On FX's Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, the main editorial challenge wasn't the tragedy looming in the background—it was keeping two people and their relationship at the center of a story the whole world wanted a piece of. For episode 5, “Battery Park,” editor Franzis Müller had to hold the tension between private intimacy and mounting public pressure—cutting between tender character moments and the intrusion of the press—without letting either overwhelm the other. We talked to Franzis about finding balance, building an episode from end-to-beginning, and how Evercast kept a bicoastal team in sync across editorial, sound, and VFX.
What was the most demanding creative puzzle that Love Story asked you to solve?
One of the trickier aspects of the episode was balancing the growing pressures surrounding the relationship while keeping John and Carolyn at the center of the story. They're dealing with expectations from family, increasing attention from the press, and questions about what a future together might actually look like. We wanted those pressures to be felt, but not at the expense of the relationship itself.
The fight at Battery Park is a good example. We intercut the intimate argument between our two characters with the paparazzi's perspective by moving between tighter coverage and more voyeuristic long-lens shots. The idea was to make the audience aware of that growing outside pressure while still keeping them connected to what John and Carolyn were experiencing in the moment.
For me, that was really the balancing act throughout the episode. The pressure surrounding the relationship needed to be there, but the focus always had to come back to the characters.
Were there any technical constraints you had to manage?
Honestly, we didn’t have any major technical hurdles on this show. We had a solid remote workflow in place, so even though production was in New York and editorial was in Los Angeles, collaboration was pretty seamless. Most of the time, we were focused on the creative work rather than troubleshooting technical issues.
Walk us through the day-to-day. Who was in the room with you, who wasn't, and how spread out was everyone across locations?
During the dailies stage, a typical day usually started with working on new scenes in the morning. Once they reached a point I was happy with, I’d pass them to my assistant editor, Lauren Rossi, for sound work. The rest of the day was usually spent refining previous scenes, reviewing sound work, and preparing material for the next round of feedback.
For episode 5, I had the privilege of co-editing with Adam Penn, who also edited the pilot and served as a producer on the show. Adam and I were both working remotely in Los Angeles while production was shooting in New York. We built the episode together, making sure our work blended seamlessly before sending it to our director, Crystle Roberson.
Once we moved into the director's cut, Evercast became a big part of the process. Crystle and I would watch the episode together, discuss notes as we went, then I would work through those notes independently before reconnecting to review the changes and continue refining the cut.
How did Evercast come into play? How was it helpful?
Evercast became part of the process at several different stages. My assistant editor Lauren Rossi and I would often use it to review sound work or quickly go over plans for the day, and because the editorial team was based in Los Angeles while production was in New York, it became a natural hub for collaboration throughout post.
Beyond the director’s cut, [Evercast] was especially useful when reviewing VFX work. We could go through shots together, discuss notes in real time, and mark specific frames that needed additional attention. Those conversations tend to be much easier when everyone is looking at the same thing at the same time.
More than anything, it helped keep communication moving. Whether it was editorial, sound, VFX, or production, it gave us a simple way to get people together quickly and make decisions.
What aspect of Evercast would you say was most valuable to this project?
One of the most valuable things for us was simply being able to have quick conversations. With the team working remotely, a lot can get lost in emails or text messages, so being able to jump on an [Evercast] session, share work, and talk through ideas in real time made collaboration much more efficient.
I also think it helped preserve some of the spontaneity that naturally happens when people are working in the same room. Sometimes a quick conversation can solve something that might otherwise take several rounds of notes.
What did your technical environment look like, from your own cutting room to however your collaborators were dialed in on their end (hardware/software etc.)? How did you stream into Evercast (NDI, DeckLink, etc.)?
Our Avid Nexis was located in our offices in Hollywood, and the editorial team connected remotely using Parsec. Adam and I were both working remotely in Los Angeles, while production was based in New York.
In terms of software, we edited on Avid Media Composer 2024.12.0.
When it came to review sessions, we used Evercast for collaboration with our director, as well as for VFX reviews. We streamed into Evercast using NDI.
Love Story frames John and Carolyn's relationship through the lens of tragedy we know is coming. How did that dramatic irony factor into your editing choices? Were there moments where you leaned into it, or deliberately held it back?
One of the things I appreciated about the series is that it always stays focused on the characters and their relationship in the present moment. I am less concerned with what an audience might know coming into the show and more focused on what the characters were experiencing within the story itself.
For episode 5 in particular, the tension comes from the questions the characters are asking themselves about their future together and the pressures beginning to build around them. We tried to stay grounded in those experiences rather than pushing beyond what the story was giving us at that point.
If anything, the focus was on preserving the intimacy of the relationship and allowing those moments to play honestly. We wanted the audience to experience those developments alongside the characters rather than feeling like the edit was steering them toward a particular outcome.
I understand that you edited the proposal storyline starting from the ending. What made you approach it that way, and how did that change the way you handled the emotional beats leading up to it?
It was a happy accident that proved very helpful. Because I was co-editing the episode with Adam Penn, he had already begun assembling some scenes before I jumped in, and the final proposal simply happened to be the first sequence I worked on.
Looking back, I am happy it worked out that way because it gave me a destination to build toward. It helped me identify which moments needed room to breathe, where tension could gradually build, and gave me a clearer sense of how the relationship needed to evolve to land where it did in the final scene.
As the assembly came together, that perspective helped establish a clear emotional progression from beginning to end.
I love how the park fight scene moves between the intimate back-and-forth and the wide shots spattered with camera shutter sounds to remind us they're not alone. Tell me about your approach on this scene and the creative choices you made.
The challenge in this scene was maintaining the intimacy of the fight while beginning to introduce the intrusive presence of the paparazzi. We needed to preserve the feeling that we were still experiencing things through John and Carolyn rather than through the people watching them. The paparazzi’s presence here begins to signal a shift in their relationship with the press, and the story starts taking on a slightly darker tone.
We explored different ways of creating that voyeuristic feeling, playing with Betacam footage, long-lens imagery, and the sound of distant camera shutters. We wanted the audience to feel that presence without letting it overwhelm the scene itself. The focus always had to stay on the relationship and the argument happening between the characters.
It’s a scene I enjoy watching back because it went through a lot of experimentation before we found the right balance.
Congrats on FX supporting your episode for Emmy consideration! What do you think makes this episode particularly stand out?
I am grateful that FX chose to submit the episode for Emmy consideration. I’m really proud of the work Adam and I, along with our assistant editors Lauren Rossi and Randy Leon, delivered, and how it evolved through every stage of the editorial process.
What I find particularly interesting about episode 5 is the range of material it balances. The episode moves between romance, family dynamics, growing pressure from the press, and some very intimate character moments, all while maintaining a clear progression in the relationship. From an editorial standpoint, finding the right rhythm between those different elements was one of the most rewarding aspects of working on it.
Create together remotely, in real time
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