When to edit a scene is an often overlooked discussion for a lot of improv groups, especially new teams. It’s not the most glamorous part of doing improv, but it’s so so important. When we first learn improv it’s often just the thing that the fastest players do when they have a funny idea. As we develop, get more sophisticated, start our own groups, travel to festivals, play in jams etc, our understanding of edits needs to deepen. Not just because of pacing, either; if we agree on where to edit, we’ve agreed on what we wanted to get from the scene.
When folks come from different improv backgrounds editing can also be really tricky to agree on. Some schools teach fast edits on the first laugh, some teach you to wait your turn, some think the ideal scene is 2 minutes, some think it’s 5. Often when I see or play in international groups the editing speeds different people have set as default vary wildly. It often means that half of the group is frustrated because they keep getting cut off early, and the other half is frustrated that the pacing is slow and they’re having to do all of the work. And nobody is wrong about it!
So, what to do? Here’s a handy graphic about where I like to edit. It’s definitely not the gospel truth of all improv, but it’s a starting point to talking about where we edit and why. For me, the function and pacing of an improv scene varies wildly from style to style, and where in a show it is. I feel like in any style though, it’s worth having your own barometer, and for groups who are just starting out you should have a chat about what you want to get out of each type of scene.
One more thing I love to do with newer improvisers or teams who are just being thrown together is to simplify edits down to ‘beats’. A beat in a scene could be a number of things… An iteration of the game (a funny thing you are doing), an emotional change, a change in topic of conversation, a plot point revealed. I love to have two folks in a group do a scene, and everyone watching puts their hand up after they’ve seen 3 beats. When the everyone’s hand is raised the scene is over, and we chat through what beats people saw. It’s a nice basic way to get talking about pacing, edits, and what you want out of a scene without being too pedantic. Give it a try!
Stephen, you just revealed an area of improv that I don’t believe I have ever been taught before- an explicit discussion of BEATS. And you just helped me realize the issue I’ve been dealing with for ten years- beat blindness. Beat blindness is when you perceive the actions / events of the scene, but don’t perceive these actions and events as Beats. And as I reflect on this, I think it’s very common for many improvisers. And this article you’ve written points to a possible rebuttal of the common belief that rhythm cannot be taught.