In an age of Twitter spoilers and television recaps, there is no shortage of ways for viewers to catch up on missed episodes of their favorite shows. But networks know that online commentary is no replacement for sharply edited summations provided by producers who know a show inside and out.

Summaries such as Five in Five, created by Ari Margolis, creative manager in Fox’s special ops marketing department, for “Sleepy Hollow” are longer and more in-depth than the in-episode recaps that typically appear at the top of a show and intended to truly serve fans and newcomers alike.

For Margolis, who also worked on Fox’s hit “Fringe” and on the upcoming series “Almost Human,” the art of distilling hours of complicated plot into a comprehensive clip is a balancing act that includes knowing what’s happened, what’s to come, and what fans are most enjoying about the series so far.

Five in Five, for example, was created to refresh fans after “Sleepy Hollow” had been off the air for a few weeks while Fox aired the baseball championships. An initial edit of clips from the show’s first five hours tallied to nearly 20 minutes of footage. The next four or so passes may get the selection to just under 10 minutes.

“From there, you figure what you can keep and what to cut,” Margolis said, “Some of the fun is that you can link scenes from the pilot with scenes from episode four to see story points together in a way you didn’t see,” crystalizing things for viewers.

With “Sleepy Hollow,” Margolis pays special attention to portraying the relationship between the show’s leads; Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) and Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie). Character moments don’t always move the plot forward but establishing their dynamic is important for newbies.

“The fans love Crane and Abbie, so you want to include that so someone who’s never seen the show can experience all the things people are liking about it,” he said.

Margolis engages with fans on Twitter to track feedback and see what questions viewers might have. It was there he noticed how excited audiences are about Ichabod and Abbie’s chemistry and the complicated question of them getting together. This tension, he decided, was important to capture in the promos.

Once the clip is culled down to an appropriate length, scoring and sound design are considered.

“You want to take them on a journey with the sound design,” he said. Narration can be crucial and provides a simpler way to present a complex premise than using show material.

“Sleepy Hollow’s” special ops marketing team also cuts other promotional clips, such as a revised history of the Boston Tea Party that incorporates the show’s historical themes, among others.

Margolis likes the test that recapping the shows he works on presents: “It’s a challenge, but a fun challenge, to see how to streamline all of them in a concise way.”

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