06-21-2009

Earlier this year I art directed Top Chef Masters, a Top Chef spinoff for Bravo.

It was intense, last minute madness and seven days a week.

So, if you know me at all you’ll be able to see my influence in a lot of the design this season. (black was prominent)

Julie, Josh, Shane, Angela and I really raised the bar on what they were doing over there. As a matter of fact some people actually said we raised the bar, and when a producer says that to you it means they are never calling you again.

I think.

I never really knew that until my director friend Danny Boyle told me over dinner. “Raising the bar”, he said “on a show that wants to save money means you spent too much of it”. I am paraphrasing. 

The art department actually saved them a ton of money. Check out these lighting fixtures we came up with LAST MINUTE that ended up being the practical lighting set dressing in the dining room.

See that fixture on the column? Here's how it was born.

See that fixture on the column? Here's how it was born.

One trip to IKEA and Home Depot and the dining room looks like a New York City steakhouse. They literally cost less than $20 a piece to pull together.

Screw a socket to a piece of wood. It's that easy.

Screw a socket to a piece of wood. It's that easy.

Paint it black and screw it to the column.

Paint it black and screw it to the column.

Screw in some Edison light bulbs and you've just saved Bravo a ton of money

Screw in some Edison light bulbs and you've just saved Bravo a ton of money.

Cluster a bunch and spray paint some plastic tubing for booth lighting!

Cluster a bunch and spray paint some plastic tubing for booth lighting!

I had to take a picture because they use them in all the commercial bumpers

These old things?! I had to take a picture because they use them in all the commercial bumpers!

I know I say it every time but this is why you need a strong art department on your show. The producers could not make up their minds about the lighting fixtures on the columns and above the booths. Finally, the day before shooting we said “how about cords” and 30 minutes later we had a prototype. Bravo loved them and we were able to put out another fire. The art department saved the day. Again, as usual. (OK, was that too much?)

Meanwhile I want to have these in my house but I am too lazy to make them for myself.

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06-10-2009

Everyone seems to love my before and after sketches. These sketches are good examples of some last minute needs that come up in production and why you need a strong art department to pull it off.

I have a killer group of people I work with all the time to make sure there are never headaches for producers in the art department.

We just get it done, fast. We keep it within the budget and always raise the bar. The sketches below are drawn up last minute, sometimes we have weeks to prep and design sets, but last minute is the rule most of the time. These are last minute.

2009 so far has been a strange year. We have been working a lot but the game has changed a bit. This downturn in the economy has seen network after network outsource their shows to third party producers. To save some cash they are having reality producers doing sketch comedy and hiring lousy line producers who think they can just cut corners with crew and low ball them to keep their budgets low. Yes, I know budgets have been cut and I realize they have a job to do but certain producers/ line producers have no idea what an art department does so cutting that line item down to nothing is too easy (lazy) for them. I do believe there is a special place for these people and it is a mediocre career with nothing to be proud of. I have met with a bunch of them this year.

Of course, If it was all bad I would be ready to get out of television.

Everything happens for a reason however because the projects I am working on now have been such better experiences, with a higher caliber of talent, than anything I would be doing with some of the producers I met with this spring. But I digress.

Here are some more sketches I scanned in that represent what it is like when the art department gets a script that is shooting in less than 2 days. (If you want to see more  check out some earlier blog entries)

timemachinesketchblackmanbluessketch1whohadithardersketchconfessionssketchwhatilovesketchSo yeah, the art department has been working-we have a show (Top Chef Masters) premiering on Bravo tonight, shot pilots for CBS, Sony and Harpo and start an ABC series next week, but it doesn’t mean we aren’t just a little annoyed by Hollywood right now.

Being annoyed is a good thing though, it forces us to get better projects and weed out the bad guys (and if you are reading this right now you know who you are).

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