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TV Production Designers Roundtable for Emmy Nominees
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TV Production Designers Roundtable for Emmy Nominees

Five acclaimed, Emmy-nominated production designers take us behind the scenes of their sets and reveal their favorite little details they incorporated into their work that audiences may miss.

In an exclusive video roundtable interview with Gold Derby as part of our panel “Meet the Experts: TV Production Designers,” the production designer of “Frasier” said Glenda RovelloProduction designer of “The Gilded Age” Bob ShawProduction Designer for “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” Eric MorrellProduction Designer for “Only Murders in the Building” Patrick Howe and production designer of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Gianna Costa talk about their love for their craft and why the little details matter. View the entire discussion above. Click on the person’s name to view an individual chat..

Rovello immediately points out a small facet of Frasier Crane’s character (Kelsey Grammer) apartment that viewers will probably see in every episode, but that they may not fully understand. She reveals: “The followers we have from Ryan Mennealythey’re written in Morse code and one says Frasier and the other says Kelsey. I think it’s really great that we were able to get them made, that the artist agreed to do them, and that they were done so quickly. It’s amazing how much cooperation you can get from an artist.”

Shaw echoes Rovello’s comments about the designers’ willingness to adapt to tight television production schedules, noting, “People will do things for you and people will make things for you and they’ll do it in a hurry, and someone will see the show and say, ‘Yeah, they have curtains,’ and they don’t know you had to beg Scalamandre to make them faster than usual.” The designer also notes that “people are excited to work in our industry or for our industry and do great things.”

“I hope the audience notices everything,” jokes Howe, who says that while this is certainly not possible, he and his set designer Rich Murray to include “as many Easter eggs as possible” for savvy viewers. He cites the apartment of the new character Loretta as an example because it “contains really charming details, most of which Meryl Streep‘s career that are visually represented” and “are references to many of her film roles.” He says, “People got so much more than I expected.”

Morrell used many Easter eggs behind John Olivers desk, including locks from “Game of Thrones,” but a redesign of the set left out those frills. But in his Emmy-nominated episode “Freight Trains” and accompanying short film “The Sad Tale of Henry the Engine,” the production designer modeled the character of the little girl who has to crawl under the train behind her daughter to get to school. He says it was “kind of weird to put her in such a horrible place,” which made Shaw laugh.

The Untucked Lounge on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is “stuffed with Easter eggs from past seasons,” says Costa, who notes that the designers “collect props every episode and place them in different places.” She also notes that she spends a lot of time on graphics that “nobody else really gets to see.”

Watch the full panel above to hear these impressive artists also talk about what TV series genres they want to do next—perhaps ones they’ve never done before—as well as their memories of a series, film or theater set that inspired them to pursue production design as a career.

PREDICTIONS the 2024 Emmy winners until September 15

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