HBO’s limited series Mare of Easttown, starring Kate Winslet as a Pennsylvania detective whose professional and personal lives become intertwined, was nominated for 16 Emmy Awards. It was compelling television that kept people coming back week after week, trying to figure out who did the murdering.
Amy E. Duddleston, ACE
Mare of Easttown was executive-produced by Craig Zobel, who directed all seven episodes — he received two nominations for his work on the series. Another recipient of Emmy attention was editor Amy E. Duddleston, ACE. She earned nods for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for “Miss Lady Hawk Herself” and, along with Naomi Sunrise Filoramo, for “Fathers.”
We recently reached out to Duddleston to talk about her workflow on the series.
When did you start on the show,and how did COVID affect it?
I worked on the show for 18 months, which is crazy for TV. We started in October of 2019, and at that time we were set up at J/Kam Digital in Burbank, working locally on drives until March 2020.
Unfortunately, once the pandemic hit, production shut down with about two months left to shoot at that point. At first, HBO told us that it would be at least six weeks until we could start working again, but six months passed before production resumed. During that hiatus, I reedited the entire show and did the director’s cut. Craig shot the episodes by cross-boarding, and none of them were complete, so I took what we had to make cuts. It helped us see what we had and determine what we needed, which gave us a huge leg up when shooting resumed. Production started again around September of 2020, and we finished our final cut on Christmas Eve.
Who was on your team?
Initially, my team was Génesis Henriquez, and she was my first assistant editor, and Emilio Luc Castillo was my apprentice editor. Once production started again, James Durante came on board as an assistant editor/visual effects editor, as did Chase Slover as my PA.
I also brought on my friend Naomi Filoramo to help with the editing. She is co-nominated with me for episode 2, “Fathers.” When we started working again, I was still doing cuts, so she helped me put that one together. We share editing credit on three episodes since she was instrumental in helping me finalize them.
Can you describe your remote workflow?
J/Kam switched us over to a remote Avid Media Composer system, Remote Picture Lab or RPL. They had all our footage on a remote server that we logged into on a desktop — a Windows version of Avid — which was interesting, but it was virtually still the same. It was tremendous because watching someone open a bin across town was mind-blowing. So on a typical day, the dailies came in, Génesis processed and binned them, I jumped in to edit the scene and then handed it off for the sound work. When I worked with Craig and the producers, we used Evercast. Craig and I only worked together once in person then all remotely. It’s still mind-boggling to me how we got the show made that way, but we did.
Did you do any temp VFX?
We had a bunch, more than we ever thought we would. James did all of those on his Avid. The show takes place over three seasons but it was shot mainly in the fall and winter, so trees had to grow leaves when spring came around. The seasons just didn’t change in the show as they did during the shoot, which was on location in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
What was the most challenging aspect of editing Mare of Easttown?
Mare’s a complex show because it’s a family drama with a murder mystery thrown into it. The point of view of it is you’re watching Mare go through her life and do her job simultaneously. It all revolves around her world, and that was the trickiest part. I had to balance everything so the audience saw every aspect of her life as important and not one part over another. It was vital for me to tell her story powerfully.
Which scene and episode are your favorites in terms of what you were able to accomplish, overcome or create?
My favorite is Episode 3. It was a buildup to Mare making a decision that would affect her career and her life, and it featured one of my very favorite scenes — a very drunken Zabel approaching Mare, who is about to make that bad life choice in a bar. Again, it was a lot of fun to edit, and it showcased Evan Peters’ skill as an actor.
In Episode 5, the gigantic set piece at the end, where Mare and Zabel go to Wayne Potts’s house and Zabel gets killed. That was the biggest scene in the show to work on, and the most challenging. It took the skill of every single person in our editing room to help create it — from the assembly edit, sound design, music editing, temp ADR, temp VFX. It was a huge effort. It went through several versions before we got to the one the audience saw. Getting the tension right was tricky, and we worked on it for weeks until it was perfect.
Finally, how does it feel to be nominated for your first-ever Emmy?
I was really shocked because I’ve never thought I would get an Emmy nomination for my work, so getting two is very exciting. I am so happy that people like the show. Getting this type of recognition is awesome. When I’m working on a show, I never know how people will react to it. But once the first episode aired, it was clear that people liked it based on the social media buzz that followed.
