Keywords: Improvisation, edits, mindfulness
I got this blog idea from Charlotte Breanne Brown. They are a fantastic improviser and technician, who mentioned the idea of applying edits to one’s life in a Facebook comment somewhere. Cheers Charlotte! Follow them on Instagram @charlottebreanne19
So, in the world of improv, what is an ‘edit’? In basic terms, it’s a way for one performer to indicate to the other performers that the current part of the show is now finished, and it’s time to move on to a new scene. It’s essentially an on-stage version of how movies telegraph to the audience that the movie has moved to a new scene, by showing you a new character, or location.
So how does editing in improv translate to life outside the theatre? We’ll get to that in a second, and it involves a man with ADHD, and an ordinary, blank notebook.
The Cut
Let’s define the simplest improv edit. The Cut. What does this tend to look like in a show? When a Cut is performed, a player ends the current scene, to advance the show to a new location with new characters. They might do this by yelling ‘Cut to the rooftop party!’ which lets everyone know that the current scene is over, and everyone’s next task is to create a roof party. Alternatively, with teams that know each other well, a player may simply walk confidently out into the middle of the scene, or to a different part of the stage, while speaking an unconnected line of dialogue. This, again, indicates to the other players that a new thread of the show is starting, and they should do what they can, to ensure the audience shifts their attention to the start of the new thread, enabling them to follow the events of the show.
Throughout this blog, I will refer to people who enact an edit of some kind as ‘Editors’. Generally in improv shows, there is no single Editor, because everyone is both an Editor, and a person who must respond to edits. In some cases, the Editor might choose to go to a totally unconnected new scene. In other cases, however, they might retain some semblance of the previous scene in their opening line, telegraphing that the new scene takes place in the same world as the previous scene. This second case where the two scenes are intentionally connected is the type of edit that I want to focus on in this article.
Let’s abstract the thought process that, in my opinion, makes a good ‘Cut’ edit in an improv show.
An Editor watches and listens to the current scene, looking for tangents to follow, or re-interpret into follow-up scenes. They must still give the current scene enough time to establish some characters, and themes, possibly a location, etc.
When an Editor has a scene idea, they must assess their ideas, and the activity of the current scene to find a good ‘edit point’ in which they will end the current scene, and start the new one. Like film, finding a good edit point is subjective to each Editor, but unlike film, you have to make a decision that could mean cutting off an amazing, perfect line that you don’t know exists, in the next 5 seconds. Alternatively, maybe the scene’s going to bomb in the next 5 seconds and turn into the worst part of the show. For me, I try to edit after I perceive one of the following:
A big laugh from the audience, (leaves the scene on a high)
A new piece of information is revealed, that changes the dynamic of the characters’ relationships (leaves the scene on a cliffhanger).
Someone changes their mind about something (sense of closure for conflict).
Or finally, the scene is dying on its arse and the players need rescuing from further humiliation (also known as ‘The Mercy Edit’)
And, of course, the edit should clearly telegraph that it is an edit, and not just an addition to the current scene.
3. The opening of the new scene should clearly cite the previous one, to recalibrate the rest of the players, and the audience. If the recalibration is clear, the other players can then come up with relevant ideas for follow-up scenes. (Again, not every edit NEEDS to do this, I’m highlighting cases where scenes are INTENDED to follow on from each other.)
So, in summary, Editors, when working as part of a team, must:
Watch
Assess
Recalibrate.
And I want to emphasise that when we Edit, as part of a theatrical improv troupe, we are not Directors. We aren’t telling everyone what to do. We’re pruning a plant, to let it grow how it will, not uprooting a tree to make way for our road. Editing is always done to carry and support the current ideas of the rest of the team, and give them opportunities to come up with new ones.
So that’s how editing works on the stage. But, how can we ‘edit’ in everyday life? In my case, editing my life starts with the Bullet Journal.
The Bullet Journal
Anyone who knows me in person knows that I carry a journal with me constantly, and I have done so for the past 3 years. I keep a ‘Bullet Journal’, a handwritten method of diary-keeping, pioneered by Ryder Carroll, where you take a blank journal and design your own layout for a diary, guided by Carrol’s philosophy of blending design with mindfulness rituals. Carroll provides a modular template for organising your tasks and events, but emphatically encourages you to only use the parts that make sense to you, and to change your layout as you go along, to suit what you need at the time. (Also, it's really funny to me that Carroll always abbreviates it to BuJo, obviously beecause if he didn't, he'd have to call it a 'BJ'.)
Now, some people, when they hear the phrase ‘Bullet Journal’ think of painstakingly detailed, hand-painted calendar pages with tasteful little doodles of foxes and autumn leaves. That’s certainly what Instagram and Pinterest would have you believe all Bullet Journals are. This is the kind of Bullet Journal you might have seen:
And here's mine!
The first way is clearly how a lot of people enjoy keeping their journals, and there’s actually nothing wrong with that. However.
Carroll’s original system, and the philosophy that is coupled with it, serves a specific purpose that is actually intended to serve the people who don’t have time to design pretty spreads. People who struggle to get out of bed, whose lives are hampered by executive dysfunction and the relentless demands of Capitalist society to be ‘productive’, whatever the hell that means. Ryder himself struggles with all of these things, as he has ADHD, and as a creative freelancer, he found himself in serious financial difficulties after moving to New York for a new job, where he was immediately made redundant.
Just a note: Ryder Carroll would not have been trapped in this position, were it not for lack of state provision of mental health support and universal basic income. I’m not suggesting that he only had problems because he wasn’t organised. This is part of a bigger system.
However, the provision wasn’t there, he was stuck, and needed a way of organising his to-do list that actually motivated him ‘to-do’ things, or he was going to be in a dire situation very quickly. Out of this crisis, he eventually developed the Bullet Journal system, which combines productivity, mindfulness, and intentionality. How does this work in practice?
Productivity: Define your tasks, be very specific about them, record all of them in one resource, prioritize them.
Mindfulness: Take stock of what you want and need. Not what you think other people want you to want and need, but what you actually want and need currently. Constantly ask ‘why do I want/need this?’ What value does it give me? Where do I go once I get it?
Intentionality: The combination of Productivity and Mindfulness: Do my day-to-day actions match my beliefs? If not, what do I need to do in order to change that? How can I make that into a goal that is feasible for me, where I am right now?
An important part of the Bullet Journal are the bullets (or bullet-points) which denote tasks. Even more important is the process of logging and migrating tasks. If I don’t get a task done by the end of the day, say, apply for a job at a call centre, I re-write (migrate) the task to the next day. But, while I do this, in the gap between crossing it out on the previous day and writing it on the following day, following the principles of the Bullet Journal philosophy, I reflect on why the task didn’t get done, and I assess the intentionality:
Why am I doing the task in the first place?
What would happen if I didn’t do the task?
Am I okay about those consequences?
If I’m not ok about the consequences, why am I struggling to get it done?
Does it feel really difficult, and need to be broken down? If so, break it into more tasks, or rephrase it.
Do I need to do some more research into what I actually need to do? If so, log some tasks to google this or that, or ask someone for guidance.
Am I waiting on someone else to do something before I start it? Schedule the task for a later day, log a task to check in with the person I’m dependent on.
…And if after all this, I feel confident that this task will add meaning to my life, I rewrite it, with one of those adjustments.
Here’s how you might apply this process of evaluating Intentionality:
Example: I was supposed to apply for a job at a call centre today, but never did it. I get to 10pm, and realise I have to write out this task tomorrow. Before I do, I reflect on this task, and why I’m bothering to devote my attention to it.
Here’s two possible assessments I could make about why I didn’t complete it, being mindful of my intentions. Both assessments are valid.
I’m not overjoyed about the call centre job, but it gets me one step closer to not having to worry about rent, which will then give me time and mental space in the evenings to fundraise my small business that I actually want to be working for. That’s valid. I would rewrite the task, possibly break it down into smaller pieces, log the call centre job as a task that is part of my ‘small business project’ page so that it’s clear what meaning it adds to my life, and try again.
A relative is bullying me about getting a ‘real job’ and I feel obligated to apply for whatever jobs that come up on Indeed to stop them bothering me, rather than taking the plunge and fundraising for my small business that I actually want to work for. That’s also valid. In that case, I would strike it off, and add tasks relating to the small business tomorrow.
In both cases, my life is edited in some way. That’s right! We’re back to improv, baby! In both cases, decisions are made which cut out the things that don’t mean anything, or, which recontextualise how they add value to a life. I watch what I gave my attention to, I edit according to my values, I recalibrate my workflow, day to day.
It is the same process of Watch, Assess, Recalibrate that I believe improvisers use on the stage, but on an individual level.
Just now, I nearly wrote a conclusion to my article where I took my improv editing philosophy, and related it, line by line, to the Bullet Journal philosophy, but actually, I think you can do that yourself. And maybe you edit in a completely different way to me! I felt obligated to write it because it’s academic convention to summarise all the main points at the end of an article, but I decided it was a better use of both of our time to just tell you to do it yourself rather than forcing you to re-read a bunch of conclusions you already figured out. In the words of Scarfolk Council, for more information, please re-read this article.
Thanks for reading, nerds. Keep editing!
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If you enjoyed my insights about applying improv to life, why not drop me an email at laurence@improvlaurie.co.uk, or take a look at the rest of my site? My work aims to integrate Applied Improvisation with the world of remote meetings in a playful and creative way. To find out what that means, check the 'Applied Improv?' tab.
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