First, is a comment from a writer on our show who used to be an editor (both of reality TV and scripted). He, rather hilariously, explained to us how an editor would talk to a writer when cutting back chunks of their work to get to the right run-time: “I know that’s what you thought was in the scene, but it’s not in the footage so it’s now what we’re going to work with now.” The idea that “it’s not in the footage” was interesting to me, also scary. The idea that you may have written something brilliant, or at least intended to write something brilliant, but if for whatever reason it doesn’t show up in the actual footage (bad coverage, the scene didn’t unfold the way you intended, the writing wasn’t as good as you thought, or simply that it is not urgently necessary to the story) then it will be cut out.
The other thing is a more logistical process note to myself. And that is: if there’s going to be a break during the show (in our case, Thanksgiving) it REALLY is helpful to have intricate and detailed notes laid out before the break — notes that track exactly what
Always have really intricate and detailed notes laid out before a break because it is really hard to return to that when you’re back and remember the trains of thought that led you down certain rabbit holes of character arcs and subplots. And mentally, it just feels like eons ago when you return — the more big notes you have to jump-start those thought processes again is really helpful.