Today we’re joined by Lucas Harger,  an acclaimed film and commercial editor, supervising editor, and partner at Bruton Stroube Outpost. His documentary portfolio includes work on over ten features — two of which recently made their debut at SXSW, with one securing the Audience Choice Award. Lucas’ intentionality is incredibly contagious and apparent from the moment you begin talking with him. 

Lucas and Colton talk about that intentionality, and how it helps position him as a storyteller and collaborator with directors. We also chat about his documentary editing mindset and philosophy that set him, his team, and his work up for success with each project. 

Guest Bio

Lucas is an acclaimed film and commercial editor, supervising editor, and partner at Bruton Stroube Outpost. 

Interspersed between long-form editing, Lucas cuts broadcast and web commercials for nationally recognized clients such as but not limited to: Nike, Enterprise, Anheuser-Busch, Uber, Amazon, Apple, and Disney+. 

With a portfolio that includes editing and supervising over ten feature documentaries, Lucas will be starting post-production in 2024 on a multi-hour doc series for HBO. Priding himself on being a key collaborator across diverse project categories, Lucas brings passion and creativity to every venture. Building timelines and teams are his passion.

Additional Resources

• lucasjharger.com
• brutonstroube.com/outpost
• Lions of Mesopotamia Film IMDB
• Clemente Film
• Lucas' Instagram
• Lucas’ LinkedIn
• Post Notes App for Premiere

Related Reading:

• https://www.rev.com/blog/transcription-blog/how-to-write-your-own-documentary-pitch-deck-to-secure-funding
• https://www.rev.com/blog/media-and-entertainment/how-to-make-a-movie-trailer-for-documentary-films
• https://www.rev.com/blog/transcription-blog/how-to-transcribe-a-documentary-interview
• https://www.rev.com/blog/media-and-entertainment/documentary-interview-questions-how-to-ask-good-questions-for-a-documentary-interview 

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76qu8785

(playful guitar plucking)

- The culminating craft and

art of film is the edit.

- How do you get in and

out of that mindset?

- But, you know, editing's hard.

- Yeah. (chuckles)

- I'm like, "You don't

need to say anything.

I know everything I need to do."

And then just like, I can get to work.

- I think there's a lot of

value in recognizing that.

- But I don't prescribed

to the Rick Rubin,

"You don't think of your audience

when you're making something."

- Whatever's going on outside

those doors is its own thing.

- And that can either

be incredibly exciting

or incredibly heartbreaking.

There's a lot more we could talk about.

- Yeah, absolutely.

I'm Colton Holmes,

and today, I'm your host

on "The Rough Draft."

In this episode, I sit

down with Lucas Harger,

an acclaimed film and commercial

editor, supervising editor,

and partner at Bruton Stroube Outpost.

His client work features brands

such as Nike, Amazon,

Apple, and Disney Plus.

And his documentary

portfolio includes work

on over 10 features, two of

which recently made their debut

at South by Southwest.

Lucas's intentionality

is incredibly contagious

and apparent from the moment

you begin talking with him.

He and I talk about that intentionality

and how it helps position

him as a storyteller

and collaborator with directors.

We also chat about his editing mindset

and philosophy that set him, his team,

and his workup for

success with each project.

All right.

Here's my conversation with Lucas Harger.

(upbeat music)

All right, Lucas.

So since we started

concepting "The Rough Draft,"

I've been super excited

to have someone in

post-production join the show.

And so whenever we got the

opportunity to bring you on

as a guest, I jumped at that

and I've been looking forward to today

ever since I saw your email.

And so first of all,

just thanks for joining.

- Yeah, absolutely.

I'm happy to be here

and to bring post-production

to "The Rough Draft."

- That's right.

Let's show some editors some love today.

- Yeah.

- So actually a few years

ago, I watched your interview

with Film Supply where you just kinda dig

into how you find inspiration in poetry

and how you connect that

to, you know, cutting film.

- Yeah, for sure.

- And I think like the world

and the internet, you know,

is curating things for us a lot.

And so sometimes, I think just going back

to like some analog

or just like something that

we can just physically,

you know, feel and touch and read.

- Yeah, for sure.

- Curate on our own is

just really important.

- Yeah, absolutely.

No, totally, I mean,

and I think like, you know,

looking for inspiration

for your craft outside of your craft,

I think you can get really

siloed on the internet.

And just go down rabbit holes

of editing tutorials or gear

tutorials or unboxing stuff.

And so you can start to

just silo your inspiration

just based on what your specific craft is.

But pulling in outside

inspiration from poetry

or from, you know, reading

fiction, nonfiction,

going to museums, going to art museum,

you know, just looking for inspiration

outside of your craft will

always inevitably pour itself

back into your craft.

And so for me, I find a lot

of just inspiration whether aesthetically

or even rhythmically through poetry.

And so, yeah, I think expanding

and kind of curating your

own feed, if you will,

is definitely an important part.

- Yeah, no, I think that's so wise.

So like editing's always

been the aspect of production

that, you know, I've always

felt most comfortable with.

And it's like where my passion

kind of just like grew its legs

and it's the thing that I

always just kinda go back to.

Like, if I'm feeling insecure

on like any part of production, editing

is always where I get my confidence back.

And so I just kinda wanna talk about like,

how do you approach taking on

that responsibility of like,

you have so much power

once that project hits your plate?

So how do you like, honor

what, you know, the original

maybe vision was for the project,

but also how do you infuse

and inject your voice

and your style into projects?

- For sure.

I think a lot of it, I mean,

just inherent in the question

all points to collaboration

and usually, with the director,

there's other projects

that have other voices

that you collaborate with as an editor.

But that director editor relationship

is really a sacred one, you know.

And it's the reason why

you can look through

and find all of these

top directors working

with the same editor for years.

In the scripted world, my favorite

would be like Denis and Joe Walker

working on all of the different,

from "Dune" to "Arrival."

I mean, they've just been

jamming together for a long time.

'Cause they start to understand

each other's sensibilities

and they start to understand

each other's language

and they can like fall

into a rhythm very quickly.

And so for me, you've

started that conversation,

that collaboration, and you've started

to already impact the

production and the storytelling

and the capture before

footage even hits my desk.

And so sometimes, that's the case.

There's zero footage and we're having

a lot of conversations

leading up to production.

But then there's also times

where I'll get brought into a

project that's like, you know,

60% of the way through production,

and then I get a chance to

watch all of the footage

and then I get a chance to

start to infuse my thoughts

and to infuse like where I see

the story kind of developing.

And especially in documentary,

there's just so much constantly

developing and taking shape.

And so for me, once the

footage hits my desk,

we're kind of already

on the same wavelength

of creative collaboration.

And then I can dive in and

start cutting it with the vision

of the director at the

forefront of my mind,

but also willing to pivot

when something starts

to arise in the footage that

they didn't see that, you know,

I wasn't expecting, that

nobody really foresaw,

but it's a really unique

cinematic opportunity

that we definitely can't let go.

And so I think it's the good

editor, the great editor

that can take in, you

know, outside inspiration.

Like we were talking a little bit ago,

that can take in direction

and vision from the director,

but they can also be open

to letting creativity

enter the edit suite

and to create something

wholly unique that nobody

could have really foreseen

before getting into it.

And that's when like, you know,

you feel like you're now

not just making a video,

you're making a film, you know.

And you just start throwing

things on a timeline.

And then once the screen

starts vibrating, it's like,

"All right, there's something here."

And then you can just

keep pulling that thread

and just keep chasing it

as an independent editor

but then also as an editor

and director collaboration,

a duo, you're just like,

"This is definitely revealing

itself as the path forward."

And so, you know, it gets to the point

where really great ideas

are manifest in the timeline

and you're just like, "I

don't remember doing that.

Do you remember having that idea?"

"No, I don't remember having that."

It's like a third party

has been entered in.

It's just like, "How did

that great moment happens?"

Like, I don't know.

It's like you start to not take

any responsibility for anything.

It's just like this thing

is just like starting

to like cut itself in a lot of ways.

And so like being open to

that kind of mode of operation

and that collaboration yields

way better results than people

coming in, especially in the doc world,

coming with definitive declarations

of exactly what this film is.

And that's a big red flag

to me when I'm talking

to potential director collaborators.

It's like, if you are so incredibly sure

of what this film is, then

I'm not the cutter for you.

That's not really, you know, my thing.

So, you know, I think

it's just that openness,

that being willing to collaborate.

Collaborate often and early, you know.

If you get a whole load of feature length

documentary footage dropped on your desk,

and that's the first time

you've talked to the director,

you're probably in for a

little bit of a whirlwind.

- (chuckles) Yeah.

How do you find the right story?

Like, what's like the one process

or the one philosophy that you always use

and that you always go back to?

I'm starting at point A, the

story is somewhere over there.

Like, what's your attack?

- Sometimes, the film

is, you know, very linear

and so you kind of have

a concept of where it is.

But even with a linear film,

there's a lot of opportunity

to get, you know, more abstract.

So for me, the story

starts to reveal itself,

or I put a lot of weight on

that first watch as an editor.

Watching down all the footage

is the most important practice

in the process, I think.

And because you're starting

to identify things in

the footage that make you

as the blessed first audience,

the true first audience.

I mean, honestly, a lot of times,

even the director hasn't seen everything,

which is obvious because

they're, you know,

especially if it's a multi-cam shoot,

they're like, over here

and this is happening over

here and they don't have time

to watch down the foot,

you know, whatever.

So a lot of times, I'm either the first

or the only one to have seen everything.

And so being that first

audience, paying attention

to what is making me respond

emotionally or viscerally

or, you know, looking

through the hundreds of hours

of footage and identifying

what are those key moments,

that are just like, wow.

Like that's a story.

You know what I mean?

Like identifying those,

and then it's the process of

like packaging all that up,

making those moments as poignant

and powerful as we can through

cutting, through music,

through sound design, through color,

through all of the tools that we have.

And then packaging them all up

and presenting them to

the second audience.

Which is the true audience,

the real audience, you know?

And so for me it's keeping that in mind,

keeping in mind the audience.

You know, he has his reasons,

but I don't prescribe to the Rick Rubin,

"You don't think of your audience

when you're making something," you know.

So that's how I kind of start

from an emotional standpoint.

You obviously have things you have to do.

You have context, you need to get down,

you have to get from A to B to C.

And then it's like, what's

the most poetic, artful,

compressed, consolidated

information-rich way

we can kind of pivot through these things

so that we can start

setting up the next thing

that's gonna really pay all of this off.

And so, you know,

that's how I approach it all,

it all starts with, you know,

watching down all of the

footage and being very diligent

and watching down all of the footage.

- Yeah.

Which can be an exhausting

thing to do sometimes.

- Yeah. Yeah.

But, you know, editing's hard.

- Yeah. (chuckles)

Have there ever been moments

where maybe you look back on a project

and you realize, "Hey, I

was feeling this certain way

in this time whenever I

was cutting this together."

And, you know, now maybe

a couple years removed,

"I can see how that

influenced how I cut it

and maybe now, you know,

I would've cut it a little differently

if I was feeling the

way I'm feeling today."

Do you see like a connect

between like, man, maybe things

that are going on in your

life or like some things

that you're feeling

and how that translates

into maybe in without even knowing it,

how that translates into

how you have cut something?

- I mean, I don't know about feel.

I can see how...

I mean, every cut I look back on,

I'm like, I would do it a

little bit differently now.

- Sure.

- You know, there's

always things, you know,

I don't know where this quote came from,

but, "Films are never finished.

They're just abandoned."

And so there's always stuff you

could wish you could go back

and continue to work on

and hone in and dial in.

So for me, I think the thing

that it is the other

things happening in life

that can manifest themselves in the edit

more so from like a workload

or busiest standpoint.

I'm not sure if I've ever

necessarily considered

like my emotional state at that point

having played an impact.

I think I can see the

inspirations of the media

or the my feed, what I

had curated for myself,

what I was reading, what was listening to,

what I was watching,

what I was looking at.

I could see those things

showing up in the timeline.

And I may cut a little differently now

because I have different

inputs in my life.

And those are showing up in

the ways that I'm cutting.

And ideally, you know, when a film hits

and you start to identify

what the state of the film,

the emotional landscape and texture,

I start to curate things around that.

You know, adding things to the word cloud

that surround that topic, that theme,

especially if it's something

that I don't know very much about.

Like historically, I'll read a few books

kind of catch up on this

and then start, you know, I

cut a feature doc on cowboys

and, you know, other than just

like basic cowboy knowledge.

So I read a couple books about cowboys,

but then also started to

read a bunch of cowboy poetry

and like started to step out.

So it's like finding

things within the universe

of your project to start inputting.

And so, you know, I

tried to manipulate that

as much as I can with

switching up my inspiration,

switching up what I'm consuming

that are hopefully gonna,

they will pour themselves.

'Cause things will pour into your timeline

whether you intend it or not

and I would rather it

be intentional than not.

- Yeah.

No, just speaking back

to where we started,

like the intentionality

and the purpose, right?

Like you're being proactive

about controlling your emotions

into the direction essentially

as you, you know, like,

and maybe even doing that in the space

where you're gonna be editing.

Like, is that where you kind of curate

all of these things is like, at your desk

so that maybe like whatever's going on

outside those doors is its own thing

but once you're back here, it's like,

"This is where I've been curating this."

- Oh yeah, yeah.

I mean, having a space

and curating the space is huge for me.

You know, here at the post house,

we each have our edit suites.

The editors can set them up

and decor them out however they see fit.

But it's twofold.

It's having a space for me

that is purely dedicated to cutting.

I walk in here and I cut,

The whole room is set up to cut.

I have a client couch, client monitor,

you know what I mean?

It's just, this is where you edit.

There's not much else you could do here.

But then also the second

aspect is having my team

and having the post house around.

You know, I've worked

with some of these people

for, you know, eight, nine

years here since I've been here.

And so having the team here,

whether we're collaborating on a project

literally on the same project,

or just we're just like,

in spiritual collaboration.

Like I've seen a ton of their cuts,

they've seen a ton of my cuts.

They can call me out if I'm doing

the same thing over and over again.

You know, having that.

And then there's just something

just totally different

about having, and this is a

very, you know, beaten path,

but there's just something very

different when somebody else

enters the room and you play down a cut.

You just all of a sudden

see it in a totally new way.

And so just having quick access to people

who understand what a rough cut is,

understand a work in progress.

There can be slugs, there

can be holes, whatever.

Like there can be things and

they either can speak into it

or just don't even have to.

Sometimes, they'll, you know,

watch it down and I'm like,

"You don't need to say anything.

I know everything I need to do."

And then just like, I can

get to work, you know?

And so having a space and

then having my consistent team

here behind me, I'm behind them.

We're all trying to make work together

and make better work together.

And so, you know, that's kinda how,

you know, going back to other questions,

get in the mindset, be intentional.

You know, I think editing,

like you can just edit

as a crafts person,

you can just, you know,

you can be a brick layer in that way

and just like, focus on the craft

or you can be the

architect of the project.

And also you have to be the brick layer.

So there's the two-handed

approach to editing

'cause you have to be an artist

as well as a craftsperson.

But I think kind of

pulling all the threads

that we've been talking

about together, you know,

to be an editor is definitely

a lifestyle choice.

And everything can pour into your craft

and into your art in ways

that you don't really see

manifesting it immediately,

but they will over time.

And so it's definitely a lifestyle,

it's definitely a specific choice,

it's definitely a particular choice

for a certain subset of

people who really love it

and can excel in it and want to get better

and grow their art and craft.

- Yeah, I think that's so important, man

and it's cool to see how proactive you are

about just creating that

space, like intentionally.

And that room that you're in right now

is only for cutting and

doing podcast interviews.

So one thing that you

mentioned the other day,

whenever we got to chat

for a little bit was documentaries

are the editor's medium.

And I just kinda wanna like,

dig into that for a little bit.

Like how does having documentary

chops help you, you know,

approach other genres of editing?

Different genres of film.

- Yeah, I mean, if you're cutting doc

and you're collaborating with the director

and the kind of the ways

that we've been discussing,

you know, documentary is

definitely the editor's medium.

It's where they wear the most hats.

It's where they have the most purview

over so many different areas of the film

whether it's like putting

in the temp score,

working out graphic treatments,

ideating text treatments,

cutting the film, the aesthetic, the pace,

all of these different nuances.

And I mean, I'll just even

say like, branding the film.

You know, what does this feel like?

What do the graphics feel like?

You know, the editor really

sits shoulder to shoulder

with the director in

almost every single aspect.

But then getting into the story,

there's a lot of back

and forth and you know,

there's a lot of doc cutters

that are credited as writers as well.

And so there's a lot of that, you know,

writing, note carding,

outlining, breaking the story,

identifying the characters,

pivoting all of the stuff

that in scripted, would

have been done by the writer

or at earlier states of the process.

And so, you know, I view doc

as the heavy lift of the editor.

And then it kind of can

waterfall from there.

You know, if you can lift 100 pounds,

surely you can lift 50

and you can cut a scripted

or you can cut a commercial or you can cut

all of these other things.

But if you can lift 50

pounds, it's not a given

you can lift 100.

And so having documentary

as the starting point

for myself brings forward

a disposition in the editor

where they can attack a project,

any of those other projects

with creative chops,

but also project managerial chops,

with being able to be the

center of the post-project

and collaborate with the sound designer

in a mix and the color.

And, you know, 'cause a lot of times,

the director spends the

most time in the edit room

not as much time in sound and

not as much time in color.

And so for me, the timeline

kind of becomes the

notepad of the director.

And then I can go into

those rooms and like,

"This is what we were

thinking about for the sound.

This is what we're thinking

about for the color."

And so kind of becoming

that almost creative project torch bearer

to bring the director's

spirit into the other rooms

and to make sure this

is fulfilling everything

that we had discussed.

And so, you know, it's having

that documentary mindset

when you go into a 30-second commercial

cutting room that can pay huge dividends

and that it's just a

different way to approach it.

Now you have to understand

each one of these genres

has different demands on the editor.

There's a huge demand on the

editor for a documentary,

you know, and scripted feature.

And then once you get into

the commercial work, you know,

it's like, are you there identifying

why you're on the project?

Are you there as a creative collaborator?

Probably.

Are you there as just

like a cool collaborator

to hang out with

because it's a 30-second

commercial about milk?

It's like, cool.

Like I'll jam with the creative

director and be a good hang

and like play ping pong, whatever.

And so you also are identifying

why you're on the project.

But that's also, I believe

that's a doc mindset.

You have to identify why you're here

and employ different parts

of your craft, your art

for the specific need.

And so, you know, having

that doc mindset is huge

for all of the other disciplines.

- It's interesting how, I mean,

the way you describe

it, I just imagine like,

there's different versions

of you as an editor, right?

And, you know, different people get

the different Lucas, you know,

for different projects, right?

I think there's a lot of value

in recognizing that, that

like, hey, for this project,

like you said, they're

gonna get, you know,

this version of me

and that's gonna make this project better,

that's gonna make our relationship better.

And that's gonna make me

maybe even not burn out

on the next time I move on

to something that, you know,

needs the other version of me

and needs all of that version of me

so that I'm not wasting it here.

So one thing I wanna get into

is something you mentioned

on Monday that might ruffle a few feathers

is that editing is the most

uniquely cinematic discipline.

I'd love for you to like

just flesh out that thought.

- I mean, you know, I like, you know,

ruffling feathers is fun

and you could talk me into

a couple other disciplines,

but we're gonna go with

editing 'cause I'm an editor.

You know, film is the

juxtaposition between two shots.

You know, you can be tricky

and make it feel like a

one take fine, whatever.

There's a couple that do that

and even less that do it well.

But you know,

the craft of editing is

the craft of filmmaking

and everything is working towards the edit

and towards the actual

assembly of the film,

bringing in the visuals,

bringing in the dialogue, the sound.

The process of editing is

the process of filmmaking.

Until then, it is all just raw materials

and raw goods, which are all important.

And they all need to

be there and to be done

and be done well in order to make a film.

And so I'm not saying

that they're necessarily not film crafts

in and of themselves,

but the unique position in

the unique exploration of

cutting from this angle to this angle

to this angle and it being a

cohesive story is not obvious

that it was going to work.

And like you can go back

and read these, you know,

the pioneers of film

who are also the pioneers of film editing

and see their exploration

into, will this work?

You know, it wasn't obvious

that it wouldn't be

incredibly disorienting

to cut from a wide shot to

a tight shot of an actor.

The process of film

and the forward direction of film

as an art form has been in lockstep

with the development conceptually

and also technologically of the edit.

And so it is the culminating

craft and art of film

is the edit and the edit,

to bring all of these things together.

And so, you know, for me, it's like,

that's a very exciting and

daunting seat to sit in.

But you know, it is a lot of fun

because it's the time when

people, you can pull the film

out of theoretical and out

of people's imaginations

and start putting it on the timeline.

And that can either be incredibly exciting

or incredibly heartbreaking for directors.

But, you know, it is the time

and the place where the idea of a film

starts to become the reality of the film.

- Yeah.

I think it's fun to be a part of that,

you know, one of the final steps,

like you were just getting at too.

We just had Mark Waters on the podcast.

He's a composer, conductor

and he's gotten to do

a lot of film scores.

And one thing that he mentioned was like,

"Whenever a director comes in

and they get to watch their

film with a score behind it,"

he's like, "Sometimes,

their reaction is like,

they just saw their baby

say their first words for the first time."

And he's like, "That's such a fun joy

to get to like, watch their

dream come to fruition."

And I think the editors get

a lot of that experience as well too.

I wanna dig into a little bit

and shed some light on

just what it looks like

to do these things.

Like, what are some

processes that you use,

what are some tools that you use?

And like, let's kinda dig

into the tangibles here.

And specifically, we can talk about this

around some specific projects.

And I wanted to bring up the fact

that you just actually had two films

featured at South by Southwest.

The "Lions of Mesopotamia"

and then "Clemente."

First, before we dig into the tangibles,

I'd love to just know what

your experience was like

getting to live that, you know,

coming down to South by

and watching your films

on the big screen.

- Yeah, it was awesome.

- It was a whirlwind, it was a lot of fun.

So on "Lions of Mesopotamia,"

I was the editor

and then Elise Ander here,

she was the story producer

and then Mark Bartels

did sound design and mix.

And then Clark Griffiths did the color.

So we kinda had this whole

post house around this project.

And like Ryan Bicknell was the

online editor and (mumbles).

So we were just all on it.

And then for "Clemente"

Chent was the lead editor

and he worked with Elise as

well as a story producer.

And then on that one, I

was a supervising editor.

And we also did color.

So it was just like having these two films

bouncing around the studio,

bouncing around the

post house was awesome.

And so as the whole team,

we went down to South by

and got to be there for the premieres.

And it was a lot of fun.

It was, you know, surreal

and really fun to see

it on the big screen.

Really fun to have the Q&As.

Really fun to like walk

around the festival

and hear people talking about your film

and that like, you

don't know who they are.

So there's just like, a

lot of like really unique

and cool experiences for sure.

- Yeah, what are some

tools that you guys use?

What are some processes that

are in place to make sure

that y'all can actually hit a deadline

with two feature docs,

you know, floating around?

- Yeah, I mean, a lot of moxie.

There's just a lot of, you

know, pulling together the team

and making sure all of this stuff

is having very broken down timelines

and deadlines that we can achieve.

And so it's having, you know,

people like Sunshine

who's our post supervisor

and just like coming around it as a team

and being like, what is the way

that we're gonna approach this?

We're all hooked up.

I mean, nitty gritty,

we're all hooked up on a shared server

with like, I don't know, 650 terabytes.

And so we're all like cutting off of that.

We have our workstations,

everybody has their specific discipline.

And a big one for us is having Ryan,

who's our online editor, like conform,

get all this stuff in resolve

for the colorist to do their thing

but then we also deliver out of resolve,

even though we cut and premiere,

we deliver out of resolve.

And so it's having that workflow,

having a dedicated person who's ushering

as archival shots come in, swap

these shots, swap this shot,

we got this unwatermarked,

we got this VFX shot,

who's constantly doing that

alongside the colorist.

And so it's like building the team

and having the team have the chops

and the understanding of the goal

and also the steps along

the way to the goal.

And so it really comes down to the people

and then the tech is there

to support the people.

So we have, you know, our server

and all of our workstations hooked up,

all shared storage and

stuff like that, so.

- How long were y'all working on posts

for those two projects?

- A couple years, two, 2 1/2.

You know, it wasn't every single day.

It was, you know, get the

footage start cutting,

there's usually that rush, not rush,

but there's that first

initial push to get, you know,

an assembly or a rough cut.

Director comes, sits

for a week or two weeks

and work through and that

we get it to what we call,

you know, rough cut.

That's the rough cut.

I don't talk about rough cut

until after the directors here

because if you start

presenting cuts as rough cuts,

that's when you start freaking out.

But if you present them as assemblies,

it's like, "Oh, okay we can, okay."

Is not a rough cut yet,

it's just an assembly.

And so get it to the rough cut

and then start the notes process then on.

And there's a lot of times

it's just pencils down

until we know what the next steps are,

whether it's festival distribution.

And so the whole calendar

was like two, 2 1/2 years.

But there were time periods of in and outs

throughout that time.

- So I'm assuming y'all are

working on other projects

while you're also working on these.

How do you get in and out of that mindset

because you know, if you're

working on a 30-second ad spot,

like you're gonna have to be

in a wholly different mindset

than whenever you're working

on one of these feature docs.

How do you go in and out of those things?

- You just do.

Like you just have to.

And that's kind of the way,

how I've set up the post

house is if we are going

to get the opportunities

to do these features

and these original content, these films,

then you have to be willing and okay with

and diligent about changing your mindset

so everybody can do it

differently, whatever.

But the reality is, is

like, you're on a film today

and tomorrow, you're on

a dog food commercial.

Like, that's just the way it is.

And so you have to get

yourself in the mindset.

And so in some ways, that's

just the work of an editor.

Maybe in general, but

definitely specifically here.

And so, you know, you just

kinda keep things in perspective

and keep the ball moving forward.

I always like step out

of a future timeline

with the next two or

three things that I know

I need to jump into and

start so I can start quick.

I don't wanna like get

to some kind of level

of completion and then I open it up

and like, "I don't know what to do."

Like I open up my timelines

and I have 100 things I need to do.

And then that gets the ball rolling.

Some of them are, you

know, technical things.

Clean up, you know,

work on some little audio

transitions, whatever.

And then some of them are more creative.

And so I can dive into the nitty gritty,

get me back into the flow of the film

and then get to the creative.

And so, you know, it's

always leaving little strings

to clean up on my features

so that I can get back

into them seamlessly.

And so, you know, but

that's also the pivot.

I think it's the pivot in

and out of these genres

that kind of keep stuff fresh.

It doesn't really matter, you know,

if you cut your dream

project every single day

for the rest of your

life, you'll burn out.

I would wager a bet to say

probably just as quickly,

if you cut, you know, stuff

you were not super hyped about

for the rest of your life,

you'd probably burn out

at roughly the same time.

And so it's like the, the mixture

and kind of that oscillation

between different genres

of cutting that I think

really keeps stuff fresh.

At least it does for me.

Like, I really love

stepping out of features

and going into advertisement

and stepping out of advertisement

and going back to feat,

I really like going in and out

'cause I love them both

for different reasons.

And so it gets a lot of fun.

Sometimes, it can get a little

hectic, but such is life.

- Is there like any specific way

that you keep track of where your mind was

whenever you're stepping

away and then coming back?

Like some kinda note taking or?

- Yeah, I mean, I take notes,

just handwritten notes on a

notepad that I always have here.

And then I use like a little

extension called Post Notes.

That's just like a notepad

that can directly connect to a timeline.

And it's within Premier

and so then I can just pull

up that timeline in Post Notes

and just jot myself down couple to-dos

or this is what I was thinking

where the next steps would be.

So it's kind of both.

- I mean a lot of what you just answered

revolves around the collaboration

with your whole team.

If you were just a one-man band

doing one of these projects,

like, what would you think would be like,

some of the top tools or processes

that you would have to adhere to

that you would want someone

else that's maybe doing

what you're doing but without, you know,

that support to kinda lean into,

- I mean, it's kind of crop out,

but I'd be like, get a community.

(both laughing)

Like, I mean, don't do that.

You know, you can work in

your basement or whatever.

You can do it however you wanna do it.

I'm not saying there's one way to edit

But I do think that,

I know that filmmaking

is a communal effort.

So if you're not bumping into

them on the daily physically,

like in a space together,

I would definitely find

some kind of cohort creative collaborator.

Whether they're other editors,

whether they're just people

that have great sensibilities,

whether, you know, whatever.

Like I would definitely find that

because you know, my cuts

are 50% what they would be

if I didn't have my people.

And so it's just like, don't do that

would probably be my biggest thing.

- No, I mean, you say it's a cop out,

but I think that's really important.

And especially now, like

if you're living like,

in the middle of nowhere,

but this is your passion.

Like, you can connect with people online.

- Yeah, totally.

- And build that community where you-

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Get to share that experience and-

- And you can get, you know.

We're in St. Louis and it's our goal

and our intention to get the

projects that we wanna get,

whether they're these

features that go to South by,

whether, you know, we

start on a doc series

for one of the major

streamers in the next month.

So there's like really exciting projects

that we're getting looks at.

And so, but you just have to

be intentional about it too.

So if you're in the middle of nowhere,

not only it's possible to

find a creative community

that you can rely and trust

to be that, you know, voice into your art,

but you can also get the

projects that you wanna get.

But you just have to be

intentional about them both.

And, you know, you also

have to be intentional

if you're in New York and LA.

It's a different kind of intention

but it all comes back to intentionality

and just not letting your

career happen to you,

but like you making it be

the thing you want it to be.

- Well, it's been a

pleasure getting to chat

with you today, Lucas.

Man, I love like how intentional you are

and like how disciplined you

are with that intentionality.

So thanks for sharing all that today.

And for those who are listening, like,

how can they find you online?

- Just Google.

It kinda pops up my website,

which is lucasjharger.com.

This post house, which is

brutonstroube.com/outpost.

I'm on Instagram mostly.

Though infrequently, it's

definitely where I am the most.

And that's where you can see my timelines.

That's pretty much all

that I post anymore.

But yeah, those are the places.

And then, I mean, email,

contact form, whatever,

I'm on email a lot.

- Cool.

- And in Instagram DMs.

And so that's where I hang.

- Sweet.

And we'll link all that

in the show notes as well.

For "Lions of Mesopotamia" and "Clemente,"

is there like a public release

date for any of those yet?

Or are they still just kinda

doing the festival circuit or?

- Yeah, hybrid between festival,

but predominantly

looking for distribution.

And so they're each in kind of sales mode,

especially after South by

which kind of go, you know,

puts a feather in the cap and helps,

you know, those efforts.

And so hopefully in the

next couple few months,

we'll have either them out

or some like very definitive word.

- Yeah. Cool.

Well, we'll link the landing

pages for those as well

in the show notes.

But Lucas, thanks again

for joining us today.

Man, I hope we can, you

know, do this again.

Maybe sometime in the future.

- Yeah, absolutely. Totally.

Thank you for having me.

And yeah, we'll definitely have to.

There's a lot more we could talk about.

- Yeah, absolutely.

(upbeat music)

Well, that's it for today's

episode of "The Rough Draft."

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