postPerspective Update

Back to the ’70s to edit
Hulu’s Mrs. America
By Randi Altman

The ‘70s in America was a lot of things, but boring wasn’t one of them. There was the on-going war in Vietnam; there were widespread protests against that war; there was a major political scandal; and the feminist movement was in full swing. It’s also when Hulu’s Mrs. America, an FX Original Series, takes place.

The nine-part miniseries, created by Dahvi Waller, follows Phyllis Schlafly (Cate Blanchett) and her quest to get the Equal Rights Amendment squashed. Yes, you read that correctly. Schlafly didn’t want equal rights for women — so much so that she started the national Stop ERA campaign, which told women that their “privileges,” like spousal support, would be taken away and that their daughters would be drafted.

Conversely, the series also tells the story of the women who were fighting to get the amendment ratified, including Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan and one-time presidential hopeful Shirley Chisholm. The show deftly weaves the stories of these very strong-willed and diverse women and the political and personal battles they were fighting.

Mrs. America was cut by three editors working out of 16:9 Post in Sherman Oaks — Robert Komatsu, Emily Greene and Todd Downing. We recently spoke with Komatsu, who cut the pilot and two other episodes, about his workflow. We also spoke with Downing and Greene, who edited three episodes each as well.

How early did you get involved with the show?
Robert Komatsu: Officially, I started about 10 days before shooting. There was going to be a lot of archival footage in the show, and the producers and I thought it would be good to get a head start on it. In fact, I edited my first versions of the archival sequences for the pilot and the seventh episode during this time.

Can you talk about working with the producers, directors and show runner?
Komatsu: Even though this was a limited series for television, we treated it as if we were working on a feature. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck had mostly directed features. Stacey Sher and Coco Francini mostly produced features. I had come from features. No one said, “We’re going to work on this as if we were working on a feature,” but we were working on it as if we were working on a feature.