#3 in a Series A Fireside Chat with Tina Hirsch by Justin Bourret Next to a burning fireplace in the intimate meeting room at Electric Picture Solutions, thirty assistant editors spent the evening of May 21st in a conversation with editor Tina Hirsch. Tina discussed how she was hired along with a new director to re-cut a pilot for cable that was "in trouble." The name of the pilot was Love and Madness, starring Joanna Kerns and Gregory Harrison. It's a comedy centered on the love/hate relationship between a seasoned married couple. Tina showed us the pilot before the re-cut, and then we discussed with her what changes we thought should be made to the structure and characters. We then viewed the version of the pilot that Tina and the new director reworked. They had implemented some of the changes we discussed beforehand, such as intercutting to create humor between related scenes and tightening up situations that over-played jokes in the original cut. We all agreed the changes done by Tina and the director made the pilot much more humorous and engaging. Tina indicated that the most important part of the re-cut was to flesh out the connection between the husband and wife so that we liked them more, thus making the humor more relevant. Tina then took general questions about her experiences in editing on such films as Gremlins, Mystery Date, and Dante's Peak. In responding to a question on cutting comedy, Tina made the amusing comparison to a Thomas's English muffin - it should have nooks and crannies. Comedy cannot be "too smooth." For an example, Tina discussed a film that she found hilarious at its first screening when it ran around two hours. But at the next screening after the producer and director pared it down to around ninety minutes, it was not funny By cutting too much away from the characters and story, it lost its humor. She stressed that editing should focus on what is best for the characters and story, not running time. Tina believes that this tendency to "over-cut" is much more prevalent when directors and producers are working with digital systems where the ability to make a change is a keystroke away. Tina Hirsch gave the assistant editors in attendance an engaging talk and valuable lessons on the art of editing. By listening to and conversing with experienced editors about dealing with different situations in the editing process, we assistants have yet another tool to aid us in one day becoming editors ourselves. I highly recommend all assistants attend future Fireside Chats.   Justin Bourret is an assistant editor currently serving on the Guild's Board of Directors.   Reprinted from The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter Vol. 19, No. 4 - July/August 1998   Guild Home | Newsletter Home | Top of Page   Copyright © 1998, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 776