Sketches such as “I’m Just Pete” and “Bowen’s Straight” represent the exact laughs audiences hope for when they tune into Saturday Night Live. Two absolute comedy knockouts. The three editors behind those two sketches are now nominated Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programming (Segment) at The Emmys.
Ryan Spears is responsible for “I’m Just Pete,” while Paul Del Gesso and Kristie Ferriso cut together “Bowen’s Straight.” The three editors have been responsible for some standout sketches over the years. Recently, they spoke with Immersive Media about their Emmy-nominated sketches.
Ryan, you don’t like to go to set while they’re filming. Paul and Kristie, what about yourselves? How much do you want to know before they roll cameras?
Kristie: I do when they shoot in the office, because it’s easy to keep track of where they are in the schedule. Sometimes we have a direct feed from the cameras to watch and see what they’re shooting on set. I don’t go to set usually. I’m usually in the edit already.
Paul: Cracking it open, yeah.
For “Bowen’s Straight,” how’d you want the editing to lean into the kinds of movies its poking fun at?
Paul: Was that song, Kristie, in the script? Do you remember? Or was that something that
Kristie: The Portishead song was called out in the script. It was perfect for the vibe of this sketch, so they definitely wanted to use the closest version possible of that song.
Paul: We actually ordered a sound from our in-house music person, but I believe he was too busy that weekend and he was like, “There is the perfect sound alike. Use this one.”
Kristie: I think he said, “That one sounds almost the same, just use that.”
Paul: Which isn’t always the case. Just to piggyback on that last question, this is maybe irrelevant, but I remember right before “Bowen’s Straight,” I had watched a Wong Kar-wai film the night before. I was like, “Oh, this piece needs very slight dutch angles.” It’s nearly imperceptible, but some of that is just given a little bit of angle to give it some feel and characteristics, which is, I would say not a romcom, but it lends the right tone and it’s just enough.
A, I think that’s incredibly relevant. And B, which Wong Kar-wai movie?
Paul: Man, it was probably Fallen Angels or Chungking Express.
Do you guys ever find yourself taking inspiration from those random sources when you’re working on SNL?
Ryan: Yeah, definitely. I can’t think of any specific offhand, but I’m just very much based on the Ken video. But yeah, there’s definitely times where we get scripts on Wednesday night and I’ll think like, “Oh, I just watched a movie that actually feels like it might be a fun reference point for this in the edit.” Maybe there’s an opening for editing creative opportunities. I worked on, oh gosh, the kind of Elephant man parody from this past season.
Elephant Man is like early eighties, so it’s kind of fun to look at it even through that lens too. We’re going back to what they would’ve done in the eighties, referencing what they were doing in the ’40s, too, and stuff like that. I just watch a lot of stuff and little things get rooted in when I’m cutting. I’m like, oh, actually might be fun to bring this idea in or something like that
Paul: Yeah, a lot of scripts and concepts in the show in general are based on existing media, existing commercials, existing TV shows, so a lot of the research ahead of time. We’ll be talking with the writers and directors, just watching the references that we’re aiming for. We are very often trying to ape a style of something and have it land. So doing the research ahead of time is definitely helpful to know what the tone is going to be, know what the little tricks in there are, what the graphic style is, just things that can add all that believability to it.
“I’m Just Pete” is a good parody but also an exceptional musical number in its own right. Ryan, did you have any do’s and don’ts when you’re handling that many shots, that many dance moves?
Ryan: For me, the way that I like to cut music video stuff, which I did probably four last season, is I like to focus on the joke moments first. I like to make sure that those get into the cut first and have as much breathing room as they need to have before I start going through dancing B roll and stuff like that. I think obviously the jokes are always the most important part that always lead the edit.
The dancing stuff is great. We’ve worked with choreographers a lot recently to really actually have moves that synchronize with what’s going on in the lyrics. For me, for a music video, focus on the joke beats and the joke visuals and everything first, and then let fill out the rest with the really cool dance dance sequences.
With a music video, I don’t like to add a ton of sound design because we have a great music producer. He’s always thinking of really cool things to bring to the music, to the track to really increase the production value of it. So, I don’t want to step on his toes and add swells and risers when he’s already thinking about that. We send him the edit while we’re working so he can see what’s going on and match the rhythm and the vibe when he brings a little extra sauce to the track, basically.
Paul: Yeah, sometimes there’s actually live updates where we’ll put a little sound design. They will match that and then put it in the actual track and bring it back in. So, like, this needs more of a sting out at the end. This needs a little bit of a riser or a hit, so you kind of build the music track sometimes as well with the edit.
After your first passes, how did both the sketches evolve?
Ryan: I don’t know that “I’m Just Pete” changed a ton. We definitely finessed a lot of the dancing beats and stuff, and I think we changed some sequencings of the shot. There’s certain times where we went from one camera to another angle and stuff like that, but I don’t think “I’m Just Pete” changed a ton.
One thing that we workshopped all day with that one actually was the scene or the shot when he transitions from the therapy scene to the big dance number with his jacket pulling off. That was originally just shot as a match cut, and we were like, “Well, would it be cool? He’s wearing a jacket? What if that jacket just rips off?” We tried to get it, we tried to rough it out in Premiere, and then our VFX team made a CGI jacket.
They made a CGI jacket that just pulls off of him in full 3D, and that kind of became a really cool moment. So, that was something that developed a lot during the day, but this one was relatively on rails. I mean, we have stuff that changes a lot, but this one, I think it was just fine tuning things a lot rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.
Kristie, Paul, anything where standout about how “Bowen’s Straight” evolved in post?
Kristie: “Bowen’s Straight” pretty much stayed similar to our original cut. The biggest change was that the helicopter was added in with CGI at the end, because there wasn’t a helicopter on the roof of 30 Rock that day. We didn’t get that shot until right before… I think we still had a comp in there up until dress, and then we got the actual shot right before air, because it was such a long export. That was probably the biggest difference was we were just watching the footage without the helicopter in it for most of the day, and then that came at the last minute.
Paul: I do kind of think what Ryan said is that we get lots of pieces all the time that change drastically throughout the day drastically, but I am not sure these two were exactly it. I mean, Kristie, we kind of nailed the tone for “Bowen’s Straight” pretty early on, and then it was just fine tuning takes.
Two things I can remember that really changed are we rescored the ending scene. Also, the video game he was playing initially sounded more like a fun eight-bit game. We turned him into a shooter with the sound design. I think that was one of the bigger changes. It was definitely working from the top of the day, which is not always the case.
Kristie: It did stay pretty similar to the original.
By the way, congratulations on five years at SNL, Kristie.
Kristie: Thank you.
If there’s anything you wish you knew at the beginning of your journey on SNL as editors, anything comes to mind? Any recent lessons for you, Kristie, and everyone, you wish you knew at the beginning?
Ryan: I think for me, just trusting the process and letting it get there. Try to get as much as you can get done in that time and then just what it is, what it is. You got to let it go, and you got to let the world see it.
I think that that’s something that I would give myself advice for when I first started, rather than just stressing so much about the deadline. Just focus on the piece, focus on making it as good as you can, and then keep an eye on the clock, but don’t worry too much about the clock. You’ll get it there. Everyone knows what time it needs to get done. Something will get there, and it may not be 100%, but I mean, whatever really is?
Paul: I would second that. If something’s funny in the room and it’s working, stick with your guns, just trust it and push through. The nature of the show is such a tight deadline and a tight crunch. It definitely gives the ability to have some self-doubt and to question if something actually is working. But almost all the time, if you’re laughing when you see it and it feels good, stick with it. It is working.
Kristie: Yeah, I think perfectionism is something we all suffer from. We just need to remember that it’s really fun in the end. So true. It’s really enjoyable. Have fun with it. Everyone you’re working with is the best at what they do, and it’s just such a fun process that even when it is the most stressful thing, it’s also really fun
Paul: Remember to enjoy it.
Ryan: And to Kristie’s point too about perfectionism, we’re there for a reason. We’re there because we know what we’re doing and we know how to do it quickly. You just gotta trust your own skills and trust that you’re making the best choices you can with what you have and the time you have left. Not get too bogged down by like, oh, if I just had another hour, I could fine tune the placement of a certain shot or the timing of a cut.
It’s like, no one’s going to be thinking about that. They’re going to be thinking about what’s funny about it. And that’s really the most important part is what’s funny about it, what’s the best comedy here? And making sure that that is what comes to the surface at the end of the day.
Check back soon for part two of our interview with the SNL editors.
