Editor Laura Zempel, ACE is no stranger to the Emmys–or for that matter to Beef (Netflix), or to being nominated for her work on the anthology series.
In 2023, Zempel and Nat Fuller won a primetime Emmy win for the season one “Figures of Light” episode of Beef. This was her second career Emmy, the first coming the year prior for her work on Euphoria. Now Zempel returns to the Emmy nominees’ circle for “All the Things We’re Never Going to Have,” the season two-opening episode of Beef.
While the Beef stories are dramatically different in seasons one and two, there’s a constant that Zempel embraced the first season which served her well on the second go-around–namely the importance of subtext. A lot of the “beef” or dispute between characters is rooted in something “internal” in each individual, she observed.
That was certainly the case in season one in which the protagonists, Danny and Amy–portrayed by Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, respectively–get mired in an ever escalating feud triggered by a single road range incident. The two strangers–individually dealing with isolation, among other maladies–seemingly can’t help themselves. Their “beef” laid bare the rage, angst, ugliness and insecurities that beset them and our society. What’s going on internally with each character marked and marred their relationship until some form of realization sets in.
Though the season two characters are altogether different from those in the first season, internal dynamics are again prevalent in the new iteration of Beef. Each character is “striving for something more,” noted Zempel, “unsatisfied” with their current life situations–all of which comes through in the writing of Beef creator Lee Sung Jin (aka Sonny). “I have to be aware of what is happening in-between the written dialogue,” related Zempel, who in turn has to carefully linger on certain moments which define the inner workings of each character, shedding light on what drives their emotions and behavior.
Season two introduces us to two couples–Josh Martin (portrayed by Oscar Isaac), general manager of an elite country club, and his wife, Lindsay Crane-Martin (Carey Mulligan); and two young country club workers who are engaged to be married, Austin Davis (Charles Melton) and Ashley Miller (Cailee Spaeny). These couples’ lives intersect over a blackmail plot–with the young couple gaining leverage after witnessing and video recording a violent domestic encounter between the Martins. From there everything spirals into a toxic game of manipulation, deception, privilege, country club politics and class war as trust, love and life itself are up for grabs.
A new wrinkle in Beef’s second season is the generational dynamic as we grow to see that the problems that plague the relationship between Miller and Davis parallel in several respects what the Martins are grappling with. While there’s a clash of generations, we also see a common ground between them.
Whereas season one focused on two lead characters, that expands in the second season to four initially and then as many as six main players whom Zempel has to help define through editing–providing insights into their “interior lives, motivations, who’s aligned with whom at certain times, who’s manipulating whom.” While in the first season Amy and Danny weren’t together that often–making the scenes they shared all the more memorable and sometimes even strangely fun–season two of Beef has multiple characters frequently interacting with one another. A prime challenge of season two, said Zempel, was juggling so many narrative threads and character motivations.
Making that seemingly daunting task a bit easier was the collaborative bond which Zempel enjoyed with director and executive producer Jake Schreier. She had teamed with Schreier on season one, cutting episodes he had directed, and that relationship extended to the second season, including her editing the Schreier-helmed “All the Things We’re Never Going to Have.”
“I love editing Jake’s footage,” affirmed Zempel. “He shoots for the edit. He edits himself.” Having an editorially-minded director is a true gift, said Zempel, adding that Schreier looks at scenes on page and knows where the emotional moments are, and how editing can highlight those moments. Schreier has an “intuitive” sense of what shots are best for such moments. Zempel noted that she and Schreier have an ongoing dialogue, including during production. He will even at times walk Zempel through what he is thinking for a scene structurally, helping her to determine the best editorial approach. Zempel said they are on the same page editorially the lion’s share of the time.
Zempel added that for season two she also benefited from comparing notes with fellow Beef editor Lauren Connelly, ACE who is nominated in the same Picture Editing Emmy category this year for the third episode of season 2, “The Increasing Flimsiness of Any Certainties About the Future.” Zempel noted that she and Connelly were “in constant communication,” situated in editing rooms next door to each other. Given that all eight episodes of season two were shot at once, it became all the more important for the editors to collaborate, informing one another of changes made to a scene which could affect how to approach a scene in another episode.
As for the biggest takeaway or lessons learned from her season two experience, Zempel pointed to the importance of being “a vocal collaborator,” expressing opinions and being involved in all aspects–visual effects, sound, music. “So much of my job is not just assembling footage. It’s overseeing episodes from start to finish,” and helping to bring continuity to the full season. Giving Zempel the added confidence to maintain a strong voice was the collaborative relationship she established with Sonny and Schreier during season one.
Working on Beef, continued Zempel, enables her to bring that much more to projects. It’s been invaluable, she assessed, to team with a mix of directors, showrunners and other editors, learning the different styles of mainstay Beef directors like Sonny, Schreier and Kitao Sakurai–and editing to blend their footage to lend a consistency to the show.
Zempel’s current Emmy nomination for Beef brings her career tally to three nods. She finds it particularly gratifying to be recognized for the opening episode of season two. She deems it her favorite episode of the year, having a particular affection for the “cold open” in which we see the battle building between the Martins, as Ashley and Austin are integrated into the narrative. “This is exactly the kind of editing I like to do,” she related, citing the character development, the grounding of the story, the subtext, the dark humor and dark reality as well as the music-driven dynamic.
After 13 months on season two of Beef, Zempel took a brief hiatus and is now currently on a Prime Video show she wasn’t at liberty to discuss publicly at press time.
Zempel and Connelly’s editing nominations are just two of the 16 garnered by Beef for its second season. The other nods include two for directing–for Sonny and Schreier–lead actor (Isaac) and actress (Mulligan), supporting actor (Melton) and actress (Youn Yuh-jung), cinematography (James Laxton), writing (Sonny), casting, sound editing, sound mixing, contemporary costumes, stunt coordination and Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.
Season one of Beef won eight Emmys including Best Limited Series and Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie (for Sonny).
This is the 10th installment of SHOOT’s weekly 16-part The Road To Emmy Series of feature stories, connecting with directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, production designers, VFX talent and assorted other artisans to gain insights into their work and their collaborators. Coverage of the Creative Arts Emmy winners will appear on September 5 and 6, and we will report on winners at the primetime Emmy Awards ceremony on September 14.
