Wednesday, an Addams Family spin-off, is a smash hit, breaking all kinds of streaming records for Netflix, including the record for the most hours viewed in a week for an English-language series. The show stars Jenna Ortega as the pig-tailed, darkly sarcastic Wednesday Addams. It also features Catherine Zeta-Jones as Wednesday’s mother, Morticia, Luis Guzman as her father, Gomez, and a cast of new characters that play Wednesday’s classmates at Nevermore Academy. Christina Ricci also returns to the Addams Family world, this time as one of Wednesday’s instructors.
We spoke with Wednesday’s editor Jay Prychidny about the show’s success and what it was like working with Tim Burton on day-to-day editorial decisions. Burton directed about half of the episodes. Prychidny is also working with Ortega again on the forthcoming Scream movie, which is set in NYC and scheduled for release in 2023.
*The interview was slightly edited for clarity.
Can you comment on the massive success of the show? Why do you think people are reacting so positively to “Wednesday,” both the show as a whole and the character?
Jay Prychidny (JP): It’s really interesting. It was a rollercoaster for me. The week before it came out, the reviews started to come in. The critical reaction was positive-ish, but the vibe was not very enthusiastic. I was pretty disappointed in the critical reaction. My expectations were a bit lowered at that point. When people started seeing it, the reaction was beyond what I could have ever hoped for, for sure. The amount of viewing, the amount of people contacting me about it is more than any other show I’ve ever worked on. The dance has gone viral, which was not in my consciousness as something that would ever happen. [Laughs]. We did this for the audience, and they’ve really embraced it.
How did you get involved with this project?
JP: I had a few contacts working in the production. For a while, it was going to be shot in Toronto, which is where I’m from. I heard about the project early on. I knew some of the people in Toronto who were going to produce it, so I got connected with them. I also knew the showrunners from a previous show I worked on with them, “Into the Badlands.” Tim Burton’s producer I also knew through a secondary connection. I was really excited about the project, especially Wednesday Addams the character and Tim Burton directing. I used my connections to get involved.
In preparation, did you watch the original sitcom and the previous films?
JP: My connection with the Addams Family is the 90s films. I watched those as a kid. Christina Ricci’s portrayal as Wednesday was huge for me at that age. I guess I was 10 or 11 years old when those movies came out. I loved them. I remember that the critical reaction to those wasn’t’ too great. I remember my parents asking, “Why are you watching this movie? It’s not supposed to be good.” I loved them. Christina Ricci played such an important character for me. I’ve seen those movies many, many times. I love the vibe and energy in them, as well as the tone and comedy. I had those in mind while working on this show, but not to do it the same way. We didn’t want it to be the same. However, I definitely thought of how there might be some connective tissue, at least tonally. The other incarnations of “The Addams Family” I’m not as familiar with. For Tim, this was always a new version of Wednesday. He just wanted to create his version of what he saw and how he wanted it to be.
What was it like working with Tim Burton reviewing the scenes and discussing editorial decisions?
JP: It was great and very fast-paced. He works really, really fast. He’s not the type to sit in the editing room all day or anything like that. Editorial is an important process for him, though. It helps inform how he shoots. We show him scenes every day while he’s shooting. After shooting, he’ll either come into the suite or we’d just send him scenes on an iPad to look at. Then, we’d talk about them as we go. That’s part of his process.
I found that the show is a perfect blend of horror, drama, and comedy. How did you manage to find that balance?
JP: For me, I didn’t think of it as horror. I thought of it more as a comedy from Wednesday’s perspective. Wednesday is such a unique character. She has such a unique perspective. Grounding things in her world was always our touchstone in terms of telling the story. The horror elements almost come as a surprise a lot of the time, which is maybe the most effective way to deal with horror. It’s external elements that force their way into this story, like the monster that forces its way into Wednesday’s story. She wasn’t in a horror universe so much, but she has these horror elements coming into her universe, which almost makes it more surprising. When Rowan (Calum Ross) is attacked by the monster in the first episode, I found it shocking. For that monster to come, it was surprising. For me, that’s effective. Mixing up tones that way is one of my favorite things to do. It keeps the audience unable to predict what’s going to happen.
There are several nods to horror history in the series, too, including to Carrie, Poe, and Mary Shelley.
JP: Carrie is a huge inspiration for Tim. He loves the movie. Obviously, there are references in the series to Carrie. He thought about this in a Carrie-ish way sometimes, with the coming-of-age story. At one point, we even experimented with using Carrie’s music, I think for one of the opening scenes. We explored using the score from Carrie, but we didn’t end up going that route.
From an editing perspective, can you talk about how you managed to keep the show in Wednesday’s POV?
JP: Coming into the project, even before I had seen any footage, that was definitely on my mind, in that I wanted to ground it in her perspective as much as possible. For example, at the beginning of episode 2, during the psychiatrist scene, I hold on her face for maybe five or six lines of dialogue. I also used cuts in the footage and morphed them together to remove blinks and to tighten it up, so you can stay on her face. I wanted to find those opportunities to center Wednesday really strongly in her own world and have the characters be secondary to that.
You mentioned the dance scene, which may be my favorite in the entire series. It’s really gone viral. Do you have a favorite scene or episode as a whole?
JP: The dance scene is way up there, that’s for sure. That was shot near the end of production. It was such a treat. I just love it, something about the melding of music, movement, and cinematography. It’s so intoxicating to me. I’ve also seen a lot of people call the dance hypnotizing. [Laughs]. I love that! People are watching it over and over again. It’s incredible. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with “Thriller.” I watched it over and over again. I thought of “Thriller” a lot when putting the sequence together, especially when it starts, and it focuses on her face. I love a dance scene, and I was so thrilled to be able to edit that scene. When people came into the suite, it just made their day. It was apparent early on that it was a special scene, but I didn’t realize it would go viral. Tim also said it was his favorite scene to shoot. A lot of love went into that sequence. Jenna’s performance is incredible and amazing. That’s a favorite scene, for sure.
I also love the wrap-up of episode 3. Going from the Crackstone’s fountain being sabotaged by Wednesday, to her cello performance, to the dramatic scene between Principal Weens (Gwendoline Christine) and Wednesday talking about outcasts and their place in society, which I think is one of my favorite dramatic scenes in the series, and then this beautiful wrap-up featuring a cello version of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters,” that to me is just what I love about shifting tones. You can go from high comedy to metaphorical drama, to beautiful cinematography all blending together. For me, that’s so exciting, to find ways to have that many tones and shifts. It’s so fun. That ending of episode 3 does that in a way that I really love.
Will there be a season 2? If so, what would you like to see?
JP: It’s interesting. I just talked with Tim about this a week or so ago. Lots of people are involved with the show, and lots of people have different opinions. Who knows what eventually may end up happening? I’d really be interested in seeing Wednesday in a new environment. One of the things you can do with Wednesday is comment on different parts of our culture in a really outsider kind of way that’s impactful. If you find the right setting, she can have something relevant to say about us and our culture today.
I’d also like to explore more of Wednesday’s character as she’s getting older. One of the great things about the series is how it took on the love triangle situation. To me, it was a fresh take on it because she wasn’t all that interested in these boys. But they were interested in her. Her challenge was figuring out how to navigate a situation when there are other people with emotions coming at you and their emotions are directed at you. Wednesday is so competent at so many things, but she’s not competent in dealing with those kinds of situations, those kinds of social interactions. I’d love to see more of that and how someone like that navigates relationships and romantic situations. I wouldn’t want to see a regular romance with Wednesday. No way. Not at all! But I would want to see if you’re able to stay true to the character, how Wednesday would navigate those types of situations and what those relationships look like to her.
Can you talk about what you’re working on next? I do know you’re editing the next Scream movie.
JP: I’m currently working on the next Scream movie. I’m editing Jenna Ortega again. That has been great. I’ve been a fan of Scream since I was a kid. I think the first one is the first R-rated movie I snuck into. It blew my mind open. I was so enthralled by that movie, from the meta-commentary to the impact of that opening kill. I’ve always been a huge fan of Scream. Getting to work on this sixth installment has been great. It feels fresh to me. Hopefully, everyone else feels that way. It doesn’t feel like a sixth in a series. It feels like it really has its own identity. So far, the feedback we’ve received has been extraordinary.
I know the new Scream is set in NYC. Will we see Ghostface run around and terrorize Manhattan more than Jason did in Jason Takes Manhattan, which I like to call Jason Takes a Boat?
JP: [Laughs]. Well, the whole movie takes place in New York, so yes, there’s more that takes place in New York than on a boat. [Laughs]. So that’s one improvement we’ve made over Friday the 13th.
Jay, this was wonderful. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us, and congrats on the massive success of Wednesday!
