[Glenn Ficarra]

I know and have worked with a lot of co-directors professionally and personally (Coens, Lord and Miller). Most tend to write together and hash out the differences early on in the process. This is true of my partner and I. We’ve been working together for 25 years. We’ve developed a shared brain and a trust in that time and are old enough to not waste time on ego battles and other distractions. We have also known Jan for 20 years and let me tell you, when you erase ego and territoriality from the equation it’s simply about having fun and making a movie. I for one do not believe in the auteur theory as a monolithic definition. It’s more like a band. No matter how strong your voice is, there is always the unique flavor of the mix of people that affects the whole. Sometimes this is a conscious mix and sometimes it’s a happy accident. This mix includes the editor, PD, the composer, DP, VFX, even the AD and on a huge level, the cast.
Anybody here ever see the doc Sound City? It’s a really great illustration about how changing the team on the slightest level can affect the whole and it’s neither better or worse- it simply is (as long as you have a kick ass Neve console and great-sounding-by-accident drum room, that is)

[Glenn Ficarra]

We were able to exploit the ease of x with “trying instead of talking”. we were able to illustrate notes and ideas hands on instead of exclusively trying to convey them verbally. All ideas were welcome and used. But that’s not exclusively how it worked. Sometimes jan would cut according to storyboards or the script and we would give notes. Sometimes we’d take a pass after his pass. Sometimes I would cut the first pass with John and give a scene the rough shape we “intended”, then pass it to Jan to get his interpretation of it. Sometimes john would work with jan poring through takes and honing tone and performance while I was cutting a montage. Etc, etc. all in all the process was a fluid conversation between us. There were zero fights because we were able to iterate quickly and go with what was best which I believe was the reason editors switched to NLEs to begin with. It was a terrific process but it was ours, not the only way.

[Glenn Ficarra]

David Lean, Stuart Baird, George Lucas, Scorcese all were editors as well as directors. Cameron, Rodriguez, are hands on in the edit room as well. I do not put myself on a par with these stellar talents, but I was a workaday editor in a former life, and my partner and I have been making movies since we were ten years old and edited them as well. As a writer director producer and editor, I am entitled to use the tool of my choice and collaborate with whom I deem artistically compatible. Why is this such a radical concept worthy of so much bile? This is a collaborative medium and I was interested in exploring new technology, not making some comment on the creative process. Calm the heck down folks. We tried it, we liked it, we’re using it again. Plain and simple. Why overthink this? It’s just a tool and it’s not for everybody nor do I think it should be. There is a lot to admire in x as well as cutting on a moviola. I have used both and everything in between and this is tool I see potential in and it serves our collaborative workflow extremely well. If you don’t like it, don’t use it.