the point of this scene?” When you think about it, this is the same thing as asking for the scene analysis.