By Ben Mehlman
Apple TV+’s crime drama collection Dope Thief follows two delinquent buddies from Philadelphia who, after posing as DEA brokers to be able to rob homes, encounter an enormous drug ring. The present, produced by Ridley Scott and Peter Craig, has a gritty vitality that grabs maintain of viewers and refuses to let go. Brian Tyree Henry stars as Ray and Wagner Moura as Manny.
Philly native editor, Eric Litman, was one of many individuals who helped carry Dope Thief to life. Litman edited Episodes 3 and 4 in addition to the heart-wrenching Episode 7. He has additionally edited episodes of One Piece, Brokers of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Star Trek: Picard.
Eric Litman
Litman got here onto the undertaking after having labored with Scott Free, Ridley Scott’s manufacturing firm, on The Scorching Zone: Anthrax, a collection in regards to the 2001 anthrax assaults. His ears perked up when he heard they had been making Dope Thief — and that it was set in Philadelphia. Litman’s brokers reached out, and when the staff wanted a fourth editor, he obtained the nod.
We lately spoke to Litman about what goes into crafting an episode, how Dope Thief used COVID as a backdrop, and the way the strike influenced the path of the present.
Please be aware we talk about spoilers.
What’s your strategy when a present like Dope Thief presents its location nearly like a personality, particularly one you’re so acquainted with?
I first needed to recover from my preliminary response of realizing the realm. The espresso store the place Mina surprises Michelle — I knew it when it was a financial institution. Then after getting the familiarity out of my system, I attempted to be as goal as doable. You need Philadelphia to be a personality within the present, however it could possibly’t overwhelm what our major characters are doing, particularly Manny and Ray. We spent a number of time slicing transitional montages to get from one scene to the subsequent, which helped set the tone of the place we had been going or coming from.
What was your submit arrange for the present?
We edited on Avid Media Composer. I’ve been utilizing it for 20 years, and I feel my velocity with Avid was a part of the rationale Peter Craig and I began working extra intently collectively post-strike. We had been in a position to pitch concepts, and I used to be in a position to execute them pretty rapidly. We additionally used Evercast as a result of we had individuals all over the world — my director Marcela Stated went again to France after taking pictures. It made the workflow seamless; the one factor you needed to battle was the time zone.
Marcela would FaceTime me from set to share her ideas on the day’s shoot. Someday, she noticed vultures in a quarry, rapidly filmed them and known as me — these photographs turned a robust insert to represent Ray’s emotional state.
Are you able to speak extra about working with Peter Craig?
Peter’s extremely collaborative. On one of many first days we labored collectively, we had been having lunch and ended up speaking about music and customary pursuits for 2 hours. We then used our discussions to create a shorthand for engaged on the edit. One of many challenges on Dope Thief is that the episodes got here in pretty lengthy, like 70-to-90-minute preliminary cuts. There was a lot story and so many unbelievable performances — you needed to dwell in it for some time. However we couldn’t have such lengthy episodes, so we had to determine methods to inform the story in a extra concise approach.
What’s your strategy when crafting your first go of an episode earlier than it goes to the producers?
Once I first become involved in an episode, I wish to be in as many preproduction conferences as doable. I wish to speak to the director, the showrunner, producers. Tone conferences are crucial to grasp what their intent and targets are. I then attempt to execute that within the edit via my lens. My objective on the primary minimize is to current the episode because it was scripted and shot, then we are able to begin searching for what labored, what didn’t, how we are able to make it higher and the way we are able to inform this story in a extra concise approach.
On the finish of Episode 4, Ray was going to the membership to fulfill Michelle, and we had a complete sequence of him strolling there. It was superbly shot, but it surely didn’t move the way in which we had hoped. So, we tried intercutting that sequence, which trimmed it and made it extra accessible for everybody to view and perceive.
What was essentially the most troublesome scene or sequence to crack?
Not one of the scenes had been too troublesome. We had loads of intense scenes, like Episode 4’s truck sequence after the shootout, the place Ray and Manny — clearly in over their heads — go from crying and yelling to laughing. That scene was tough as a result of we didn’t wish to be gratuitous or self-indulgent whereas nonetheless honoring these unbelievable performances they had been giving.
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
Quick ahead to Episode 7, after they’re on the bus being taken to the trial. Manny is principally this large open wound and Ray thinks he’s going to show the state’s proof towards him. It’s the final time the 2 of them are collectively, so I needed to make sure we had captured the attractive mild reflecting off the home windows and emphasize the drama whereas nonetheless honoring their performances.
The opposite scene is the massive finish of Episode 7, the place Ray realizes the voice is coming from the hospital and they are going to be going after all people who’s essential to Ray. It’s intercut on this crescendo that culminates with seeing that Manny has died of an overdose. We had been looking for methods to maintain the momentum going — when to be with Ray, when to be with Michelle, when to disclose it was Son, not Manny, about to be attacked by the prisoners.
What went into capturing the present’s pressing gritty tone and tempo.
We tried to be propulsive in a approach that felt earned. We didn’t wish to really feel languid, in order that once we did pause, it highlighted one thing like Manny overdosing. That was at all times the intent for that sequence. Peter and I are large 9 Inch Nails followers, so I discovered a chunk from The Woman With the Dragon Tattoo to indicate how every aspect retains constructing — layer upon layer — till we drop the sound fully for the second when Ray’s within the elevator, processing the dying of his closest good friend. We keep on his face for that complete sequence. We then consciously minimize to black with no sound to indicate the vacancy Ray is experiencing.
Was it at all times minimize that approach, or was the misdirect one thing found within the edit?
To Peter’s credit score, it was at all times deliberate as a misdirect. It didn’t actually change a lot from the unique edit, however the earlier montages in Episode 7 did change. We needed to make these extra pointed. We had been in the midst of Episode 5 when manufacturing shut down as a result of strikes. Once we returned, the present’s path had shifted — notably round who was after Ray — so we needed to make the alliance between regulation enforcement, the cartel and the bikers within the meth distribution extra obvious.
What different methods did the story evolve within the wake of the strike? Have been there reshoots for earlier episodes, or was it purely editorial?
It was a mixture of each. In Episode 7, throughout Mina’s coaching montage, she pulls out all these photos of varied suspects, and it was not totally clear how all of them related. It was stated over various episodes, however we realized we actually wanted to spell it out. So, we discovered a shot the place we comped in a map explaining how everyone seems to be related, all primarily based on a graph Peter scribbled on a chunk of paper.
The present’s timing round COVID performs an enormous function. What was the precise steadiness of how a lot COVID world-building you could possibly lean into?
In Episode 4, I minimize a scene the place Mina talks to Jack as he explains how all these individuals obtained concerned. COVID had shut down the ports, leaving a backlog of meth they’d to determine the right way to cook dinner and distribute. I assumed it was an attention-grabbing approach of trying on the results of COVID. There was additionally the scene the place Nader catches flack for carrying a masks, which tells you the place individuals’s sensibilities are within the present. It brings you again to that very politically charged time.
What’s your favourite a part of being an editor?
I really like the sensation of whenever you first sit down with any person, often my assistant, and watch a scene and break it down. What’s working? How can we make it higher? What ought to we go away alone? It’s a number of enjoyable seeing a scene birthed.
I actually take pleasure in collaborating with individuals. Early in my profession, I obtained the recommendation that it turns into much less in regards to the undertaking you’re on and extra in regards to the collaboration with the individuals. Dope Thief had a collaboration the place we had been in sync your entire time.
Ben Mehlman is a three-time Cannes Filmmaker Residency finalist, had a script on the 2021 Annual Black Record, and was chosen for the 2020 Black Record Characteristic Lab. Mehlman was additionally the submit coordinator for the Apple TV+ present Presumed Harmless and the insert unit supervisor on the Max present Duster. Presently he’s engaged on the Apple+ collection Cape Worry as submit manufacturing coordinator.
