For veteran editor Janet Weinberg, who joined Hacks for Season 3, the introduction to her work on the series was unusual, given that the first episode of this new chapter wound up in the cutting room for about a year and a half.
While work on Episode 1 commenced in the fall of 2022, she wound up taking an eight-month hiatus from the show, given last year’s double strikes and the heart procedure undergone by the show’s Emmy-winning star, Jean Smart.
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In getting back to work, says Weinberg, “the one scene that was really outstanding, because the episode was polished, [was] the slug of Las Vegas to go at the head, where we had the drone shot. That came in at the 11th hour of the life of this episode, and it was longer, I think, than what everybody anticipated.” While the episode was challenging for the editor given notes and issues to work through under time pressure, she found that it came out “great,” and not only because of an exceptional opening tracking shot.
Her favorite part of the episode, she says, was from the point where Hannah Einbinder’s up-and-coming comic talent runs into her mentor and former employer Deborah (Smart) at Montreal’s (now defunct) Just for Laughs festival, and while initially looking to avoid her, winds up banging on her hotel room door. “From there, they just take off in this great way that they have of the back and forth. I love that whole run,” says the editor. “It was such a pleasure to see how these characters played with each other, and the build and the conflict and the non-resolution, basically.”
RELATED: ‘Hacks’ Renewed For Season 4 At Max After Season 3 Finale
Debuting on Max in early May, Hacks‘ third season sees legendary comic Deborah Vance reunite with Ava after a year apart, as they realize they miss working together, despite their past conflicts. As her career hits new heights with an appearance on the TIME 100 list, Deborah seeks Ava’s help in preparing for a potential late-night hosting gig during Ava’s hiatus from work on a hit series.
An ACE Eddie Award winner who has worked on series ranging from Better Things to Love Life and Jane the Virgin, Weinberg is joined for a craft conversation on today’s episode of The Process by Emmy-nominated actor Carl Clemons-Hopkins, who plays the COO of Deborah’s management company and her closest confidante, Marcus, a character in the midst of a major evolution, who the thesp describes as walking “into his own power.”
During their time together, the pair get into the art of cutting comedy, working with score and needledrops, the experience of collaborating with three hands-on showrunners, and more, as well as what’s been crucial for Clemons-Hopkins in taking the story of Marcus forward.
Created and showrun by Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky, Hacks is executive produced by Downs and Aniello via their Paulilu banner, Statsky via First Thought Productions, as well as Michael Schur via Fremulon, David Miner for 3 Arts Entertainment and Morgan Sackett. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.
Check out the full conversation between Weinberg and Clemons-Hopkins, in their first time meeting, above.
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