Avid Artist: Patrick Tuck
Patrick Tuck is a versatile editor who has edited everything from music videos to commercials, documentaries to episodic television. Patrick prides himself on his talent of balancing genres and styles to create unique tones and rhythms, as well as his ability to find solutions for the toughest creative puzzles. When he’s not editing, he’s experimenting with 3D film photography and playing with his two hairless cats.
Avid: For anyone that may not know Reservation Dogs, give a brief synopsis.
Patrick: Reservation Dogs follows the lives of four Indigenous teenagers who originally want nothing more than to escape from their Oklahoma reservation, but come to discover the unparalleled value of their own community.
Avid: What do you enjoy most about editing Reservation Dogs?
Patrick: Sterlin Harjo does such an incredible job of creating a calm, collaborative and creative atmosphere both on set and during post production. The show is a true culmination of all the voices of the people who worked on it, and I think that’s readily apparent in the storytelling and craft of what ended up on screen.
Avid: Why did you choose to submit this episode for Emmy® consideration?
Patrick: The finale, “Dig,” is a perfect embodiment of the entire three seasons of Reservation Dogs. It’s truly a full-circle episode that mirrors the pilot without feeling formulaic. It’s both reflective and poetic in its style and tone while still pushing the boundaries of what this show, and television in general, can achieve. It’s also an episode that I co-edited with Varun Viswanath, an editor I’ve admired since I watched the first season of Reservation Dogs (before I joined season 2). Collaborating with Varun was such a fun and fulfilling experience, and I think it shows in the editing of the final episode.
Avid: How did you find out about the nomination and what was your reaction, as well as the reaction from your friends and family?
Patrick: I was between shows, so I wasn’t in a hurry to get out of bed that morning when the nomination announcements were made. My wife, Alexandra, reminded me to watch, and I tuned into the nominations right as they were announcing that the show was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series. I was so excited that the show was finally going to get the recognition it deserves. I then downloaded the nomination pdf to see what else we were nominated for, TRULY not expecting to find my name and Varun’s name on that list. I double checked the name of the pdf to make sure I wasn’t reading it wrong before I called out the news to Alexandra, who started screaming and jumping. Seeing our episode and names amongst the shows and editors I respect so much was, and still is, incredibly surreal. Various friends and family have said that they bragged about me to someone, and I think that is the best compliment I’ve ever received.
Avid: What was the biggest challenge you face editing Reservation Dogs?
Patrick: Cutting the finale of any show comes with a certain amount of pressure, but Reservation Dogs is such a beloved and special show for the indigenous communities of the world, so Varun and I (as well as everyone that worked on this episode) felt a responsibility to knock it out of the park. A lot of care and attention was given to every frame to make sure our characters, and the audience, feel present throughout the episode. At the same time, we were saying goodbye to characters we’ve truly grown to love, which sparked so many emotional reactions and conversations within our team that perfectly mirrored what happens to those characters in the episode. It was challenging, but ultimately the most rewarding work I’ve ever done, both for the show and for my own well-being.
Avid: What inspired you to want to be an editor?
Patrick: My parents bought me a mini DV camera when I was in middle school, and my friends and I loved making silly short films (shoutout to Courtney, Matt, Kyle, and Dustin), and I tended to be the person who wanted to put them together. I’ve always loved finicking with computers, and editing started to feel like the perfect blend of art, technology, and fun. My parents are movie buffs, so I was exposed to a lot of different movies at a young age, which was major fuel for my dream to become an Editor.
Avid: What do you like about being an editor?
Patrick: In a lot of ways, editing is like playing an instrument. You’re pressing buttons to manipulate your equipment to make a “sound,” which in turn creates a feeling. Editing stimulates a lot of my interests/hobbies at once, which is very satisfying.
Avid: Is there anything that you do outside of the edit bay that makes you a better editor?
Patrick: I’m really into stereoscopic film photography right now, which is a type of photography that uses special cameras (or two cameras that are synced) to take two pictures simultaneously that, when combined, create a 3D photo. I’m obsessed with doing it with film because, when developed and put through a special viewer, the photo REALLY comes to life in a way that you can’t experience with a screen/VR (the pixels get in the way of it feeling real). Also, shooting subjects in 3D makes your brain think about photography completely differently. Anyway, I’ve found myself drawing parallels from stereoscopic photography to editing because it’s actually your brain that is taking two 2D photos and interprets depth from their differences/similarities. I find that a lot of being an Editor is working to shape performances and scenes and montages in order to extrude depth for an audience. I’m finding that that type of thinking has helped my process tremendously as of late.
Avid: What advice would you have for young people who aspire to a career in editing?
Patrick: Forget what you know and be open to learning. Editing has “rules” that are meant to be, and constantly are, broken in order to elicit feeling from the audience on a subtextual layer. Understanding the history of editing helps you understand the language in which you are communicating, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make up new words or slang to express yourself. Lastly, the best part of being an Editor is learning from the people you are working with – true collaboration is multi-directional.