Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/859699
P E R S P E C T I V E | S E P T E M B E R / O C TO B E R 2 0 1 7 55 characters, narrative clues in the costumes, props and visual backstories. I knew as we began the process of creating dozens of period sets that the Art Department's kayfabe had to be one hundred percent believable if these characters were going to be people we could cheer for, or boo. We had to do them justice, each of them. And there were so many to consider. Early on, I pitched to showrunners Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch an aesthetic similar to Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, also set in vintage Los Angeles, but with additional influences from Working Girl, Flashdance, and a host of other actual eighties films. I wanted the series to look cinematic and gritty while remaining authentic to the period and faithful in the details. Visually, the humor would be played straight. The characters would never inhabit worlds they could not afford or that fell outside limits of who they were or might become. And even with a heavy focus on time period, these ladies always had to feel like people we knew—real people, in real Hollywood, in real 1985. The Art Department's mantra was: don't overdo the references, keep personal spaces random and organic, and show facets of Los Angeles not usually featured in film and television. The narrative of the kayfabe featured a group of scrappy dreamers who needed a place to grow from, to expand out of...an origin story. The first elements were created in conjunction with the camera test day: a stills shoot for a scene in the pilot in which each character presents a headshot to the director during a makeshift audition. A couple of these photos were scripted but most were not, so I was tasked with determining how the characters would each present themselves. A couple of the more experienced semi-pros had actual headshots, others had school photos, one had a modeling advertisement for discount blinds, and a party girl had a photo booth strip she'd posed for the night prior. One character, already costumed as a goth- inspired animal woman, presents a crumpled-up image of a wolf torn from a magazine. A FAMILY AFFAIR For the constructed sets, the common areas came first, predominantly, a large boxing gym the characters period and faithful in the details. Visually, the humor predominantly, a large boxing gym the characters Above, clockwise from top left: The gym set on stage at Riverfront. The offices and hallway walls were covered in 1940s and '50s boxing photos and posters to juxtapose a male- oriented world with the female wrestlers' training. Director Sam Sylvia's office at the gym covered in his career highlights. Husband-and-wife stunt team Keith and Cherry Bang (right) with Tamme (left), played by the show's only real- life female wrestler, Kia Stevens. Below and left: Director Sam Sylvia's B-movie past is revealed in lurid horror posters, VHS tapes and other memorabilia, all created specifically for his character by Illustrator Katie Crawford and Graphic Designer Vanessa Riegel.