Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/856624
24 S U M M E R 2 0 1 7 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y to work on but, oftentimes, a very unusual situation. It sounds like this really demanded, from the beginning, a cerebral journey for you guys in interpreting the story as a team across departmental lines. Would you say that's correct? Lou: That's for sure. And I think the person who coordinated that and instigated it is one of the Canadian EPs, Sheila Hockin. She's with Take 5. One of the co-producers. But she really pushed us in there and introduced us to Bruce early and introduced us to Reed. And, because there were some voiceover pre-record sessions and because there was a temp mix of the pilot, all of these opportunities to get the key creatives in the building and talking to us happened in really good time for us to be able to figure out stuff. But you're right. It's rare to be involved so early and to be given an opportunity to figure all these things out before day one of the mix. Karol: Who would you describe as your core audio post team? Lou: We've got a dialogue supervisor, David McCallum. We've got someone on dedicated ADR. His name is Dale Sheldrake. And he's a traveler. He's constantly between U.K., Canada, L.A., New York. He's moving around following the talent. And then, Jane Tattersall is the sound effects supervisor. Her effects editor, Brennan Mercer, did a lot of the design-y ethereal-type things. And my co-mixer [FX re-recording mixer] is Joe Morrow. The Foley team is not in our building. They're a facility called Footsteps. I'm sure you've probably heard of them. Karol: Did you know when you were taking this on that the book had such a following? Did you recognize this was a world a lot of people had already imagined? Lou: I mean, we just knew that in Toronto, Margaret Atwood is a big thing. So, we knew that anything that's going to be adapted by Margaret Atwood is something that we would all jump at a chance to work on. I think there was that when we were initially doing it, and then working with the Take 5 producers who are co-producers on the project. We've had great success with them in previous projects like Penny Dreadful and Vikings. So, absolutely working with them on a new thing was very exciting as well, but we had no clue as to how many people in North America would be interested in seeing the show. We'd never worked for Hulu before, either. So, it was best foot forward, with a new network and broadcaster. So, we knew it was something exciting and interesting to get into. And we knew what the resources of the project were, but we just didn't know the amount of press and attention that the show would get. Karol: For me, even on bigger budget projects, there is an increasing challenge to convince directors and producers to re-envision and take a chance on maybe a different or slightly modified sound approach by the time they get to the dub stage. It is never my intention to take anything away from anyone or to cause more work. But if I look into my library of experience as someone who has dedicated their life to sound and can hear an opportunity to offer something more intimately apropos to the goal of the narrative and more engaging to the viewers, I want to contribute that option. It appears you were given those opportunities in spades. Lou: To me, the vision is Bruce's from the page and so I feel our job is to give him that as best as we can. It's been so shaped by a director in the way they shoot it, and an editor in the way they do the picture. So, I just feel we pile on one more layer of getting him closer to that. And occasionally, we'll come up with a really great idea that he'll respond to and say, "Wow. I didn't think of that. Let's do that." We had a [creative] spotting for every episode. Bruce was here for most of them early on while they were shooting with Reed, who did the first three episodes. She Skyped in for a couple of them and was here in person for the first one. So, it was encouraging to us to hear them speak. So, now we're watching a rough cut. We're listening to the guide track. We're in the studio. The whole sound crew plus them. And to hear them say, "Okay. Here's why we did it this way here. And so this is our intent. If you guys think you can do that or do it better, then please do." And that's a rare thing. Karol: Those are the days I really live for. How fun! Lou: Yeah. It's definitely a fun job and it gets more fun when you've got people who will collaborate like that. You tell yourself, 'I'm in period.' So, if there's flyby and all that. But actually, in this case, "