Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1152740
S U C C E S S I O N | P E R S P E C T I V E 9 7 E Connor Roy's character, Mark Mylod headed to Majorca, then England in search of locations for the season finale…all while shooting back-to-back episodes with lots of one-off sets and locations. Art Director David Stein agreed to basically move into 7 WTC and work from the location, designing systems by which the ceilings could come down when dark (a provision to deal with sprinklers/fire codes in a real work space), and troubleshooting the inevitable hiccups of a speedy build in raw conditions. I worked a lot of glass into that set for a few reasons. Our two directors of photograpy (Chris Norr and Pat Capone) and I are big fans of reflections—and none of us are overly concerned with making glass gimbal to avoid seeing crew/ gear. A personal quirk is that I hate when the geometry of a reflection isn't true to the space it's reflecting, and we rationalized that with so much camera coverage (and the modern state of VFX in an emergency), the reflection opportunities would outweigh any risks. Solving practical issues, glass walls fell to the provenance of lead man Brian Walsh and co., and incorporating them kept that division of the team just as productive as the construction/paint crews, who had their hands full already. Inflammable materials had to be used for the build—another provision in the building code mandates, so glass was useful there. But best, the transparent walls also allowed the scale of the build to be really featured, which included a large bullpen, visible from many angles, that provided a forum for a Greek chorus of top-level assistants for things like the public shaming of Kendall in episode six. In order to keep the season on budget and schedule, the executive offices set was designed to cut together with several locations found in the World Trade Center complex of buildings. Sports network SNY in Building 4 became host to the ATN news studios, which expanded in the second season to vacant floors at the Time Warner E. WAYSTAR FLOOR PLAN. BUILT ON THE 33RD FLOOR OF 7 WTC. DRAWN BY ALEXIOS CHRYSIKOS.