Decorating Pages

On this episode I speak with Production Designer Monica Sotto. Monica is celebrating her nomination for Outstanding Production Design for Variety, Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition Programming for “Drunk History”. She was also nominated in 2017 when she was the Art Director on "Drunk History". This past January, when we were still allow to party, Monica and her team also picked up an Art Director Guild award for "Drunk History". I met Monica on “Bones”, she was the art department coordinator. It was great to catch up with her and see what she's been up to since I last worked with her. A USC film school grad, Monica started as being an agents' assistant and then moved into the art department. She’s worked on some great shows like “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, “Rizzoli & Isles (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1551632/?ref_=nm_flmg_ardp_9)”, the last season of “American Horror Story” and more.

This episode is very special to me because I speak with a Designer idol of mine Production Designer Jane Musky. The films that Jane has designed have influenced me more than I realized. Although I have seen almost all of her films, multiple times, when I refreshed and watched some again, it made me feel passion, excitement, and my love for making set decorating. Jane designed Raising Arizona, Young Guns, When Harry Met Sally, Ghost, Glengarry Glen Ross, City Hall, The Devil’s Own, Boomerang and even recently Hustlers. We talk about her start as a scenic designer, meeting up with the Cohen brothers to start her film career, giving great advice about the set atmosphere, her recent season of the Murphy Brown reboot, working with DP’s like Barry Sonnenefeld, Dante Spinotti. Discussing the recent film Hustlers, the classic and in depth dressing of Glengarry Glen Ross, and then I pull everything I can out of her about Raising Arizona.

On this episode I speak with Jonathan Fischer who is an editor in unscripted reality television. Jonathan has been working on shows like Expedition Unknown, Little Woman:Dallas, Battlebots, American Guns, Ultimate Fighter, The Biggest Loser and more. He explains to me how the editing process begins, works and ends on a project. How the Tsunami in Japan in 2011 changed the editing industry forever. Who knew?? We discuss the ethical responsibility an editor has especially in reality television and how under current conditions working remotely is doable but not ideal. Also why he decided to change his career and focus on Virtual Reality.

On this episode I speak with Set Decorator Don Diers who’s passion for details in his sets and his choice for specific charter pieces are so wonderful to discover when you watch his work! Starting in film as an art director he quickly discovered his passion for creating the characters in dressing and switched paths to be a Set Decorator. Creating memorable sets on films like the picture perfect “Down with Love”, in TV the collage campus world of “Community” and even decorating for the “The Muppets” which he has an Art Directors Guild award for. He currently has the second season of Showtime’s “Kidding” under his belt and these sets are not to be missed.

On this episode I speak with the Production Design team of the final season of "The Good Place". Production Designer; Ian Phillips, Art Director; Adam Rowe, Prop Master; Gay Perello and Graphic Designer; Graham Radcliff watch the series finale of "The Good Place" together and reminisce how we all got it done. It was so nice to see each other, especially in this time. Watching the series finale together was special, we really appreciate each other's contributions to the look of the show. It was a fantastic series to be apart of. Many of us on the crew were also on Parks and Rec together and it’s like we say in this interview we all just click, and have a short hand of communication. Bonus! I also have made a video of this podcast accompanied by pictures of the sets and the props for you to view and listen at the same time! You can watch this on the www.decoratingpagespodcast.com website or the Decorating Pages Podcast YouTube channel. Today also starts Emmy voting, so I hope you will consider the series finale

On this episode I speak with Production Designer Brain Stonestreet. Brian’s crater is jammed packed with huge live programs. Brian designs the stages for live evets like The Grammy’s, The Golden Globe Awards, The Soul Train Awards (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11182954/?ref_=nm_flmg_pdsg_3), The BET Hip-Hop Awards (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10950998/?ref_=nm_flmg_pdsg_4), The Billboard Music Awards (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9154620/?ref_=nm_flmg_pdsg_7), The Annual Academy of Country Music Awards (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8986084/?ref_=nm_flmg_pdsg_8) and more. He also has Production Designed The Kennedy Center Honors, Al Pacino and George Clooney An American Cinematheque Tribute (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770712/?ref_=nm_flmg_pdsg_83)s, and more. He has Won 3 Primetime Emmy Awards, 2 Art Directors Guild Awards and another 26 nominations (https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm0832313/about?ref_=nm_awards_summary). So I knew that he did these shows but when I really looked at sets for the performances he

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".

In this episode I interview Production Designer Bob Shaw, known for his work on "The Irishman", "The Sopranos", "Boardwalk Empire", "Wolf of Wall Street" and so many more. His thoughts on working in New York City on period projects, thoughts on working in this Covid world an his upcoming work on "The Gilded Age" and the Sopranos prequel "The Many Saints of Newark".

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.

Part two of my interview with Buyer Ethan Goodwin is all about the projects he has worked on. We talk about the period shows he has been apart of such as "For All Mankind" and "Perry Mason". We also talk about how our vendors somehow come through for us, and how real life timing vs. TV/Film timing is different. If we need it in two days somehow things happen. I also start with how the Coronavirs is effecting our industry and how it all went down in the past week.

In this episode I speak with my friend Ethan Goodwin. Ethan has the position of “Buyer” in the Set Dressing department and I couldn't do my job with out it. In an industry of "Hurry Up and Wait", we in Set Dressing have to make very quick turnarounds and figure out the logistics of getting everything to set. The buyer has become a vital position and Ethan is the best of the best. Coordinating selections, pickups, paperwork and dressing in the charter of sets.

On this episode I resume my conversation with Production Designer James Pearse Connelly. James has his hands full designing hit shows like "The Masked Singer", "The Voice", "Making It", and many more. We talk about his start int he business and how he now runs his own design company.

On this episode I recap the award season and Art Director Guild awards with Production Designer James Pearce Connelly. We talk through each category and about the Oscar winning Production Design of "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood". "Parasite" "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel", "Avengers: Endgame", "Chernobyl (https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=chernobyl&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8)", "The Big Bang Theory", "Drunk History", "Russian doll", "Toy Story 4".