Last year, Daysha Broadway, Stephanie Filo and Jessica Hernández — all ACE — became the first women of color team to win the Emmy for Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming, for their work on season two of HBO's A Black Lady Sketch Show. That milestone came on the heels of another — they were also the first women of color team to be nominated for the award.
The supervising editor for season two, Broadway, whose credits include Insecure, Between the World and Me and Surviving R. Kelly, was the only member of the trio who had worked on season one. "Daysha set the blueprint for editing the show," says Filo, whose résumé includes Supervillain: The Making of Tekashi 6ix9ine and Surviving R. Kelly. "It was amazing to work with her and learn the style of the show because she knows it better than anyone else."
A Black Lady Sketch Show's style of comedy and pacing is "fast and loud," Broadway says. "There's no studio audience. It's not like SNL. We're not pausing for laughter." She notes that Filo and Hernández got up to speed quickly.
"This was my first time as a supervising editor, and I was a little bit nervous about that," Broadway adds. "I would like to thank Stephanie and Jessica for making that process a little bit easier for me, because they are incredible at what they do."
They both came into the gig as fans. Hernández, who has cut episodes of Colin in Black and White, Grand Army and Mayans M.C., recalls being obsessed with the "Gang Orientation" sketch from season one. "When 'Gang Retreat' came up for the second season, I really wanted to do it," she recalls.
Series creator Robin Thede — also an executive producer and writer as well as the star of A Black Lady Sketch Show — was a collaborative partner in the edit process. "She's not sitting there watching the cut with a stern face, looking for our mistakes. She watches it as a viewer," Broadway says. "She laughs, and if she doesn't, it's like, 'Okay, let's work on this.'"
Of the trio, only Filo is working on season three, but they remain bonded by their history-making Emmy win. "We were three women of color editors who worked together to do this, and that's highly unusual," Hernández says. "There are times when we aren't heard in general. We didn't have to deal with that. We all heard each other pretty well."
"Up until [season two], I can't say I'd ever worked with a team of three women of color editors," Filo reflects. "Our whole post team was women and nonbinary people as well. That's totally unheard of in the post space. So I hope that it's a sign of change happening and things to come."
This article originally appeared in emmy magazine issue #5, 2022, under the title, "Carried by the Win."
