Inside Euphoria’s Editorial Heart: Aaron I. Butler, ACE on craft, collaboration and controlled madness

Sep 7 / Post Super
“Our priority was making the best, most powerful, most meaningful story possible,” says Aaron I. Butler, ACE, of shaping the fever dream intensity of Euphoria. The HBO drama’s unflinching look at underage sex, drugs, and loneliness is one of television’s most visually and emotionally ambitious shows, created/written/directed by Sam Levinson and shaped by its editorial team into a multi-award-winning phenomenon.

Season 3 alone shot 348 hours of footage, largely on 65mm film, which the editorial team compressed into nine hours of television. “That’s a crazy ratio,” Butler says. “We like to play with and push the material to see where we can take it.”