The Rough Cut

Editors – Chris Chandler and Devin Dulany
The Musical editors Chris Chandler and Devin Dulany discuss cutting a dark comedy that turns professional frustration, romantic jealousy and middle-school theater into an increasingly elaborate act of revenge. For Devin, the project began years earlier when he edited the original AFI short that eventually became the feature, while Chris brought a background in comedy that includes Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dave and Blindspotting.

Directed by Giselle Bonilla and written by Alexander Heller, The Musical stars Will Brill as Doug Leibowitz, a frustrated playwright working as a middle-school theater teacher while dreaming of a more important career in New York. When Doug discovers that his ex-girlfriend Abigail, played by Gillian Jacobs, has begun dating his nemesis, Principal Brady, played by Rob Lowe, he decides to sabotage Brady's pursuit of a prestigious Blue Ribbon award by secretly replacing the school's planned production of West Side Story with an original musical designed to create the worst possible publicity for everyone involved.

The film began as an AFI Conservatory short before Bonilla, Heller and several members of their original filmmaking team expanded the idea into their first feature. Devin edited that original short and returned for the feature, while Chris joined the team as both editor and post producer. The movie premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival before receiving a nationwide theatrical release.

In our conversation, Chris and Devin talk about expanding a premise that worked at short-film length into a feature, maintaining the movie almost entirely through Doug's increasingly distorted point of view, and finding the right editorial balance for a protagonist whose commitment to his own grievances is essential to the comedy. They also discuss working with Will Brill's intensely serious performance, preserving the sincerity of the young cast, building the escalating revenge plot, and holding back enough of the school production to make the final performance deliver on everything the film has been promising.
CHRIS CHANDLER
Chris Chandler is an editor whose credits include The Musical, Blindspotting, Dave and Curb Your Enthusiasm. His work spans comedy, music-driven storytelling and character-focused television and feature filmmaking. Chris received an ACE Eddie Award nomination alongside Roger Nygard, ACE for the Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 11 finale, "The Mormon Advantage." In addition to editing The Musical, Chris served as the film's post producer, helping guide the project through an abbreviated post-production schedule leading into its Sundance premiere.
DEVIN DULANY
Devin Dulany is an editor and filmmaker whose work includes The Musical and the AFI short on which the feature was based. An alumnus of the AFI Conservatory's Editing program, Devin was part of the original group of filmmakers who developed the project during their time at AFI and later reunited to expand it into a feature. Before attending AFI, Devin worked professionally in editorial in New York and Los Angeles, cutting commercials, trailers, documentaries and narrative projects while also developing his own work as a director and cinematographer.
The Credits
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Hear Chris discuss his work on the Starz series BLINDSPOTTING.

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Editor – Phil Hignett
Finding Emily editor Phil Hignett returns to The Rough Cut to discuss cutting a romantic comedy built around music, timing, chemistry and the difficult balance between letting a joke land and giving a relationship enough space to feel real. Working with director Alicia MacDonald, Phil helped shape a film that draws on the pleasures of the classic British rom-com while giving the genre a younger, more contemporary point of view.

Directed by Alicia MacDonald and written by Rachel Hirons, Finding Emily stars Spike Fearn as Owen, a musician and sound engineer who becomes determined to find a woman named Emily after discovering that the phone number she gave him is missing a digit. His search leads him to Emily Raine, played by Angourie Rice, an American psychology student who agrees to help him while secretly using his increasingly elaborate search as material for her academic work.

As Owen's quest spreads across campus and begins attracting attention, the relationship developing between the two of them becomes far more important than the person he originally set out to find. Music is central to the identity of the film, from Owen's own musical life to the Manchester setting and a soundtrack that helps establish the rhythm and emotional tone of the story. In our conversation, Phil talks about cutting comedy and romance within the same scene, shaping the chemistry between Owen and Emily, working with fast overlapping dialogue, using music as an editorial engine, and knowing when a two-shot or a held reaction can say more than another cut.

The discussion also gets into some of the film's more unusual editorial challenges, including the way Owen's search spreads through social media, the large number of Emilys who become part of the story, the balance between making Owen's behavior feel romantic and allowing the audience to question it, and the film's distinctive use of music during some of its biggest emotional moments.
PHIL HIGNETT
Phil Hignett is an editor whose credits include Finding Emily, Sex Education, Stath Lets Flats, Wedding Season, Renegade Nell and Am I Being Unreasonable? His work spans television, features and commercial editing, with a particular emphasis on comedy, performance and the precise timing required to balance humor with character. Phil began his career in commercial editorial before moving into long-form work, eventually collaborating with filmmakers including Ben Taylor and Alicia MacDonald. His work on Sex Education was recognized with a BFE Cut Above Award for Best Edited Series: Comedy, shared with fellow editors Steve Ackroyd, David Webb and Izabella Curry.
The Credits
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Hear Phil discuss his work on season three of SEX EDUCATION.

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Editor – John Axelrad, ACE
The End of Oak Street editor John Axelrad, ACE returns to The Rough Cut to discuss cutting a science-fiction thriller that takes an ordinary suburban family and abruptly removes every familiar rule of the world around them. Working with writer-director David Robert Mitchell, John had to balance large-scale spectacle and mystery with a story that remains grounded in the relationships between the members of one family.

Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, The End of Oak Street begins when a mysterious cosmic event rips an entire suburban neighborhood from its surroundings and transports it to someplace unknown. The Platt family soon realizes that understanding where they are may be less immediately important than simply surviving, forcing them to depend on one another as the familiar streets and homes around them become increasingly dangerous and unrecognizable. 
JOHN AXELRAD, ACE
John Axelrad, ACE is an editor whose credits include Ad Astra, The Lost City of Z, Papillon, Antebellum, Chevalier, Spaceman, Krampus, Crazy Heart, Two Lovers and We Own the Night. A graduate of the USC School of Cinema-Television, John began his career in assistant editorial before moving into the editor's chair and has worked across science fiction, drama, horror and historical filmmaking. He is also an active mentor to emerging editors through organizations including American Cinema Editors and the Academy Gold program.
The Credits
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Hear John discuss his work with assistant editor Jared Simon on ANTEBELLUM.

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Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Editors – Nat Sanders, ACE; Harry Yoon, ACE and Gina Sansom
Spider-Man: Brand New Day editors Nat Sanders, ACE, Harry Yoon, ACE and Gina Sansom join The Rough Cut to discuss helping director Destin Daniel Cretton take Peter Parker into a deeper, more grounded chapter of his story. Nat and Gina began the film together during production, with Harry joining them for the director's cut, bringing together three editors who had each previously collaborated with Destin on projects ranging from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to Wonder Man.

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, Spider-Man: Brand New Day finds Peter Parker (Tom Holland) fighting crime full-time as Spider-Man in a world that no longer remembers him. As Peter watches MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) continue their lives without him, the pressure of his isolation begins to trigger a transformation he may not be able to control. At the same time, a new threat emerges in New York, drawing Peter into a conflict that also brings him together with Frank Castle / The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), Bruce Banner / Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Jean Grey (Sadie Sink). The film also stars Tramell Tillman and Michael Mando.

For Nat, Brand New Day continues a long creative relationship with Cretton that stretches back to Short Term 12 and includes The Glass Castle, Just Mercy and Shang-Chi. Harry previously worked with Cretton and Nat on Shang-Chi, while Gina came to the film following collaborations with Cretton on American Born Chinese and Wonder Man. Brand New Day also marks Gina's first feature as an editor.

In our interview, Nat, Harry and Gina discuss dividing the film between three editors, working in close proximity to production at Pinewood Studios, shaping Peter Parker's darker and more emotionally complex story, and using previews to test radically different versions of the film. They also talk about finding the right balance between practical action and visual effects, managing the reveal and evolution of Jean Grey, preserving Peter's emotional point of view in his scenes with MJ and Ned, and collaborating with composer Michael Giacchino as the film developed through post.
NAT SANDERS, ACE
Nat Sanders, ACE is an Academy Award-nominated editor whose credits include Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk, Short Term 12, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, The Glass Castle and Just Mercy. A longtime collaborator of director Destin Daniel Cretton, Nat has worked with him from independent character dramas through large-scale studio filmmaking. Nat received an Academy Award nomination alongside Joi McMillon for editing Moonlight and has twice won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Editing.
HARRY YOON, ACE
Harry Yoon, ACE is an editor whose feature credits include Minari, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Thunderbolts*, The Fire Inside, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, First Man and Detroit. Harry's work spans intimate character dramas and large-scale action films, with a particular focus on maintaining performance and emotional point of view within complex visual storytelling. Spider-Man: Brand New Day reunites him with Destin Daniel Cretton and Nat Sanders following their work together on Shang-Chi.
GINA SANSOM
Gina Sansom is an Emmy-nominated editor whose television credits include Wonder Man, Our Flag Means Death, American Born Chinese, Reservation Dogs, Silicon Valley, Better Things, Love and Horace and Pete. She received an Emmy nomination for her work on Horace and Pete. After previously collaborating with Destin Daniel Cretton on American Born Chinese and Wonder Man, Gina makes her feature editing debut with Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

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Hear Nat and Harry discuss their first Marvel collaboration with Destin Daniel Cretton on SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS.

Listen to Harry talk about cutting Lee Isaac Chung's Oscar®-nominated film MINARI.

Hear Harry discuss his return to the MCU with THUNDERBOLTS*.

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Editor – Payton Koch
For Avatar: The Last Airbender editor Payton Koch, this job offered a very different kind of editorial challenge from his Emmy-nominated work on Only Murders in the Building. The series has to move between large-scale action, visual effects, martial arts, comedy, mythology and coming-of-age drama, often within the same sequence. It also has to satisfy a fanbase that knows this world extremely well while still making the story accessible to viewers coming to it for the first time.

Based on the Nickelodeon series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, Avatar: The Last Airbender is set in a world divided into four nations — Water, Earth, Fire and Air — where certain people can "bend," or control, one of those elements. At the center of the story is Aang, the last surviving Air Nomad and the next Avatar, the one person capable of mastering all four elements and restoring balance to a world at war. Season Two takes Aang, Katara and Sokka deeper into the Earth Kingdom as they search for an earthbending teacher and make their way toward Ba Sing Se, the massive, heavily fortified capital of the Earth Kingdom. Along the way, the series expands its world with new allies, new enemies and a larger sense of the political and emotional cost of the Fire Nation's war.
PAYTON KOCH
Payton Koch is an Emmy-nominated picture editor with a diverse range of post-production credits on popular television series, including American Horror Story, Ratched and Only Murders in the Building. His work on the Hulu comedy series Only Murders in the Building earned him multiple ACE Eddie Award nominations, as well as his first Primetime Emmy nomination in 2024. His additional credits include American Crime Story, The Politician, Home Before Dark, Just Beyond and The Boys in the Band.  



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