This post originally appeared on the Adobe blog on September 5th, 2024.
Greedy People is a darkly comedic crime thriller set in the fictional town of Providence, NC, where a murder leads to a series of increasingly bad decisions that upend the once peaceful island town. After accidentally killing a local resident, rookie cop Will (Himesh Patel) and his rogue partner Terry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) discover a million dollars at the scene. By taking the money and covering up the crime, the two cops set in motion events that reveal the greed and hidden agendas of people within the community.
We spoke with Jamie Kirkpatrick, ACE, about editing the film using Adobe Creative Cloud tools. Specifically, Productions in Adobe Premiere Pro was an essential tool for organizing the large amount of dailies for this project.
Greedy People is available to stream on Apple TV, Prime Video and in select theaters now. Read on below for more insights on its editing workflow.
How and where did you first learn to edit?
I went to film school at Boston University, but it wasn’t until the summer before my senior year, while in Hollywood, that I really caught the editing bug. Through a few random connections, I met renowned film editors Billy Weber and Donn Cambern. They invited me to intern on a film they were working on called Little Giants.
One day, Steven Spielberg, who was producing the film, came into the cutting room to help out with a tricky section. They let me sit in and watch, and it was mind blowing seeing what they could do with editing. Right then and there, I knew editing was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
How do you begin a project/set up your workspace?
I always do research for a film I’m about to start. Sometimes, a director will send me reference films, but I mostly do that on my own — not to copy, but to draw inspiration from films with a similar tone or genre. Those films become part of the ongoing conversation with the director. This is my second consecutive film working with director Potsy Poncirol, the previous film being Old Henry. Prior to Greedy People, we were sharing films with each other for inspiration.
Tell us about a favorite scene or moment from this project and why it stands out to you.
There were so many fun scenes to work on in Greedy People, but one of my favorite scenes has to be when Will and Terry interview Keith (the masseur) at his house. The scene is about subterfuge: the cops are trying to figure out what Keith knows while Keith is trying his best not to incriminate himself. So, the challenge was to find those moments that straddled the line between subtle and funny. And meanwhile, Keith’s elderly mom keeps popping up from the background and complicating his alibi.
I think everyone recognizes that Simon Rex (who plays Keith) is an incredible comedic actor, but what I discovered cutting that scene is what a great straight man Himesh Patel (who plays Will) is. The micro-reactions he gives while listening to Keith tell his story still make me laugh whenever I see that scene.
What were some specific post-production challenges you faced that were unique to your project? How did you go about solving them?
We were one of the earliest features to use Premiere Pro’s Productions tool when we cut Old Henry in 2020. I had a pretty seamless experience with that workflow, however, that was a much smaller film. Greedy People was much larger, in terms of the amount of dailies, and throughout the process I learned the importance of not making each project within the production too big.
Ben Insler, who had been an assistant editor on David Fincher’s Mank (possibly the first film to use Productions) as well as Fincher’s The Killer, was instrumental in explaining how to break the film down into smaller chunks. So, instead of one “dailies” project, we reorganized and created separate projects for each day of dailies. This helped improve the speed and performance of our systems and made a big difference during post.
What Adobe tools did you use on this project and why did you originally choose them? Were there any other third-party tools that helped enhance your workflow?
I became a huge fan of the Essential Sound panel on this film, specifically the “stretch” function, called Remix, which had just been introduced when we were editing. My director Potsy likes to use a lot of temp music to get the scenes to play right tonally, and the ability to take a pre-composed piece of music and extend it a few seconds without having to cut it so it ends where you want is a game-changer.
If you could share one tip about Premiere Pro, what would it be?
It’s not really a tip but I want to shout out the Lumetri Color panel which I just love. I came up at a time when color correction was exclusively someone else’s job so I never learned the intricacies of correcting within my software. But the Lumetri tools are so intuitive and fast that I don’t even hesitate to correct a shot that’s a little off color-wise.
Who is your creative inspiration and why?
There are so many filmmakers that inspire me but none more than the late Polish filmmaker Krystof Kielslowski. His Three Colours trilogy is widely (and rightly) considered a masterpiece. When I saw them in sequence at a theater, it completely changed my concept of cinematic storytelling. It’s impossible to briefly describe why his films resonate so deeply for me but what I find so inspiring is his ability to weave his story’s central theme into virtually every shot and to elicit deeply profound insights from seemingly ordinary images. His work taught me that every image in the film should mean something, so that idea is always in the back of my mind when I’m assembling a scene.
What’s the toughest thing you’ve had to face in your career and how did you overcome it? What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers or content creators?
Throughout my career as an editor, I’ve been fortunate to work with positive, supportive directors who considered me a true collaborator. (Potsy being a prime example!) But a couple of times I’ve worked with narcissistic, manipulative or even verbally abusive people. While there’s no doubt that our industry has gotten better in this regard, those folks are still out there, and they can make working on a job pretty miserable.
What I’ve learned over the years and what I would remind anyone who finds themselves in a bad work situation is: Life’s too short to be unhappy at work. You can quit. And the whole “you’ll never work in this town again” thing is overblown and just used to keep people from standing up for themselves. Your mental health and well-being is more important than any film or tv show.
What’s your favorite thing about your workspace and why?
While I live in an apartment in New York, we have a house in the Catskill Mountains, about two hours north. Since my wife can work remotely, I was able to edit Greedy People at the house. Being able to look out at the lake or take a walk in the woods when I need a break makes the whole work experience so much more enjoyable.
