Netflix's Nobody Wants This is a comedy centered on the unlikely relationship between Joanne (Kristen Bell), an outspoken, agnostic woman, and unconventional rabbi Noah (Adam Brody). While there is a connection between them, their differing outlooks on life and well-meaning families sometimes cause a disruption Justin Lupe plays her sister Morgan, and Timothy Simons plays his brother Sasha.
Editor Maura Corey (pictured) was involved in the project early on, helping to craft the pilot episode, in which she focused on tone and shaping the performances for comedy, romance and drama, using her Avid system.
"The tone of this show has a delicate balance of funny, sweet and emotion, so it was very important to balance those tones without giving the audience emotional whiplash,” she explains. “I tried to stay true to the footage and lean into the fantastic performances of the cast. Working with the director, Greg Mottola, we shaped performances to not only land the jokes, which often is a quicker style of editing, but show our heroes as real people who are falling in love where the pacing is much slower. And being a rom-com, it was really fun to cut together Joanne and Noah’s [meeting].”
Joanne and Noah meet at a party, where he offers to open the bottle of wine she brought. In the scene, Noah is having trouble opening the bottle. The moment of him struggling with the bottle was not in the script – it was actor Adam Brody struggling with a prop.
“He and Kristen Bell ad libbed lines and ran through the scene, and it sparked,” she reveals. “Their chemistry was so good, and the scene was so cute, we all knew we had to use it. I love that scene, not only for the brilliant improv, but also for the way we were able to shape how these two are flirting through an awkward situation.
“When editing romance, you want to create very specific timing to feel the characters noticing each other without hanging on shots too long so the scene doesn't turn from sexy to awkward. Point of view of our heroes is paramount, so cutting back and forth with just a look as they take each other in let’s the audience fall in love with our characters as they are falling in love with each other. That scene with the wine bottle really set the stage of how I approached the rest of the season. I wanted to make sure our characters felt like real people who are funny, sweet and emotional."