Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/834282
Working in television was a new experience for me. When designing a movie, I start with a script and can carefully plan things out ahead. With Feud, I started with only the pilot script, and then I just kept getting more scripts—there were eight episodes in all. I never knew at any point what I would be doing in the future. This was creatively stimulating for me in a whole new way. On a film, at a certain point, you know what everything's going to be, and the creative process slows down quite a bit. On television, that never happens. Up to the last day of shooting, I was designing new sets every day. The team was so great; everyone cared so much about how the sets looked, that we were really giving it our all on the last set on the last day. At the same time, it's extra-challenging, because on a period piece you can't just say, "Well, this set just got written in. We'll go out around the corner and shoot it." You have to find it, and you have to transform it. It takes enormous creative energy on everybody's part, so at a certain point it's tiring...but in the best possible way. This is my first project with Ryan Murphy, and it's been a lovely experience. I have huge respect for him. Ryan really knows when to push things in a slightly stylized direction, and when to pull back and go gritty. There's not a lot of grittiness in Feud, but there's a little bit. He definitely is willing to go in that direction when the narrative calls for it. I love that about working with him, and I really respected his choices, and the way that he chose to shoot things. One thing Ryan loves is the use of negative space. He's one of the first directors I've worked with for whom that's an important concept in the design of the sets. It's something that I really enjoy as well. I don't like every surface to be cluttered; I don't like objects on every single wall, and neither does he. In that sense, I think we were well-suited for each other, and to find someone who swears by that use of all or nothing was really inspiring. Getting to conceive and execute all these worlds, working with Ryan Murphy and the talented members of my team, and then seeing the results night after night was a very rewarding feeling. Ultimately, that was the true joy of designing FEUD: Bette and Joan. ADG Judy Becker, Production Designer Jamie Walker McCall, Art Director Alec Contestabile, Rose Youmans, Steven Light-Orr, Assistant Art Directors Jeff Lee, Graphic Designer Joseph Feld, Jim Hewitt, Carol Bentley, Set Designers Florencia Martin, Set Decorator Opposite page, counterclockwise from top right: Re-creating the sets from WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? was an exercise in forensics, based on the film and some publicity stills archived at the University of Southern California Library. The white model of the ground floor of the set was built by Alec Contestabile. The backs of the sets were part of the scenery as well, so period construction methods were used with 2x4 framing and plywood, rather than today's typical 1x3 and Luan. The finished foyer interior set on Stage 10 at Fox. The interior set of Blanche's bedroom in WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? in progress onstage at Fox Studios. This page, left: A white model by Mr. Contestabile for the long Joan Crawford Steadicam shot backstage at the 1963 Oscars, showing existing spaces combined with proposed construction at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Bottom, left and right: The interior stage set for the 1963 Oscars on location at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, where it originally took place. A production photograph of the set for the 1961 Golden Globe Awards, created on location at the Hollywood Palladium on Hollywood Boulevard.