Find a quiet spot, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🌙 ✦ At two in the afternoon, Jimmy knocked on Evan’s apartment door.
When the door opened, Jimmy saw at once that Evan had lost weight over the past two months.
Evan let him sit on the sofa, brought him a bottle of water, then sat across from him.
“Jimmy, I need to rent a postproduction space.
Mainly an editing room with a professional editor.
Do you have any connections?
If there isn’t a good, cheap option, I’ll have to take the film back to the school and edit it there.
That means doing it myself, and without a professional editor, I’m not sure I’m good enough.” Jimmy thought for a moment.
“I’ll have to contact people.
Forget the big companies.
If possible, I’ll see whether I can find you a professional place to rent.” “Good.
Quickly.
I don’t have much time.
Ideally in a few days.
Once post is done, if I can’t arrange a private industry screening in Park City during Sundance, I may have to screen the movie for film companies one by one.” Evan was anxious.
He had not shot excessive footage.
Editing and simple music would be enough.
He was not even thinking seriously about elaborate opening or closing credits.
His earliest plan had been to finish the movie as quickly as possible and use the Sundance Film Festival without pretending to be part of it.
It was too late to enter competition, but Professor Horowitz had helped arrange a private industry screening in Park City during the festival.
The movie would not be an official Sundance selection, but the right people might still be nearby.
“You want Sundance?” Jimmy frowned.
“So you’ve had this planned for a while.
There will be distributors, acquisitions executives, and sales representatives around Park City, but I need to be honest.
I don’t have the connections to invite many people from the major studios.
You know what I am.
A junior agent fresh out of the mailroom with a handful of new clients.” He looked uncomfortable.
Evan’s plan was obvious now: screen near Sundance and invite distributors or acquisitions people.
But that tested an agent’s network.
Jimmy was a small agent.
He did not have the power to walk straight into the offices of the major studios.
“Relax, Jimmy.
Invite whoever you can.
As long as someone is willing to sit in the theater and watch, I have confidence someone will want to distribute it.
“Or do you think I made a pile of shit and I am guaranteed to fail?
Even if no one buys this one, I have plans after it.” Evan kept his tone light.
He did believe in the movie.
His confidence came from how popular the original version had been in another life and how well it had performed at the box office.
“After it?” Jimmy leaned forward.
“Evan, I need to remind you sincerely.
You don’t have an after.
You have this one chance to prove yourself.
I don’t know where you pulled the investment from, but if you screw it up, no one is going to invest in you again.” “You’re that sure I’ll fail?” Evan looked at Jimmy’s serious face with a painfully strained expression.
“Reality tells me that directors your age don’t succeed,” Jimmy said.
“For a first-timer, finishing post and telling a coherent story would already be a major achievement.” He looked even more conflicted as he watched Evan’s confidence.
“But I’ll help you find a post house as fast as I can.
I hope you make the festival.” After that, Jimmy politely took his leave.
Evan did not mind his attitude.
It was normal.
Evan wanted his first film to reach theaters.
To Jimmy, that obviously sounded unrealistic.
The next afternoon, while Evan and Luke were discussing postproduction, Jimmy called.
He had found a place: a small Burbank post house that handled overflow work for companies such as Castle Rock Entertainment.
Evan and Luke hurried downstairs, got into the car, and drove straight to Burbank.
When they arrived, they found only a two-story building.
Jimmy was waiting at the entrance.
“Evan, come look inside,” Jimmy said.
“They have the equipment and an editor you need.
They charge by the day.
You still have enough money, right?” Jimmy led them in.
“Don’t worry.
Production cost under eight hundred thousand.
I saved a lot.
Shooting went smoothly enough that I have enough left for post.” Jimmy nodded, led them upstairs, knocked, and took them into the manager’s office.
Once they sat on the sofa, Jimmy made the introduction.
“Evan, this is Brown Jennings, the manager here.
Mr.
Jennings, this is Evan, my client.
He wants to rent one of your postproduction rooms to edit a film.” Evan and Jennings greeted each other, then moved directly to business.
With Jimmy’s help, Evan signed the rental contract quickly.
“Mr.
Jennings, I’ll start work tomorrow.
No problem with the editor?” After signing, Evan asked politely.
Brown Jennings studied the extremely young director.
“No problem.
I’ll introduce you tomorrow.
Julia is the best editor we have.
She won’t disappoint you.” They shook hands and exchanged goodbyes.
Outside the building, Evan turned to Jimmy.
“So this place handles overflow for Castle Rock?
I thought it would be bigger, being tied to a film company.” “Evan, Castle Rock is a mid-sized company, and post houses like this survive on overflow work.
There are plenty of places like this in Hollywood.
What were you expecting, a tower?” “Fine.
Luke and I need to go.
We have to pick up the workprint and sound rolls from the lab.
Bye.” He and Luke agreed to start first thing the next morning.
The sooner they finished, the better.
Evan had shot nine hundred minutes of material.
Even though he had filmed according to the images in his head, cutting all of that into a film of around ninety minutes was still a large amount of work.
Inside the editing room, the core team became Evan, Luke, and the editor Julia.
Julia was a middle-aged woman with a pleasant enough personality.
More importantly, she understood Evan’s intentions quickly.
Julia handled the actual cutting.
Evan gave her his requirements and the effects the film needed to preserve.
“Evan, let me confirm the story spine one last time,” Julia said after he explained what he wanted.
“If there are no problems, I’ll start.” “No problem.
Go ahead.” Every film had a spine.
His movie’s spine was clear: Tree slowly used the process of elimination to find the person killing her, and she grew through that process.
His instruction to Julia was to preserve as much of the violent footage of Tree being stabbed to death again and again as possible.
That was the one major change Evan had made.
He needed it as a hook, something that gave the images more impact.
On this point, Evan was deliberately targeting younger horror audiences.
A beautiful blonde being killed brutally again and again would trigger curiosity and a protective impulse.
It would keep viewers watching.
The first day of editing moved slowly.
Even the first rough cut required caution.
The film would live or die in the edit.
Different combinations of shots could create different stories, even stories that pointed in opposite directions.
Julia concentrated on the work.
Behind her, Evan and Luke occasionally discussed a point, then gave Julia direction.
After each edited segment, Evan watched it again.
He wanted to make sure every shot he needed survived into this first rough cut.
His plan was to keep the final film as close as possible to the version in his memory.
This was his first movie.
He had to choose the safest path.
No gambling.
“Luke, Tree’s first death needs to move as far forward as possible,” Evan said.
“The closer to the opening, the better.
Give the audience the reason for the story directly.
Use beauty and blood to hook them.” He explained his thinking and wanted to hear whether Luke had suggestions.
Since entering the editing room, Luke had barely spoken.
He had mostly watched in silence.
He looked at Julia working and considered Evan’s words.
His job here was to help.
Before coming, he had decided to watch and learn as much as possible.
That was the value of participating in this film.
This was also Luke’s first time involved in postproduction.
He did not have much experience, so after thinking for a moment, he said, “You’re right.
If I were an audience member, seeing that would make me want to keep watching and find out why Tree is going through it.
I think we should tighten the pace, build tension through rhythm.
“Also, for Tree’s first death, I would use the high-angle moving shot.
The top-down movement lets the audience take in the whole space quickly.
It creates immediate tension and makes the film feel tense, sharp, and a little darkly funny.” Evan considered it.
Luke’s instincts were basically aligned with his own.
“Julia, change this shot.
Use the later pan.” He pointed to the moment where Tree woke up.
A pan could narrow the audience’s sense of the space and create pressure and curiosity, pushing viewers to wonder what would happen next.
“Okay.
Swapped.
How does that look?” “Good.
Keep going.
Luke, make a note.
This spot needs some sound work to land better.” Most of the time, Evan and Luke discussed shot combinations without interrupting Julia’s actual editing.
Evan could see that although Julia looked quiet and unassuming, her technical skill was excellent.
That was another piece of luck.
“Evan, I don’t quite understand,” Julia said as she put away the edited film at the end of the first day.
“Have you studied editing too?
You clearly understand more than a little.” “I audited a few classes,” Evan said.
“If you asked me to cut the film myself, I couldn’t do it.” He had truly audited those classes.
Once he finished his required credits, he had touched almost every part of film production he could reach.
✦ ✦ ✦ Ready for more?
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS TheBacklot Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter drew you further into the story.
Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.