From Commercials To Features: Editor Patrick Colman Discusses "Other People"

Despite spending nearly ten years as a commercial and music video editor, Patrick Colman never worked with director Spike Jonze. It was during a transitional stage, when Colman worked as a cutting assistant on Jonze’s short, “Scenes from the Suburbs”, the two crossed paths, and Jonze gave full endorsement to the emerging narrative editor.  The praise created a domino effect that has ushered Colman forward in his career.  After providing some additional editing to Michael Gondry’s “The We and the I”, Colman got his first break as a feature editor on David Cross’ directorial debut, “Hits.”  Familiar with “Hits”, the producers of “Other People” sent Colman their script with hopes he’d edit the film.

“I read it over the fourth of July and said ‘Yes Please!’ If they’ll have me, let’s go!” said Colman.

A six time Emmy nominee for his writing contributions to “Saturday Night Live”, Kelly was about to embark on his feature directing debut. He wrote the script for “Other People” based on his personal experiences surrounding the final stages of his mother’s battle with cancer.  A week before production began, Colman spoke with Kelly about the editing job.  While the two discussed the story, Kelly did not present a specific direction or style for the editor to work in.  He left the rough cut capably in Colman’s hands.

Two weeks later, Colman hit the ground running. He worked for roughly twenty days autonomously, cutting the scenes from each evening’s dailies. Eager to keep the momentum moving, Kelly joined Colman in the edit suite directly upon wrapping production.  The two men watched the sections and began exchanging ideas.  Colman, who was making his debut in editing auto-biographical material, was inspired by Kelly’s composure.

“It had to be surreal, standing on a set for twenty days shooting a movie of your own life,” said Colman. “It was something I was constantly aware of, but it was never a point of contention.”

Instead, Kelly, the “Other People” producers and Colman found themselves all on the same page through the broad strokes of the first assembly. Sitting with Kelly, Colman quickly fell in perfect harmony with Kelly’s emotional connections to the story, a point that would help with refining the pacing of the scenes. Simultaneously, he focused on remaining impartial to the journey of the characters, allowing him to approach the story much like a viewer seeing it for the first time.  This sensibility allowed him to keep “all the balls are in the air” between the various family and personal dynamics that must unfold organically for the story to have impact.

What proved most challenging during the final editing process was tightening the excellent performances from stars including Molly Shannon, Jesse Plemons and Bradley Whitford, to name a few. Colman knew the rough cuts played long and needed to be trimmed to maintain momentum.  Colman and Kelly took time with key scenes between characters to find the emotional sweet spots and perfect pacing that would fall properly into the film’s run time.

“We were stuck with a wealth of material from these great perfomances. It was a harsh reality; this needs to play and have momentum,” said Colman.

Like most editors, Colman describes his editing process as “feeling” and “maintaining” drama and comedy. One particular device he can point to, however, is his use of David (Jesse Plemons) as the entry of the audience into the journey of "Other People."  During deep emotional beats - for instance when Joanne (Molly Shannon) is the on stage guest at David's improv troupe or when skyping during a family friend’s wedding - Colman would include a shot of David to get his point of view on the situation.

In between attending screenings of “Other People”, Colman is currently back in the editor’s seat, working on some commercials as well as a project for the National Football League.

“As an editor, it’s nice to be able to go from the micro story of a commercial to the macro of a feature. I’m very lucky,” said Colman.