Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor

A love letter to the moments we had to let go

By Kevin Huffman

Anyone who’s ever made a documentary knows this: some of your favorite scenes never make the final cut.

Maybe it’s a matter of pacing. Maybe it’s legal. Maybe it’s network notes, internal politics, or just running out of steam. But the result is the same—something you loved gets left behind. You move on, sure. But those moments stick with you. You remember the characters, the mood, the meaning. You mourn the scene that might have been.

So this is my list. Not exhaustive, not definitive. Just a personal tour through some of the scenes I still think about. A few are from projects that never aired, others from series that had real impact. Some I fought for and lost. A few I didn’t fight for hard enough.

And to every editor, producer, and director out there heading toward picture lock, slicing away scenes you care about for the greater good: I salute you.

Give Me Liberty: The Book of Jerry & Becki (unreleased)

Lots of us have worked on films that may never see the light of day. This one might, eventually. I hope it does.

If I could go back, I’d fight harder for two scenes:

• One exploring the Falwells’ financial ties to Giancarlo Granda (a.k.a. the pool boy) and his shady Miami backers.

• Another exposing some equally shady Liberty University board members.

We also made the call to shorten the Jerry Falwell Sr./Moral Majority backstory. Probably the right call—but still a loss.

Hitler & The Nazis: Evil on Trial (Episode 5)

This one was tough. I had a scene intercutting the Battle of Stalingrad with a defeated Nazi general testifying at Nuremberg. It added real narrative complexity. Gone.

Instead, the series leaned into stylized recreations—some unintentionally campy. One exec compared the actor playing Hitler to the lead singer of Sparks. I was out by then. No regrets.

The Lincoln Project

Some personal favorites got cut here:

• Rick Wilson’s great story about working for Rudy Giuliani in the ’90s, and a guy named Ray who told him, “Rudy’s not a good man. Sometimes a great one. But not good.”

• A beautifully shot scene of young staffers running through the desert at night.

• A sensitive segment on the team’s clumsy handling of RBG’s death.

• A touching moment with Mike Madrid visiting his mom pre-election.

Were these critical? No. But they were human, real, and memorable.

The Innocence Files (Netflix)

We followed exoneree Ken Wyniemko to:

• A Polish Yacht Club in Detroit (yes, it’s real—and amazing).

• A hockey rink, where he was honored by players for his advocacy work.

• An abandoned Chrysler plant where he spoke about his roots.

All beautiful scenes. Most of it hit the cutting room floor. Ken wasn’t seen as “relatable enough.” These scenes could’ve changed that.

Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers (Oxygen)

One unforgettable cut: a ride-along with George Mister (“Mister Mister”), a real character who complicated the narrative around the case. He gave raw, uncomfortable context—but execs preferred a more sanitized story. Also scrapped: a separate Louisiana murder case involving the same suspect. A major miss.

Killing Richard Glossip (Discovery ID)

This series became deeply personal. I was close to the case, the subject, and the team. Too close, maybe.

We cut an entire arc about a corrupt cop named Cliff Everhardt—complete with on-camera whistleblowers and a woman hiding her identity with a sweater over her head. Gripping stuff. But chaos in post led to a watered-down fifth episode that didn’t do the material justice.

Still: if Glossip is freed, I’ll be proud to have played a small part.

Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru (Netflix)

We filmed scenes that showed staff breakdowns, pseudo-scientific jargon, and people being rushed to the ER during Tony’s seminar. All of it gone.

The film that was released leans promotional. Somewhere, there’s a much messier, more interesting version of the truth.

Biography: Abbie Hoffman (CBS News)

The subject was legendary. The footage was gold. But the edit... wasn’t.

We lost powerful material: protest footage, interviews with Bobby Seale, the Chicago 7 trial. With only 42 minutes and an editor who didn’t seem to get it, this became the one film I’d most like to recut.

After the First 48 (A&E)

We created a haunting detour from formula: a Sudanese shopkeeper, survivor of Darfur’s genocide, murdered during a robbery in Louisville. We even sourced footage from his destroyed village.

It didn’t fit the procedural mold. It was too political. So it was cut.

Prison Women (Nat Geo)

A rare win: A woman in a Dallas jail told a moving story about identifying with a children’s book about a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. I had to fight like hell to keep it in. I’m glad I did.

Mysteries of the Crystal Skulls (SyFy)

We filmed a sequence searching for a mythical “crystal boy” statue in Belize—caves, shipwrecks, tarantulas, the works. It was ridiculous and fun.

But then someone discovered a Taiwanese homoerotic novel titled Crystal Boy, and that was that.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes you fight and win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes you’re right, sometimes you’re not.

But if you’re in this business, you probably have your own graveyard of scenes you still think about. This is mine. And if you’re somewhere in the trenches of post right now, killing your darlings: I see you. Keep going.

And maybe—just maybe—those lost scenes will live on in some other form, someday.