This was a pivotal moment in my career for multiple reasons. It was my first multi-camera sitcom and I was the only editor on the second season of a hit show (except Episode 5, where I share a credit with the talented Russell Griffin). This came with a lot of pressure and growth but also led to my first three Primetime Emmy nominations in 2023: two for The Upshaws and one for History of the World Part II.
The Upshaws: Part 3 | Official Trailer | Netflixyoutu.be
Coming from a background of editing stand-up comedy made my transition to cutting The Upshaws a fluid one. Multi-camera sitcoms are shot on a soundstage with a studio audience and because they have a laugh track, the editorial style is much like stand-up comedy in the sense that the show is cut fat with room for the laughter to play out and time for the characters to take the laughter in. Single Camera comedy, however, is usually edited in a much tighter manner, with jokes layered on top of each other. The editorial style of The Upshaws is a hybrid of the two: we have the element of the studio audience, however, our showrunners prefer that the edits are on the tighter side, which is a different take on this format. I enjoyed the challenge of landing the jokes with the proper takes and reactions while artfully weaving in the laughter.
The other thing that sets the unique format of The Upshaws apart is that the editor is involved in production as well as post. On the pre-shoot day, I will either watch a live feed from my edit bay or go to set and sit with the showrunners, writers, and the director in video village to ensure we get the proper coverage. Then, I have to rush back to edit 7-9 scenes by the next afternoon for playback for the live studio audience, so we can record laughs. This tight turnaround and making sure I’m getting the best content into the cut while landing the jokes are two challenges of editing this show. Just because I have to work fast doesn’t mean I can let the story suffer, as it will be played in front of a live audience which truly tests the effectiveness of the comedy.
History of the World Part 2 | Trailer | Huluyoutu.be
My experience editing The Upshaws led me to my next show, History of the World, Part II. Just as we were wrapping up our season, Wanda asked if I’d be interested in cutting the Mel Brooks sketch comedy series. Of course, I jumped at the chance!
Coming from The Upshaws, where it was generally just me in the edit bay combined with the multi-camera editorial style, was an adjustment as History was quite the opposite. The culture of History of the World was extremely collaborative. We would screen cuts together as an editorial team and debate how to land a joke better, or which scenes would play best in an episode together. Additionally, I had to recalibrate my thinking to the editorial style of single-camera sketch comedy.
On The Upshaws, we almost always stuck to the script and the pace was much slower. However, on History of the World, the actors in the sketches often would deliver a plethora of improv gold, and finding ways to work these moments into the sketches to layer jokes, was not only valued but encouraged.
'History of the Wold, Part II'Credit: Hulu
This mindset also really paved the way for a lot of creative freedom. Oftentimes, we were re-writing jokes in the edit bay which did a lot to elevate the comedy. Also, being that History of the World is sketch comedy, there is a large variety of sketches in each episode about moments in history ranging from The Russian Revolution to Jesus, Sigmund Freud, and Kublai Khan. This created a unique challenge to build episodes that felt well-balanced. We spent many months as a team carefully structuring episodes, trying to position historical subjects, diversity, and types of sketches with longer or shorter sketches.
The most exciting thing for me about working on The Upshaws was that I grew up watching multi-camera sitcoms. They were a household staple for us, and since my family was first-generation Mexican-American on my dad’s side, it was very relatable to see other minority blue-collar families and their struggles told through comedy. Comedy is subjective, so having that relatability really helps me craft the story and punctuate the comedy in the edit bay.
Similarly, I grew up watching everything Mel Brooks and his comedic style has definitely informed my career in the genre. So when Wanda asked me if I was interested in working on History of the World, Part II, it was an extremely humbling moment that I knew would be both incredibly rewarding and challenging. Working on these two projects obviously paid off, as they earned me my first three Primetime Emmy nominations.
My advice to young aspiring filmmakers would be to start creating anything and everything. With the advances in technology, it’s so easy to take your phone or another device and record/edit a story. Once you learn the craft well, enter your work into as many film festivals as possible and network with like-minded individuals.
Get to know others with the same goals and aspirations. Create together and get noticed. Work hard for low pay at first. If you are truly passionate and put the work in, the jobs and money will follow. Most importantly, don’t have an ego! If your supervisor asks you to bring her coffee, ask her how she likes it. She may well bring you on to the next Star Wars movie.
This post was written by Angel Gamboa Bryant.
Angel Gamboa Bryant is a three-time Emmy-nominated television & feature editor with two decades of industry experience. Most recently, she edited the Hulu sketch series History of the World, Part II, starring Mel Brooks, Ike Barinholtz, Wanda Sykes, and Nick Kroll; as well as the Netflix sitcom The Upshaws. In 2023, she was Emmy-nominated for the first time, scoring three Primetime Emmy nominations, including one Emmy nomination for History of the World Part II for Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming, and two Emmy nominations for The Upshaws for Outstanding Picture Editing for Multi-Camera Comedy Series. Angel also has an impressive resume editing stand-up comedy specials for some of today’s most acclaimed comedians, including the Netflix specials: Wanda Sykes: Not Normal; Tiffany Haddish: Black Mitzvah; Ms. Pat: Y’all Wanna Hear Something Crazy, and Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration, to name just a few.
As a first-generation American, Angel’s multicultural background allows her to bring a unique perspective and skillset to the editing room. Throughout her childhood, Angel spent her summers in Mexico, where she saw people living without the luxuries commonplace throughout America. This experience gave Angel a global mindset and understanding of different cultures and languages. As an expert in editing a subjective genre like comedy, having a diverse perspective has been extremely beneficial to Angel’s work in telling the best story and landing all of the jokes while being culturally mindful.
Angel’s diverse editorial background has shaped her into a uniquely skilled editor who can inject a distinct perspective into the films and TV shows that she works on. Her aspirations for the future are to further establish herself as a trusted editor of scripted TV and feature films and expand into editing different genres such as dark comedy, comedic horror, suspense, and drama.
Today I want to talk about "stakes" with you. We'll go over what they are, how to raise them, and look at some fun examples.
Sound good? Let's go!
'The Lion King'Credit: Disney
When you're writing a scene, it has to be filled with conflict.
The stakes refer to what is at risk if the character fails to conquer that conflict. For example, let's say your character is climbing a high-grade cliff face, and their rope breaks. Thus, they're left hanging on. The conflict is the rope breaking and the fight to reach the top, and the stakes are life and death.
As I said up top, new writers will set the stakes but often forget to raise them. What I mean by that is they create a situation that has stakes, but the stakes never get higher. Think about our earlier idea of climbing a cliff and the rope breaking. The stakes are life and death.
But to raise them, what I told you that if you fall, you'd fall into a pool full of babies? And if you fall on those babies, not only will you die, but also all of those babies.
Now the stakes are even bigger for you to get to the top of that cliff safely.
So how can you raise the stakes in your own work?
'Mission: Impossible'Credit: Paramount Pictures
Everything comes back to conflict. The more conflict you have, the more your character has to lose. When you develop a character, you build in the goals of what they want in a story. This is their character motivation. To raise the stakes, you need more conflict between them and what motivates them to achieve their goal.
The more the characters have to lose as a result of that conflict, the more the stakes are raised. When the stakes are raised, the audience invests more in the story. This is what slides them to the edge of their seats. It's what makes people lean in to engage with your story.
Let's check some examples of professional writers and directors raising the stakes in some of your favorite movies.
'The Final Girls'Credit: Lionsgate
One of the greatest movies of all time is Die Hard. I think it maybe has the best examples of stakes raising in any more ever. The movie starts with John McClane there to save his marriage. Those are stakes. Then terrorist show up, and it's McClane in a life-or-death fight as he evades them. Then they take his wife, and it's her life at stake, too. Then he learns they plan on blowing up the building, and it's everyone's lives at stake.
This continual raising of the stakes makes things harder and harder on McClane. We love that protagonist more and more as we see him fight through conflict after conflict to save the day.
Another example would come in comedy. One of my favorites is the movie Superbad. It's clear at the beginning of the movie that what's at stake is these two guys getting laid. But as the night progresses, the stakes actually become more real, with arrest being on the table, and then even their actual friendship hanging over everything.
This is not life and death, but it raises the stakes to a level where it feels like it's real. You don't want their friendship to end. And when it precariously hangs over everything, you root for them to make up with one another.
'Superbad'Credit: Sony
As you can see, stakes are incredibly important to storytelling. The more you can raise them, the more the audience digs in and enjoys the story with you. Raising stakes can also help you decide on the twists and turns of the story you want. The more you do this, the better you get at it. And the better you get at it, the more professional your writing will become.
Let me know what you think of raising the stakes in the comments.
