David Crabtree -Rosewood

By starrymag | September 17, 2015

By: Nicole Smith

 

 

Q) How did you get started in the industry?

 

A) Editing has been my path, for sure, in terms of how … I mean, I can go way back and start with how I made some films when I was in college. I directed and edited some films, and one of them went on and won some awards. It was a film called The Bedroom, a little 10 minute short, and my DP was Matthew Libatique who’s gone on to be nominated for being the cinematographer for Black Swan and he’s done most of [Darren] Aronofsky’s movies. And we did this thing where I literally paid for this by sleeping out of my truck for like a couple of months, just using all the money that I was making working at this TV station and shot this short film on 35mm film. It was Matt’s first time shooting 35 and it was my only time shooting on 35mm film. We made this film, it won a couple of awards and that was my Senior year in college.

 

At that point, I kind of was thinking about my career path and everything. I thought, “Well, I could try to become a director right then and probably starve, or I could take this other path of editing,” which is something that I really loved. Everybody kept on telling me, “Hey, you’ve really got a talent for this and you should really think about that.” So, I did. I was actually already working at a TV station as an editor when I was still in college and as soon as I finished up there, I got a job for Roger Corman’s company, which is known for their Exploitation B Movies. That was a great place to learn. It’s basically you show up there and you tell them what you want to be. They say, “OK, that’s what you are, $500 bucks a week. Go out there and do it.” Or at least that’s the way it used to be over there and so I started over there as an assistant, did a little bit of editing, but I really wanted to stay in the assisting world a little while just to get a chance to work with different editors and learn from them.

 

I went on to do a couple of other TV shows. My big break, as far as an editor, came on NYPD Blue. I came on there as an assistant and within a few years, I was bumped up there and started editing on a full-time basis. Then I started editing a lot of pilots. That’s been kind of, I guess, my claim to fame as an editor. I’ve done 17 or 18 pilots now, including the Psych pilot, including the Rosewood pilot. I also did the Las Vegas pilot, which was on NBC for a bunch of years with James Caan, but that became kind of my thing. I loved cutting pilots because you’re on the ground floor of creating a style of a show — along with the director and creator of the show — and you really get to put your stamp on it when you’re working on a pilot. I did that on the Psych pilot and of course, it ended up being eight seasons of television and work for me and that was my next huge break where I started directing on Psych in season five. I ended up directing five episodes over the next four years, including two the final season. So that’s kind of been my career trajectory, and I’ve also left a couple of things out, like I directed a feature film along the way which basically got me my opportunity to direct my first episode of Psych.

 

Q) NYPD Blue is where you really hit the ground running. Did you feel the pressure there going in? That was a very popular show at the time.

 

A.) It was such a popular show. I got there in season four, and literally, a week after I got there The Emmy’s happened. And all these guys that I had just met and was just starting to work with were on the Emmy stage winning Emmy’s. David Milch won for writing that year. Mark Tinker won for directing. I think it might have won best show. Dennis Franz won for best actor. Literally, all these people I was working with were collecting these Emmy’s and I saw them the next day. I was just in awe of that amazing opportunity that I got to work with such incredibly talented people, and so I don’t know if pressure is the right word, but definitely exciting and I knew I was in a great place.

 

Q) In terms of Psych, you edited many fan favorites, the Tuesday the 17^th episode, American Duos and Psych: The Musical. Out of all of those, which was the most challenging?

 

A) Well, let me give some credit to Dexter Adriano who co-edited the musical with me. As far as being the biggest challenge, I mean the musical was definitely a challenge, but so much fun. Tuesday the 17^th, once again, was just a lot of fun. That was Roday’s first episode [to direct]. I wouldn’t say it was like a huge challenge, but there was a ton of fun. That took kind of the scary genre of Psych to the farthest edge. That was really exciting for me to be able to be the editor on that episode. Yeah, most challenging, I have to think about that. One of the things that was challenging about Psych was we basically attacked a different genre every week and so we might touch on the western genre or we would do parodies of movies. I mean, I got to direct a couple like that with Santabarbaratown, which was a wink to Chinatown, and the Right Turn or Left for Dead episode was kind of a nod to sliding doors. We got to do different stuff like that and so I’d say that was the challenge and also really the fun of working on that show, was that every episode you got wasn’t going to be quite the same. You were going to approach it in a different way.

 

Q) You’ve directed a couple of projects, Broken Dreams and you directed on Psych. Do you want to direct more?

 

A) Oh absolutely. That’s the goal is to direct more. That’s what’s really exciting about being teamed up again with Todd Harthan on Rosewood is if the show has success. If the show does as well as we hope it’s going to do, given some time, maybe in the back half of the season or season two, the plan and the hope is that I’ll get a chance to direct over there. That’s the thing that we’re planning for. That’s the thing that I’m very excited about.

 

Q) I hope you get to do that. I would love to see it.

 

A) Thank you, thank you. Tell your friends to watch the show. [laughs]

 

Q) After Psych, you edited Agents of Shield, and now of course you’re working on Rosewood. Morris Chestnut’s character is very similar to Shawn Spencer’s in terms of their observational skills, so have you been able to borrow editing techniques that you used on Psych in editing Rosewood?

 

A) No. I would say, the thing is, you have Morris Chestnut’s character who definitely has great observation skills because he can see someone, whether living or dead, and kind of figure out immediately what killed that person or what is making them ill. But we’re not approaching it in the way we approached things on Psych. When Shawn had a “Shawn vision,” we would zip in there and kind of see what he saw and that was a stylistic thing for Psych. We’re not really doing that on Rosewood, but that’s a really interesting point that you brought up though. That’s something I didn’t really think of that much, but that’s definitely something they have in common, those two characters.

 

Q) Without giving too much away, is there a certain scene in Rosewood that you’ve edited so far that has been more difficult than the others have?

 

A) Episode three, there’s a really fun sequence that’s a chase through the streets and it involves a Lamborghini and a Ferrari, and our main characters. That one was definitely a lot of fun. I don’t really think of things in terms of challenging as much as I think a new challenge is something cool and fun to tackle.

 

Q) You said you like to put your own stamp on things. What is your stamp on Rosewood?

 

A) Wow. That’s a great question. I mean, when I say putting your own stamp on things that means usually in the pilot, and I would say the style I have, for the most part, is smart people talking fast, rapid fire. I like to keep things moving. The things that I edit usually have a lot of pacing to them, and of course, if it’s an emotional scene, we’ll slow it down. If it calls for it, we’ll give it beats, but other than that, I like shows that move fast. I love shows that move as fast as we think and that don’t give too much away. We kind of go along for a quick ride, and especially when it comes to comedy, I think that comedy usually plays better when the pace is up and the characters are witty and quick. I would say that’s the stamp I put on it as far as an editor, with the help of our director, Richard Shepard, of course, and our creator, Todd Harthan. That’s what they were going for, and that’s what I was going for. 

 

Q) When we were talking the other day, you said the Psych family was coming back together through a couple of projects. Would you like to share that?

 

A) Yeah, yeah. As we were finishing Psych, one thing kept getting brought up or one kind of phrase kept getting brought up, like, “Who’s going to bring the band back together?” Last season, none of our guys had a show picked up and so it was a season off in a way. I was off doing Agents of Shield, which was great and everything. Then, this pilot season came around and both Todd Harthan and Steve Franks had pilots that got picked up. I ended up doing the one with Todd. Of course, I wish I could’ve done both of them, but that’s physically impossible because they were both getting done at the same time. Anyway, I ended up doing Rosewood, which was picked up, as we know. Once it got picked up, Todd hired Andy Berman and I stayed on from the pilot. That’s a lot of fun. The three of us are all up on the third floor and we’re actually in the same building that we were in for Psych. We’re in Manhattan Beach and I’m actually in the same editing room where I did the editing for Psych. That’s really cool and then I can just go right down the hall and I see those guys every day. That definitely feels like family.

 

Then, one building over, Steve Franks ended up getting the job as the show runner on the CBS show Rush Hour and he ended up hiring Carlos Jacott. So, I see Carlos quite often on the lot and I’ve seen Steve a couple of times when I’ve gone over there, and of course, they hired even more people that were from the Psych team. We’re all kind of in the same area. It would be better if we were all on the same show, but at least we’re all on the same lot, and both shows hired James Roday to direct episodes. So, James will be directing an episode of Rosewood and I’ll see him. I think he’ll start prepping next week or the week after. Then, immediately after that, he’s doing an episode of Rush Hour.

 

Q) There’s going to be lots of shenanigans on the lot.

 

A) [laughs] I’m sure there’s going to be lots of fun and lots of shenanigans. You know what James Roday brings. You know what Todd, Andy and Steve bring too, and Carlos.

  

Q) I know you’re working on some other projects right now. S.M.A.C.K. Unit is one of them.

 

A) S.M.A.C.K. Unit is an action comedy. It’s definitely a lot of fun. The two lead characters are part of this special unit that’s designed to take down fraud or corruption in any other organizations. So, what ends up happening is one of our leads, who’s a top notch S.M.A.C.K. agent, gets teamed up with someone she arrested in the past, who happens to be an expert in corruption. It’s two partners that hate each other that have to work together, and we shot several scenes for that, including two fantastic and funny action scenes. We’re taking that out now and we’re going to pitch that and try to sell that as a TV show. One of our action scenes is actually online, and people can see it where our character, Cyrus (who’s a master thief) is getting ejected from a nightclub by two bouncers. He ends up fighting with these two bouncers, but while he’s fighting with them he ends up stealing all their valuables. So that’s a fun scene.

 

The other project that I’ve been co-developing, is a show called Shortcomings and it stars this amazing actress, Nicole Gerth. She’s only 3’ foot 8” and she has a condition called osteogenesis imperfecta, which is the reason why she has her small stature. She won three supporting actress awards in my feature film, Broken Dreams. She created this show for herself where she’s a motivational speaker, like Tony Robbins on her way to becoming Oprah. She’s an inspiration to so many because of the obstacles she’s had to overcome to get to where she is, but she has one major problem — that is that every time she gets frustrated with her small stature, she acts out sexually. We’ve got a sizzle reel for that that we’ve been taking out.

 

Q) Looking forward, what are some things that you still hope to accomplish in the industry?

 

A) I want to start directing a lot more episodes. That’s number one. I’d say my long-term goal is I would love to be a directing producer on a television show. I think that would be an ideal fit for me, five or ten years from now, after I’ve directed several more episodes. As a directing producer, you direct several episodes throughout the year, and you also work with the other directors. The other thing that I think would be a good fit for me is you also go in the editing room and give notes to the editors and work on the cuts, as well. That would be something I would love to do, and I think I would be really good at it. My long-term goal would be that, and that is, of course, unless I sell one of these TV shows. Then I would be an executive producer on a TV show that way.

 

Q) When you’re not at work, I know you like to spend time with a special boy in your life. Will you tell us about Brutus?

 

A) [laughs] Yeah, I’d love to tell you about Brutus. I’m actually looking for him right now. Oh, there he is, he’s right behind me. Brutus is lying on the floor, as he normally does. His tongue is, I would say, about two inches sticking out of his mouth and rolled out on the floor right now, which is his normal position. Brutus is great, Brutus is definitely my good buddy and occasionally I take him to work too, and yeah, I’ve got nothing but great things to say about my son, Brutus.

 

 

Q) Lastly, why should people tune in to Rosewood?

 

A) People should tune in to Rosewood because it is a fun show. Period. We’ve got several great, quirky characters. This is a procedural show and we have a case every week that makes sense, but it’s not really about the case. This show is really about the characters and the journey that they go on, the personal stories, and I think that people will really like these characters, really root for them, and want to see them more, and I think people should definitely come check it out.