#477 – Cut/daily Meets... Black Rabbit Editor Vikash Patel

Editing is a team effort.
It may look solitary, but building a strong team is essential.

— Editor Vikash Patel

In this bonus edition of Cut/daily Meets... there's a valuable lesson on teamwork to be learned. Specifically, how to build a team of editors you can rely on to deliver multiple episodes at the same time.

That was the task that fell to Editor Vikash Patel (Ozark, Snowpiercer, The Morning Show, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan) on Netflix's recent hit show Black Rabbit.

In this case, those editors are Cedric Nairn-Smith and Kyle Reiter whose credits include, Under the Bridge, Mrs & Mrs Smith, Atlanta, Station Eleven, Barry, The Boys, Moon Knight, Daredevil: Born Again – so already a team with a fine pedigree!

Other takeaways?

• Take big swings
• Don't start a scene you can't finish the same day
• “In the edit room, listen.”

Watch Black Rabbit on Netflix today.

You've worked with Jason for a long time. How has that relationship developed to where it is today, and what does that look like in the edit suite on a typical day?

It takes time to develop trust in any relationship, and I believe that’s what most defines our partnership now.

Jason (Bateman) and I met on Ozark in 2016. We didn’t work together on that show, but I was slated to edit the final two episodes of Season One that he was going to direct. As I was receiving dailies on that block, I questioned whether to play it safe (not really my nature) or take a big swing and offer a strong POV.

I’m glad I chose the latter. He was pleasantly surprised, and it became clear we shared similar tastes and sensibilities.

Over the years, this trust has encouraged me to keep taking those swings, knowing there’s no judgment—an ideal place to be as an editor. Jason is mindful of work/life balance, and with both of us having kids, we typically work 9–5.

The editing room is intimate: we chat about sports and life, watch the latest commercials, and then dive in. Jason likes to watch an episode in full before breaking into reels. After discussing the episode, we divide the work—larger thoughts I tackle alone, and specific sections we handle together.

Once the episode takes shape, we focus on a macro pass. A good example is the robbery in the pilot: Jason wanted to push it further—messy, jump cuts, breaking the line. His trust allowed me to play, hopefully elevating the sequence.

There are lots of tense moments in the show, especially the opening build-up to the robbery in Episode 1. How do you balance an edit to squeeze as much tension as possible without letting it overstay its welcome?

A lot of it comes from feeling it out. The tension begins the moment we reveal the masked men outside the Black Rabbit. From there, I wanted everything to feel like a ticking time bomb. The intercutting between the men and Jake inside needed to escalate—scenes bleeding into each other, pushing the story forward, never letting up.

On the page, these scenes lived separately, but my instinct was to connect Jake’s speech with the robbers’ movement. I initially achieved this with a piece of score. Jason found it effective, and as we crafted the opening, it became obvious we should bleed Jake’s speech across all of it, keeping it continuous. Intercutting with the men running up the stairwell fueled the pace. Scenes shortened, the rhythm tightened, and the worlds collided—naturally preventing overstaying.

I pushed this further in the final two episodes. With responsibility for tone, cutting patterns, score, and music, I could heighten anxiety even more. When Jake leaves the underground parking lot to save Vince, the filmmaking is frenetic with Jake but eerily still with Vince. The back-and-forth between chaos and quiet emphasised the tension.

What advice would you give to other editors taking on a multi-episode show who need to build a team around them? What was your approach to choosing co-editors to work together as a unit?

It’s common for TV editors to cut more than one episode per series, but not everyone has experience cutting two at the same time. Time management is crucial.

When a show block shoots, dailies run for a long stretch—on Black Rabbit it was 32–34 days plus second-unit days. You have to avoid complacency. On light days, when dailies are done in a few hours, that’s not the time to switch off. I revisit scenes, refine them, and explore ideas. Even if I toss it later, it helps guide the episode.

Your assistant is equally important. Ideally, they share your tastes, sensibilities, and work ethic. Someone you can trust and delegate to.

I always encourage my assistant, Robert Abilez, to cut scenes after his duties. It builds his skills and keeps him creatively invested. We openly discuss each other’s work without judgment.

On Black Rabbit, Jason and Michael Costigan wanted my input on who should join the team—editors who matched Jason’s aesthetic.

I introduced Cedric Nairn-Smith, knowing he’d be a great fit. Kyle Reiter, Cedric, and I worked well together, even with most production being remote. We reviewed each other’s work constantly, and I offered insights from my previous collaborations with Jason.

I also curated three bins of temp score for continuity across the series. Cedric and I shared responsibility for the heist scene, reprised in Episode 6, and ensured it felt different—new POV, same grounding.