Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/834282
Top: A photograph taken of the Man Cave set, built by the show's mill and installed on Stage 11 at Burbank Studios. All the furniture is custom, designed by Mr. Dalley, with parts routed from Illustrator files at the Universal sign shop. The set includes: seventy-five 25- foot lengths of Christmas lights, four laser arrays, eight fiber-optic illuminators, 26 hand-built LED arrays, 127 uses of Pep Boys LED accent strips, seventeen green screens, four custom halogen enclosures, four neon crackle tubes, six lumin (plasma) disks, 24 customized light-up drink coasters, 300 feet of Californeon and one custom double helix fiber-optic chandeliers. Center: The U-shaped couch in the foreground, operated by remote control, can move three or four humans at five MPH. Right: Originally, the cog door (that leads to Ray's room) was supposed to spin up out of the floor. When Production Designer Harry Matheu saw the arch flat standing by UPSIDE DOWN for installation, he fell in love with it in that orientation, and reconfigured the set. Now the cog flies in from the top. Right now, Harry and I are designing the fourth season of a superhero show...or, more specifically, a superhero sidekick show. This is one of two projects currently in production under executive producer Dan Schneider. Henry Danger and Game Shakers, which we also work on—often simultaneously—are the latest explorations of the Schneiderverse, a milieu populated by the shows we've designed for Dan: All That, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, iCarly, Victorious and Sam & Cat. Dan believes in the continuity of the Schneiderverse, and takes it to extremes. Because we've got the resources, and the collective memory, we try to work with Dan to Easter- egg each new series with bits and pieces from the previous work. The effort has a positive result, building a long-term relationship with many viewers. Dan frequently receives correspondence from fans, pointing out references in the sets, scripts or props. The Henry Danger story is this: a young boy (Henry Hart) is looking for a job, and finds one through the equivalent of craigslist. He discovers during the interview that the job is actually that of a sidekick for the local superhero, Captain Man. Henry takes on the job and the responsibilities that come with it, while still attending school, dealing with his sister, and maintaining his two best friendships. The rough script included the standard needs of a children's sitcom: 1) a place to mix with parents/authority (the Hart family living room) 2) a place to have private conversations (Henry's bedroom) 3) a place to meet and converse with other kids and be subject to public authority (Swellview Junior High School) There were also some of the standard superhero tropes: 4) a hidden headquarters where Captain Man lives and works (the Man Cave) 5) a secret entrance to the Headquarters (the Junk-N-Stuff store) Swing set-wise, there were some other significant needs: 6) the villain's lair and major battle location (the toddler's playground) 7) a place for exposition and commentary (the news desk at KLVY) There is crossover usage between these sets. The Man Cave removes some of the need for the bedroom, as the kids can talk freely there. Junk-N-Stuff (a used-goods store that sells both junk and stuff) provides an employment excuse for Henry, making a standing set out of what would usually be at best, a recurring swing set. Junk-N-Stuff also provides another location for conversations away from parental ears, and removes the need for the hangout spot, which is usually another recurring swing set. The pilot was shot at Sunset Bronson Studios, but the plans were to move to a new stage of similar size for the series, hopefully, bigger than our usual stage at the Nick on Sunset studio. Because Sunset Bronson's Stage 9 is roughly 230