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Writing and editing are not separate steps. Toby Wagstaff, a filmmaker and writer, views them as two parts of the same journey. Writing creates the blueprint of a cinematic story, but editing determines how the viewer ultimately experiences and understands it. For Toby, the two steps are intrinsically linked. He explains that while writing assembles the story elements as words on a page, editing rebuilds those same elements from scratch in the form of images, sounds, and sequences.
Writing Is Building the Foundation
Writing is where every story begins, it’s the big jump between “nothing” and “something”. The script lays out the story’s events and structure, and introduces the characters. It establishes the who, what, where, and when. But Toby says the script on its own is never perfect. Writers revise it many times to make sure the story works, but even then the last draft of the script is really only the first draft of the film.
Editing Brings Writing to Life
Once the movie starts being shot, the editing process begins. According to Toby, editing is not just an assembly of shots which exactly mirrors the pages in the script, it’s a complete recreation of the story on its deepest level. Editors will always make new discoveries in the course of cutting together the raw footage, because they’re working with the combined product of actors, directors, lighting designers, costumers, props, and sound recordists, which couldn’t be remotely predicted by a writer alone in front of a laptop. Toby says editing brings a story to life in the same way an engineer turns an architect’s diagrams into a building that can be inhabited.
Structuring the Story
One of the most important jobs of an editor is to ensure the story is both clear and efficient. Toby explains that editors have to consider how each scene fits into the bigger picture, and how the images and performances communicate the writer’s goals. Sometimes, a scene reads well on the page, but doesn’t help the story. Sometimes what needed to be a line of dialogue on paper can be said with a look or a gesture on screen. Editors might cut or reorder shots to clarify a sequence, or even to give them a different meaning entirely.
Refining Characters Through Performance
Editing is not just about telling the story. It’s also about shaping the characters. Toby believes editors play a huge role in choosing the defining moments from an actor’s performance. Actors give many different takes on the same scene. Each take might show a slightly different side of the character. Editing has to power to dramatically influence how an audience responds to the same actor reading the same lines, in ways which can give new layers of meaning to the character on the page.
Collaboration Between Writers and Editors
Toby believes that in ideal circumstances, writers and editors can work closely together to hone the finished film. The writer knows the bones of the story better than anyone, and the editor sees how the story moves and breathes on the screen. Together, they can take the movie to its best possible incarnation. Just as an architect and builder might tweak the design of a house once they can start to experience what the space really feels like, so a writer and editor can collaborate to bring the best version of an idea to the audience.
The Final Cut
For Toby Wagstaff, the final cut of a movie is the result of writing and editing together. The script provides the plan, and the editing brings it into the world. Both steps are about telling the best story possible. Writing uses words, and editing uses images and sound. But both are part of the same creative process. Toby’s approach reminds us that a great movie doesn’t happen by chance. It takes careful work at every step, from the first script notes to the final cut.
