When Drew Nichols performs his job flawlessly, he becomes practically invisible. The audience becomes so engrossed in the television show they are watching—the performances, the visuals, the musical score—that their own lives fade away, replaced temporarily by a beautiful and cathartic shared moment, completely unaware of Drew’s tireless efforts.
Drew, of course, is the editor for Picard Season 3, and he is acutely aware of the responsibility that comes with narrating new stories within a beloved franchise, featuring characters who have been our idols since childhood, such as Jean-Luc Picard, Beverly Crusher, Geordi LaForge, Worf, and Data.
Drew: “We better be doing the best thing we can and servicing these actors who are just fell back into these roles, and also brought new things to these roles, too. So there was that hanging over it, making sure we’re doing justice to what we’re trying to do here. It was it was intensive, to be sure.”
As the editor, Drew shapes the final version of the story before it is experienced by the audience.
Drew: “This is the thing that people are going to see. It’s a powerful responsibility. But I think that’s what makes it interesting.”
Drew didn’t start his editing career on one of television’s most popular sci-fi shows. He had humble beginnings, working his way up from the bottom of the industry as a post-production assistant for reality TV.
Drew: “I’m pretty musically inclined. And I think music was always going to be something in my life. So I originally moved out to Los Angeles, I was playing drums in a band and hoping to be a big rock star. While doing that, I needed a job, obviously, to pay for the rent. So a friend that I went to film school with, worked at this reality TV company and said, ‘Hey, we need a nighttime assistant editor to digitize the tapes.’ So I started doing that, digitizing tapes and footage, doing string outs and started to dabble around with editing a bit. And it was kind of fascinating and super interesting. I mean, film had always been something that I love. I always saw myself as a director someday, in my wildest imagination, and editing felt like this great kind of combination of music and directing and filmmaking. So I kind of really got into it. And so the company saw that I was doing good work, they asked if I wanted to edit. So I started editing Reality TV.”
Unlike scripted shows, reality TV and documentaries heavily rely on the editor to shape and craft the story. Drew found this experience to be an incredible training ground, allowing him to prove and enhance his abilities.
Drew: “It really sharpened my storytelling skills. You’re trying to find the story. You’ll have story producers and people who are helping, but in the end, it just really does come down to you, and your storytelling skills particularly, but also your speed, your editing speed, because you have so much footage. We think we get a lot of footage in scripted, it’s like not even close in the documentary reality. We send a B roll unit and they just shot for 10 hours straight. And you have to be able to go through all that stuff, make selects, reels, remember where all the things were? I think all of those skills, absolutely translate directly over into the scripted side.”
Once an editor becomes entrenched in a particular format, it’s easier to stay within that lane. So, how did Drew successfully cross over into scripted television?
Drew: “I took a chance. I had known some editors, through a friend who worked on Mad Men. And I asked if I could email them and ask for advice and tips. One of the editors, Christopher Gay, he agreed to meet me for lunch. We had a nice meeting. He had this little indie film he was doing. He said, ‘Look, there’s no money. I was planning on being my own assistant editor. But if you would like to come and do this, I’ll show you the ropes’. So I did this independent film with him. I’m guessing I impressed because he said that his assistant editor on Mad Men wasn’t going to be able to come back for the first part of the final season. ‘Would you like to work on madmen with me as my assistant editor?’ The rest as they say is history.”
Growing up watching Star Trek with his father, Drew developed a deep appreciation for The Next Generation, which he fondly refers to as ‘my Trek.’ When Terry approached him, joining the crew was an easy decision.
Drew: 12 monkeys, I mean, our relationship is forged in fire there, because it’s a time travel show, and it was incredibly well written. But inevitably, with time travel, you can’t possibly think of all the iterations while you’re writing it, shooting it. I absolutely was ready for it and hungry for it. I must have impressed because they kept me on. And then I did season two three and four with Terry which was an incredible experience in every way. And I think that really kind of paved the road for Star Trek Picard.
Growing up watching Star Trek with his father, Drew developed a deep appreciation for The Next Generation, which he fondly refers to as ‘my Trek.’ When Terry approached him, joining the crew was an easy decision.
Drew: “I mean, it was absolutely crazy. Because they’re big, expansive episodes, tons of visual effects. And then particularly the finale, because Terry directed the last two episodes, as well. And, you know, it’s the series finale. So while they’re directing, basically you get a call the next day, like, hey, you need to, you need to cut the scene, because they’re going to tear down the set tomorrow. So there’s a little extra pressure. Let’s make sure we have it all before they tear down the enterprise set.”
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