Scenes are often removed from films and television shows at the request of a studio or network, or to reduce running time, to improve narrative flow, or to avoid causing offense.
Requests for alteration The studio or network planning to air or distribute it may be uncomfortable with a certain scene. They may ask for it be altered, removed, or replaced. This is most common in the production of television series since networks and channels often must be mindful of how viewers, critics, or censors will react to programming. There may be a fear of losing ratings, being punished by fines or otherwise, or having trouble finding advertisers. • The 2002 Fox series
Firefly's original pilot episode ("
Serenity", parts 1 and 2) had such a change made, with the original, less action-packed scene being replaced in the final cut of the episode but featuring on the later
DVD box set release of the series, as one of several bonus features. • A scene in the pilot of
24 involved the destruction of a
Boeing 747. Aired just a few months after the
9/11 attacks, the producers made edits to cut out shots of the plane visibly exploding.
Running time Concerns about running time may also cause scenes to be removed or shortened. In feature films, scenes may be cut to reduce the length of the film's final cut, sometimes in order to include more screenings of a film each day when released theatrically. In television serials, however, running time becomes an even greater concern because of the strict timeslot limitations, especially on channels supported by advertisements, and there may be only 20 minutes of the actual show per half-hour timeslot. Depending on the station and the particular format of the show, that may or may not include opening credits or closing credits; many ad-supported stations now "squish" the closing credits or force them into a
split-screen to show more advertising. Most programs are in either a half-hour or a one-hour timeslot, forcing producers to break up the
acts in a manner that they hope will make the viewer want to continue watching after the ad break and to avoid exceeding the stricter run time limits.
Disruption of narrative flow Though the quality of the initial and the final cuts of a film is subjective, a scene or version of a scene in a film may have an adverse effect on the film as a whole. It may slow the film down, provide unnecessary details or exposition, or even explain points that should be implied or said more subtly. It is common to remove such scenes at the editing level, though they may be released on the home video release as a bonus feature. There are at least a few examples, including a number of the deleted scenes on the DVD release of
Firefly's sequel film
Serenity (in fact, the audio commentary on the DVD's deleted scenes collection quite often mentions the plot or the tension being disrupted or slowed by including a scene or too much
expositional as the main reason for the scene's removal from the final theatrical cut). Another well known example is the
cocoon sequence in the film
Alien. The scene added a lot of information about the fate of several crew members and new information on the life cycle of
the creature, but it was ultimately deleted, as it was thought to slow down and disrupt the tension of the end of the film.
Dropped story threads Sometimes, a director may decide to cut parts of the story, which would necessitate the cutting of corresponding parts of the film. For example, if a character dies in the final battle of a film, the director may choose to cut it so that the character's fate becomes ambiguous. In some cases, there would be reshoots that show the character surviving. In others, the character's participation in the final battle might be cut entirely. All of these would make it possible for the character to appear in a sequel. In such cases, the deleted scene would be explicitly non-canon. ==Formats==