Veteran commercials editor Nelson Leonard–a founding partner of The NOW Corporation, a NYC post house which opened in 2002–extended his creative reach this past summer, landing his first TV series, FX network’s Married, a half-hour sitcom about being miserably in love. The show is centered on a couple–portrayed by Nat Faxon and Judy Greer–who copes with matrimony, trying to remember what life was like before kids, debt and glorious suburbia.
Leonard had a hand in editing five of the 10 episodes in season one (working in tandem with at least one other editor on each installment). And word at press time was that the series had just been picked up for a second season, this time for a 13-episode commitment.
Married is produced by FX Productions. The series was created by Andrew Gurland who wrote and directed the pilot and serves as executive producer/showrunner alongside EPs Peter Principato and Paul Young. The five episodes Leonard was involved in were: "Family Day," "Halloween," "Waffles & Pizza," "The Getaway" and "The Shower."
Leonard hopes to be involved in season two of Married which is scheduled to get underway in spring of 2015. But he affirmed that his prime commitment continues to be cutting commercials and branded content, his career bread and butter. Over the years, he has edited spots for such notable directors as Joe Pytka, Kinka Usher, Stacy Wall, Phil Morrison, Paul Goldman and Matt Aselton. Leonard has edited Super Bowl commercials for the NFL Network (directed by Aselton) and NBC–the latter being the “Brotherhood” promo on which he and NOW Corporation founding partner/editor Owen Plotkin teamed. Directed by Taika Waititi of Hungry Man, “Brotherhood” went on to win a Gold Pencil from The One Club.
Leonard’s other spot credits span such clients as Ikea, Snapple and Burger King. In fact, just prior to taking on season one of Married, Leonard cut the high-profile Burger King campaign out of agency Mother, including the initial run of spots directed by Stacy Wall of Imperial Woodpecker.
This week SHOOT connected with Leonard who shared his thoughts on diversifying into television.
SHOOT: How did you get the opportunity to edit Married?
Leonard: Salamo Levin, co-executive producer/writer on Married, is a long-time friend. We first got to know each other 20 years ago when we worked together at Editing Concepts–I was an editor and he was a cutting assistant. We really hit it off and he was there for a couple of years. We continued to stay in touch, keeping one another up to date on what we were doing.
He filled me in on Married and I told him I’d love to be involved if there were a place for me. Fortunately the schedule worked out. I wound up moving from New York to spend this past summer in Los Angeles–from Mother’s Day to late August–to work on the show. It was a great experience.
SHOOT: What was the learning curve like for you upon tackling your first TV series? What was the biggest creative challenge that Married posed to you as an editor?
Leonard: The most challenging aspect was to sort of break away from always trying to tell the story in the most concise way possible–in just 15 or 30 seconds. It’s a luxury to have a cast with this much talent on Married, to be really able to scrutinize the performances, to look for moments that really resonate, to find the nuances in the performances that make the show great. You don’t always have that kind of opportunity in commercials.
For a feature film editor, having a 22-minute television episode doesn’t seem like all that much time. But for me, coming from commercials, 22 minutes is an amazing longer form opportunity.
SHOOT: How did your extensive commercialmaking experience inform your first foray into series television?
Leonard: Sal [Salamo Levin] said one of the reasons that made me attractive to him for the show was the broad scope of the work I’ve done in commercials–comedy, dialogue, documentary-style commercials, work that’s a little bit verite with some improvisation.
Also in commercials, you’re accustomed to the pressure of deadlines and budgets. I respond well to pressure. And for a new show, there’s an inherent pressure in season one–to try to establish a series that viewers can connect with. As the season went on, we gained some of that traction.
SHOOT: What are you now able to bring back to commercials thanks to your experience on the TV series?
Leonard: An even greater sense of trying to find the best in an actor’s performance. The experience helped me develop a more discerning eye and ear for the nuance of performance. At the same time, working in TV maybe gives you some increased speed, being able to work more quickly and decisively, more precisely.
I also bring back to commercials a renewed enthusiasm for editing–being stoked to sit at the Avid and see what I can do with the dailies. I think the experience on Married only serves to make me a better commercials editor.
