Decorating Pages: TV and Film Design

On this episode I speak with Set Decorator Brandi Kalish. Brandi was brave enough to take over HBO’s "Silicon Valley" season five and she jumped into massive new sets and continued that in season 6, its final season. We get into how she has a mentor in Production Designer Michael Wehstone, the massive sets she decorated for "Silicon Valley", and balancing a budget with help from product placement. Also, diving into her decorating decisions on the the popular Netflix show “Dead To Me”. In all her spare time she has just opened up a Prop house called Studio Arts (https://www.studioartsllc.com/) in downtown LA which focuses on rental of contemporary art. She has been nominated for her work on Silicon Valley with Emmy and ADG nominations and you can see her delightful decorating in the second season of the Netflix show "Dead To Me".

On this episode I speak with Production Designer / Set Decorator Tracy DIshman. I met Tracy on the NBC show Animal Practice, and unfortunately haven't been able to work with her again. Tracy is able to balance a career Production Designing independent films and still Set Decorating inbetween. Her recent credits include the Sundance film “Black Bear”, “Inherit the Viper”, James Franco’s “Zeroville” and the upcoming “Music” directed by Sia. We chat about budgeting the design of a project, salaries of Set Decorators, independent film making and more.

In this episode I speak with my friend, Production Designer Cory Lorenzen. Besides being the Designer for "The Goldbergs" and "Schooled" he also is an Art Director in Entertainment Design for Universal, Nickelodeon and others.Starting his career with the indy hit "Napoleon Dynamite" he’s been designing films and tv shows like "Greek", "The Paul Riser Show", "Breaking In", "Web Therapy" the period hits "The Goldbergs" and "Schooled".

Bob Shaw, a talented production designer known for his work on acclaimed projects like 'The Irishman' and 'The Sopranos,' shares fascinating insights into his craft. He discusses the challenges of set design in New York City, especially for period pieces like 'The Gilded Age.' Shaw humorously recounts location scouting adventures and the impact of budget constraints. He also reflects on adapting health protocols on film sets post-pandemic, blending creativity with practicality amidst evolving industry standards.

In this episode I conclude my interview with production designer Eugenio Caballero. He speaks about a very unique design process in designing the film “Roma”. He has had some extraordinary experiences working on film sand he talks about those collaborations like with director Jim Jarmusch, working and traveling in this work with a family, and how releasing films on streaming verse in the theater.

On this episode I speak with Production Designer Eugenio Caballero. We discuss his current show “Cortes” shutting down for the pandemic. His passion about this subject and the personal relation he has to the project. He shares his journey of starting out designing music videos and set decorating then becoming a Production Designer. He also tells of his collaboration with Director Guillermo del Toro on "Pan’s Labyrinth", specifically the use of certain color pallets in the film to distinguish the fantasy scenes

In this episode Production Designer Adam Rowe and I analyze the the Best Production Design brackets that hopefully you have been voting on the last 6 weeks. I took the Best Production Design Oscar winners and nominees since the 60’s and had March madness type brackets to vote on each week.  Adam was very kind to support me thru this and honestly was probably one of the few people I can say voted almost every day. This was fun! We break down every decade and have a lot of opinions on which film beat out the other. It was great to reminisce about these films that inspire us and I’m sure inspired you.

In this episode I talk with Set Dec Buyer Laine Abramson. Laine has been a buyer since the early 2000’s and we talk about how she changed positions from props to find her niche as a buyer. How she chooses challenging shows and different resources she uses to get the set right. She has worked on features like "Oceans 12", "Constantine", "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift" and "John Carter". Hectic TV shows like "Glee", "The Mindy Project", "Silicon Valley"and "Glow". Her upcoming projects include the feature "Malignant" and the Amazon show "Them: Covenant". We also get into the effects of this pandemic on the buyer position and talk about how we think things will change.

This is part two of my interview with Production Designer David Gropman. We discuss how he selects a crew when working overseas, his work with many amazing Set Decorator, Designing "Life of Pi" and working with director Ang Lee. I also check in with Annie Beauchamp, Caleb Duffy, Ethan Goodwin and Derek Hill on their pandemic experiences and their return to work guesses.

In this episode I am talking about my opinion of how this pandemic will effect production in the entertainment industry and my Set Dressing department. Production Designer David Gropman joins me and we also discuss how he has been effected by the pandemic and how his show was shut down in Italy. We talk about how he started in the business, "Chocolat", "Date Night", "One Fine Day"and the many broadway productions made into films that he has designed. You can currently see his work on the Hulu series on Catch-22.