Bridging the Irish sea for Fate: The Winx Saga

Fate: The Winx Saga, produced by Archery Pictures (Operation Mincemeat, Riviera and The State) combines a heady mix of magical adolescence, teen rivalry and monster threat, in a coming-of-age series set at a magical boarding school.

Within its first month of release after its Netflix debut, Fate was watched by 57-million subscribers, prompting the streamer to renew the series for second season which has now aired. Returning to Ireland to shoot, the seven-part series was produced during Covid, and ClearView Flex formed an invaluable bridge between the Dublin-based creative leads and a team of editors in London.

We sit down with Pete Oldham, post supervisor for the show, who operates freelance in this capacity principally serving indie and broadcast drama productions in the UK. Oldham’s credited with recent hits including Billie Piper’s I Hate Suzie Too, divorce drama The Split and the maternity ward comedy This is Going to Hurt starring Ben Whishaw. Principal photography on Fate season two took place between July and November 2021 with editorial continuing until February of 2022. Locations included Killruddery House and Ardmore Studios in Bray and Montpelier Hill (better known as The Hellfire Club to Dubliners)

Can you share how your team used ClearView on Fate: The Winx Saga?

Oldham: “On the first season, we’d started to use ClearView Flex in the final sound mix and it just seemed bulletproof. When it came to season two, we set it up as a remote link for the offline edit bridging our editors in London with the shoot in Dublin.”

Without a collaboration tool – what would you have done?

“The alternative was to move the London-based editors to the directors, producers and execs in Dublin which would have been less feasible.

“In TV drama it’s not unusual for a show to be finishing photography on the last episode while the first episode is nearing its final edit so facilitating sessions between editors and show-runners is important,” Oldham says. “Whenever it doesn’t make sense to have both parties in the same room sharing ideas, then ClearView Flex is the perfect solution.”

What are some of the challenges with remote collaboration and how do you address them?

“I find it helpful to dry run everything before a producer or a director turn ups for a session– just to get them familiar with how ClearView works before they go into a proper attended meeting. Paying attention to simple things, like if someone is travelling and there is an issue with the hotel firewall, we can solve it ahead of time with a dry run.

“I still think it is great to be in the same room when you can, but with all the tech advancements and experience people now have behind them, I don’t see remote going away.”

What are the benefits of ClearView Flex?

“We’ve used a few other remote tools, but we come back to ClearView for the reliability. It is really robust and it seems more advanced. Also, from a producer or director point of view, it is just web based so that is all helpful. I will definitely use ClearView Flex on another project anytime there is a similar remote video editing challenge.”