Sundance 2025: Editing “Didn’t Die,” a thriller about podcasting in a zombie apocalypse

Sundance 2025: Editing "Didn't Die," a thriller about podcasting in a zombie apocalypse

Image Source: Sundance Institute, Photo by Paul Gleason

Vinita, the podcast host in the Sundance post-apocalyptic thriller "Didn't Die," faces a unique problem: How do you maintain your audience when so many of them are falling victim to rabid zombies?

This low-budget thriller, written and directed by Meera Menon and edited by Geoff Boothby, pays homage to zombie pioneer George Romero to creatively capture the emotional toll of living through a civilizational crisis. The black-and-white cinematography and eerie soundtrack create a dark atmosphere in which Vinita must drop her snarky exterior and expose her true fear and vulnerability.

Because the film was shot over a long period of time, Boothby started the edit with only 50% of the film shot. Using Premiere Pro and After Effects, he was able to create entire scenes in post that they did not have footage for, including a key foreshadowing moment: "[The scene] has a big impact on how the climax plays, and it was a solution completely built in the edit and VFX."

Read on for more from Boothby on the making of "Didn't Die," premiering at Sundance on January 28th.

How did you first get involved with this project?

Meera and her husband Paul have been close friends for almost a decade. We have daughters the same age, and even our dogs are friends. We had been looking for opportunities to work together, so when they started making this film two years ago, I jumped at the chance.

Where were you when you found out you got into Sundance? How did you feel?

My wife Erica, who produced the film, had just gotten back from a trip, and we were eating with our daughter when Meera called us and asked to put the call on speaker. Now, keep in mind that we had submitted to Sundance last year and hadn't gotten in, but had continued to refine the film and never premiered it-so, my expectations were low after that first rejection. When she told us, we just absolutely flipped, and it took weeks to come to terms with it mentally.

How do you begin a project/set up your workspace?

This is where I talk about how organized I am, right? Hahaha. Ok, I AM organized, but I don't have an assistant, so I'm only as organized as I need to be to not slow myself down. Over time, I've also gotten in the habit of working in essentially a standard Premiere Pro edit workspace, which has made it faster and easier to switch machines without having to migrate settings. Therefore, my setup is quite simple and straightforward. One major thing I do at the beginning of a project is go through all the footage and pull my selects, then STOP and take a break so I can let what I've seen swim around in my head. It's a crucial step for me to picture what I'm going to do in my mind away from the computer before I actually sit down and do it.

Tell us about a favorite scene or moment from this project and why it stands out to you.

My favorite scene is pretty much the most innocuous interstitial scene imaginable, which I'm going to try to describe without spoilers because it directly connects to the climax of the film. Essentially, there was an element of the climax that wasn't working, and it really needed a moment earlier in the film to foreshadow what was happening. The problem was, we never shot that foreshadowing scene, so we didn't have any footage for it. After agonizing over it, I finally realized I could use shots from a bunch of other unrelated scenes and combine them with a small amount of VFX to make the foreshadowing scene we needed. I pitched the idea to Meera and she approved it. We tried it, and it totally works! It has a big impact on how the climax plays, and it was a solution completely built in the edit and VFX. Check the movie out and see if you can guess which scene it is (you can't).

What were some specific post-production challenges you faced that were unique to your project? How did you go about solving them?

I'd say the biggest challenge with this film was that it was shot piecemeal over time. When we started the cut, we only had about 50% of the film shot. So, there were entire scenes marked with placeholders, and there were also half-shot scenes that we cut with placeholder text describing what we wanted the missing shots to be. Weirdly, I feel like the movie actually ended up better because of this, mostly due to Meera's good choices. She was able to look at what we had made and design the missing scenes and shots to be better and convey more information than they might have originally.

What Adobe tools did you use on this project and why did you originally choose them?

I used Premiere Pro and After Effects, plus a little Illustrator. Paul, the DP of the film, was also the VFX supervisor and primary artist, and I helped with some of the VFX workload. I did the title and credits animations as well, so that was the primary use for After Effects. I've worked in Adobe Creative Cloud for over a decade, so it was a no-brainer to use it for this project.

If you could share one tip about Premiere Pro, what would it be?

One thing I use all the time and find extremely useful is the speed change hotkey (⌘+R). I do use it for speed changes, but more often I use it to find out the length of clips. And if I need to go one step further and measure the length of entire sections or groups of shots, I'll lay a null object, adjustment layer, or color matte over the section in question, then ⌘+R to instantly see the exact length.

Who is your creative inspiration and why?

It's not a person but I actually get a lot of creative inspiration from animation. Animation is the most broken-down version of action over time, and the principles apply across any filmmaking process, but especially in editing. It inspires me in many ways, but one way is using the principles to manipulate shots as much as I need to create the perfect timing, including speed-changing tiny fractions of shots in an essentially invisible way.

What's something tough you've had to face in your career, and how did you overcome it? What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers or content creators?

I'd say the toughest thing has been the need to make money and prioritize that over creative satisfaction at many, many points. It's a situation that so many people are in, and all I can say is find time to do things that satisfy you, even in tiny ways. If it means working on meaningful projects at night, or over lunch-even if you just do it once a week-it can go a long way. I currently have a full-time job making corporate videos, and I edited this film at night and on the weekends.

What's your favorite thing about your workspace and why?

I had a lovely little home office-I've always loved working from home-and had filled it with all kinds of inspiration in the form of graphic novels, films, and art. Unfortunately, we just lost our home in the Eaton fire [in Los Angeles], so that workspace and the things in it are gone. But, I'm continuing to work remotely (we saved my computer, the movie, and other important hard drives, thankfully). Once we eventually rebuild, we'll make a new home office and start the collection again!

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