Created by writer Robert Siegel, the Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy chronicles the tumultuous 1990s relationship between superstar model and actress Pamela Anderson, played by Lily James, and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, portrayed by Sebastian Stan. Coming aboard the project to edit the first three episodes was Tatiana S. Riegel, ACE, reteaming with director Craig Gillespie, for whom she has edited six features and three series. The pair first collaborated on 2007’s Lars and the Real Girl, and more recently, on the pilot for Apple TV+ aerobicsthemed series Physical; Disney’s Cruella, for which she was recently nominated for an ACE Eddie Award; and I, Tonya, for which she won an Eddie and earned an Oscar nomination.

In working with Gillespie, Riegel notes that their work has a solid foundation which has since flourished. “I adore him as a person, but also I adore our collaboration,” she says. “It’s, honestly, what every editor would probably dream of in terms of a collaborative relationship with the director, meaning we build on each other. He comes with something; I come with another idea; then, he makes my idea better; then, I make his idea better. It’s challenging all the time, in the very best way – and he’s really fun to work with.”

During the pandemic, working from home, Riegel and Gillespie relied on a shorthand they had developed on prior projects. Coming into Pam & Tommy, Riegel read the first three scripts, as those were the sole episodes on which she would be working. “I had a very unique experience of participating in the first three very closely,” she says, “and yet becoming an audience member for the rest of the series. [Gillespie] is an executive producer, so he remained involved to a certain extent, but certainly not like a director.”

In the pilot episode, Riegel explains that the structure, focusing on the exploits of a carpenter, played by Seth Rogen, who was remodeling Tommy Lee’s house, differed significantly from both the second and third episodes. “One, two and three are very different from each other,” Riegel relates, “and then also very different from the rest of the series, which then really gets more into the emotional aspect, particularly of Pam. It’s got an unexpected foundation to build off the series – the Pam character is in the first episode very briefly.”

By the second episode, the focal point is the first meeting between Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, told in flashback, while the third episode returns to the Seth Rogen story, centering on his acquisition of an infamous sex tape. Of note, Riegel reveals that these three episodes were executed with a considerable amount of ‘block shooting,’ where elements to be implemente in each of the first three episodes were shot in one stretch of principal photography.

“When Craig would be shooting some of parts of his episodes, they were beginning to shoot some of the other episodes as well,” Riegel conveys. “There was a lot of overlapping, just because that’s logical, given the schedule and locations. There was overlap, but it was because of the nature of the stories; it was a little bit more linear than the other episodes were.”

Though the scripts, written and supervised by Siegel, were meticulous and comprehensive, in Riegel and Gillespie’s three episodes, many enhancements commenced. “What wasn’t really in the script, what Craig really brings to it, is the inner energy, the music, a lot of the emotion, and certainly the humor. I think that’s something – that he really takes what’s there and builds so much to it.

She continues, “The camera’s got a lot of energy, and it’s very frenetic, which I think is appropriate emotionally. One of thethings that I really like tonally about Craig’s projects – that my taste and my personality lend to – is his stuff is always this ‘dance’ of comedy and emotion. It’s often a fine line to walk because things can start to get very silly and then you lose the emotion – or it can start to get very emotional, and you lose the comedy.

There’s a very narrow road to keep both of those plates spinning.” In cutting her three Pam & Tommy episodes, Riegel was afforded substantial economy, based on the limited number of takes she received of Gillespie’s scenes. “Craig is an extremely efficient director,” she says. “He’s very sure of what he wants for the tone; he’s very sure of performance. He comes from a commercial background, which is fast: Real quick, in-and-out stuff but he’s also extremely collaborative and good at picking people who understand what they’re doing, taking advantage of their knowledge and ability, and bringing it all into his story.”

Riegel and Gillespie had very few discussions prior to embarking on shooting and editing an episode. “I think he trusts me very much in terms of performance and pace. There are lots of things that stayed very much the same, in terms of performance, from the first assembly. Things always tend to tighten more and more – just because [production] people always require it shorter – but the first assembly is a really good foundation for where we start off. That’s very different in the way I work with Craig, versus other directors.”

Even though, on the whole, the Pam & Tommy series includes a host of popular musical cues, Riegel and Gillespie choose not to add music to their edits until deep into the process, eventually bringing their choices to Amanda Krieg Thomas, the music supervisor on the series.

“For a show that is so heavily reliant on music,” Riegel details, “that would seem odd, but I really like to put stuff together without any music, and really work on the scene, getting it emotionally correct – and the pacing of it – before I put any music on it. Then, we just sit there and we throw spaghetti against the wall and try all kinds of different songs. That’s why there’s such an eclectic variety of songs in there. Craig has a ton of stuff on his laptop, and we just listen to song after song. He’ll play it on his laptop, up against the Avid. If we feel it’s close, we’ll put it into the Avid and actually cut it in and see how it works. We have these fabulous, happy accidents and find things that are really cool and unique for the moment.”

On completing their three episodes of the eight episodes Riegel and Gillespie had other jobs to undertake. Working briskly, with maximum effort and creative interrelating, made this possible. “I literally will send him scenes the next day [after] he shoots them,” divulges Riegel. “I stayed there, getting to locking his cut. Craig would send me things, like changing a song they couldn’t get the rights to. I’d pop back on and go through it with him. We finished the first three pretty quickly – delivering, in order, to the other producers and to Hulu.

“You do two or three takes with a certain blocking, and you realize that’s not quite right, so you switch the blocking up and, and then, all of a sudden, the scene is working,” she comments. “The same thing happens in editorial. You put a scene together the first time as intended by the script. All of a sudden, you discover that certain things aren’t working. That process is really wonderful and exciting, and something that I like to get into with the director. That’s why I send them the scenes as early as possible.”

In the end, Riegel ascribes the success of her work on Pam & Tommy to an unprecedented line of communication with her director. “With 14 years together, he and I have a collaboration I want – I try to do this, actually, with all directors,” she says of working with Gillespie. “I’m always surprised that editors get very protective and possessive, and don’t want to show directors [cut footage] until it’s all together. I find it a little dangerous.\

Do they like the performances? Do they like the tone? Do they like the pace? Did they get everything that they intended to get in terms of coverage? And if you get it back to them quickly, they can make that decision before it’s too late, and they can go back and get something if they need to. The other thing that I think is equally important is that it begins a conversation between the editor and the director, which is crucial. It’s a collaboration that works.”