Yvette M. Amirian, ACE, is a film and television editor who has been transitioning seamlessly between editing scripted and documentary content for the better part of two decades. One of her most recent projects was the holiday film EXmas, which tells the story of Graham (Robbie Amell) and Ali (Leighton Meester), two exes who aren’t quite over each other and still harbor resentment over how things ended. When Graham decides to surprise his family by traveling home for Christmas, he is shocked to discover they are already celebrating with Ali. A battle ensues.

Yvette M. Amirian

We reached out to Amirian to find out more about her work on this holiday rom-com, which was shot on a Red Raptor.

How early did you get in on EXmas?
Director Jonah Feingold contacted me soon after he was hired and sent me the script. I read it the same day and shared how excited I was because the story and characters really resonated with me. Within a few weeks, I was hired. I received Jonah’s director’s deck and immediately dove into catching up on any of the movies he had referenced that I hadn’t seen, and even revisiting the ones that I had seen. My official start date was about a month or so after he had first reached out to me. It all came together very quickly.

Can you talk about your editing workflow? Were you keeping up with the camera?
Yes. I started the day after they began shooting, so I would have the previous day’s footage to work with the following day. And I was always in sync with them, give or take a day or two because they weren’t shooting weekends.

How did you work with the director? How often was he looking at your cut?
We had a very tight schedule on this and knew that going in. So Jonah and I discussed it and made a mutual decision to send cuts back and forth very actively. They were shooting for four weeks, so at the end of every week, I would send Jonah whatever scenes I had cut.

But in the middle of that, if there was a specific scene he wanted to see for a logistical reason (did he have enough coverage, was the performance working, was the joke landing, etc.) or a particular scene I wanted feedback on to make sure I was on the right track tonally, I would send those as soon as they were ready. At the end of that, we watched through the whole assembly together and took it from there into the next stage of our cuts. So it was a very collaborative experience working with him from day one.

What sort of notes were you getting back? Can you provide an example?
The initial notes, like any project where you’re working with a director for the first time, are usually the result of you trying to learn that director’s specific language. Some directors like longer takes; some like things more cutty; some want temp music, some don’t. So the earliest notes were Jonah voicing what he loved, what he wanted to see different versions of and what he wanted to see more or less of.

He really lets you have freedom. He doesn’t want you to deliver what you think he would want, but rather wants to see your fresh perspective — what can you do with the footage that maybe he didn’t see while he was shooting it? So that was refreshing, and it gave me a great jumping-off point. Within a week or so, I started to get a good handle on his style, the things I knew he would eventually note, and I started incorporating that into what I was doing moving forward.

Was there a particular scene that was most challenging?
A couple challenging scenes were the dinner scene and the scene on the stairs, where Ali and Graham first run into each other.

The reveal on the stairs had two people at the top of a very tall staircase and two others at the bottom. You have to establish the geography early — if you haven’t done that properly, everything else about that scene is super confusing. This is also the first scene where you see Graham and Ali together in the present day, and they have this very heated exchange. So choosing the right performances to build their chemistry set the tone for the premise of the whole movie. They have to be angry enough with each other to make this upcoming bet [about who stays for Christmas], but you have to sense their unfinished romantic business to show the promise of them potentially rekindling things.

The Christmas Eve dinner scene featured our entire ensemble cast of eight characters. And while the majority of it stuck pretty close to the script, there was a ton of coverage and some really funny improv moments. Because of that, there was a lot of material to watch through, absorb choose from and experiment with.

Like all large scenes with people around a table, you have to balance your focus on multiple characters and moments at once and make sure jokes are landing at the right spot while also capturing the appropriate reactions. There were a number of beats in that scene that we had to leave on the cutting room floor because we found the scene was taking longer to get through than we wanted. There’s also this huge tonal shift that happens toward the end, so we had to keep that in mind as the big “reveal” we were building toward while crafting all of this.

It was so much fun to cut, and I’m really proud of how it all came together. But it was definitely the most time-intensive scene to get through, and we went through many variations.

Did you do more than edit on this film?
No, I was just the editor. I have previously received additional credits as producer, supervising producer and writer… especially on documentaries and scripted series. But on this, I was focused entirely on editing.

What system did you use to cut? Is there a tool within that system that was particularly helpful?
I cut the movie on Avid Media Composer. It’s hard to say if there was a specific tool that was helpful, because I love the program and how fluid it is depending on what I need at various stages of the editing process.

We ended up creating a musical style in the film that required a lot of EQ and reverb to make the Christmas songs sound diegetic, like they were coming from within the scene. That was the result of Jonah’s vision for what the Stroop family household sounds like – chaotic, with Christmas music or movies always on in the background. I was able to use Avid’s audio plugins to craft those moments, and they really became part of the language of our film, which we then replicated in the mix. And of course, I always reach for little tricks through Media Composer’s effects palette, like split screens to weave together two takes or color correction to match shots and push-ins.

There’s one scene where Graham and Ali are in a long two-shot that runs almost two minutes with no cuts. We messed around so much with chopping that down, taking the air out and trying to cover it with reactions. In the end, our first instinct to just let it play out and breathe worked beautifully. But we added a very slow push-in through 3D warp that gradually focuses in on Ali listening to Graham and then slowly pushes up to land on his reaction to what she says.

It’s super-subtle, and you probably wouldn’t even notice if you weren’t looking for it. But when this really intense moment between them ends, that movement comes to a stop, and it’s like you catch your breath – almost like you would with a cut landing in the right place. I loved being able to create that, with no edits, through those tools in Avid.

How did you manage your time?
I make lists of my goals for the day, often at the end of the day going into the next or first thing in the morning before I start. In dailies, I’ll use the script supervisor’s notes as they come in to get a sense of what the upcoming scenes are looking like. Based on the amount of coverage I’m seeing once my AE brings everything in, I’ll judge what I’m in the right headspace for. I find that for a larger scene, like the dinner sequence, if I’m not in the right frame of mind, my time is better spent moving through a series of simpler scenes until I can work that energy up to attack something more substantial.

The same goes for addressing notes. I’ll quickly move through the ones that take up the least amount of time and brain power, and then I make a plan of attack for the pieces I know will take longer to get right.

 Who was your assistant editor on this one?
The wonderful Julia Solá. She has an incredibly calm personality and really helped me stay centered during stressful deadlines. She was always one step ahead in providing what I needed, whether it was temp music or a VFX mock-up, and she got things out to our team in a timely manner.

Even recently, speaking to our composer Grant Fonda, he mentioned how positive and professional all his interactions had been with Julia. She is a gem, and I hope I get more opportunities to work with her again in the future.

How do you manage the producers’ expectations with reality/what can really be done?
Whether or not you believe a note can be achieved, the first step is to push past your own expectations and try it. If I’m having a hard time making that a reality, I try to have something in my back pocket that addresses “the spirit of the note,” as we often say.

For example, as I cut dailies, I will always build alternate versions of scenes and save them. If a scene isn’t working for a producer, I can pull up that alt version to showcase options. Even if it’s a minor change, it often shifts their perspective of the scene and addresses the spirit of what they were hoping to achieve.

If you’ve exhausted all your options and something is truly not doable, I show my team and explain why it doesn’t work. And if it does work, or that trial and error lead to a totally different solution you can come up with together, then what was the harm in trying? It made the movie better!

How do you take criticism? Do you find yourself defensive or accepting of others’ ideas (good and bad)?
I think my answer to this echoes my answer above. You have to leave your ego at the door and accept all ideas as potential solutions. You have to at least give them a shot because they could lead to a breakthrough that enhances the film. Or they could truly turn out to be a bad idea. I think for the most part, when it’s clear that’s the case, people are willing to say “Hey, nice try. We gave it a shot, but it clearly doesn’t work. Moving on.”

Like most editors, I used to get more defensive very early in my career when I would get notes that felt “critical” of my choices. But as you develop your skills and grow, you realize that criticism isn’t necessarily directed at you. It has more to do with a difference of opinion and preference.

Of course, an editor’s opinion matters and when you’re lucky to work with a director like Jonah who values your perspective, it’s a blessing. But at the end of the day, a big part of my job is to help execute someone else’s vision. So I have to move past any negative feelings associated with the criticism that naturally comes with receiving notes on your work, and put that energy toward the greater good of the film as a whole.

When someone who is starting out asks what they should learn, what do you recommend?
The various nonlinear editing platforms are an obvious start. It is essential to understand the intricacies of those systems so that you are equipped as an assistant to support your editors. It’s also important to consistently practice your own work as an editor. Take on your friends’ short films, ask your editors for scenes you can cut…keep practicing so that while moving forward as an AE, you’re still improving your skills as an editor.

So much of doing that will naturally result in you learning how to craft stories. A lot of tasks my assistants take on revolve around sound effects, music, cutaways and alternate lines… things that are all at the service of the story we are telling. So read scripts, watch movies and series, and develop a deep understanding and love of strong storytelling.

And of course, if you can get into a room to shadow, intern, post assist, whatever… absorb everything around you. Watch how editors communicate, watch how assistant editors put out fires, and develop an understanding of workflows and systems that can help set you up for success when you get the opportunity to take that next step in your journey.