Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1400113
4 4 P E R S P E C T I V E | J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 2 1 some of those gaps. Where exactly Cori's father, Don Johnson's character Rick lives within the house is still a mystery, perhaps to be revealed in future seasons. As the first show on the Universal lot to completely conceptualize, design, build and load-in during the pandemic, we were in a unique position. We had to be pioneers, the architects of a new world within a new world, one with the same great expectations but hamstrung by unfamiliar, alien protocols. The crew had to figure out how to create spaces that could support the weight of the emotional subject matter while maintaining an upbeat, hopeful feel to what was to be a comedy. We had a script, individual skill sets, intuition, Zoom, and a heaping spoonful of trust from Kenan, the producers and Universal that we could get this thing off the ground. As it turned out, the Art Department would not be leaving our homes just yet, as there would be no production offices in our immediate future. We initially all worked from home, communicating in whatever ways we could. Sometimes the lack of a shared collaborative space slowed the work down, as there was no availability for the instant feedback loop to which we are accustomed. Eventually, a few of us set up our own makeshift Art Department office in my wife's photography studio, each with our faces covered while relegated to our own designated corners. We kept a conference style table in the center of the room where we could quickly examine material samples together, woods and paint chips and wallpapers, to make quick decisions and then return to our corners. An upside was that there were also no long days spent jammed into production vans, everything was to be shot on the Universal lot. A B C A. KENAN'S HOUSE. KITCHEN. PHOTO BY CHRIS HASTON/NBC. B. KENAN'S HOUSE, IN ADDITION TO TOYS, THE SET DRESSING FOCUSED ON AUBREY AND BIRDIE'S LOVE OF SCHOOL, ART, MUSIC AND SCIENCE IN THEIR PLAYROOM. SET PHOTO. C. KENAN'S HOUSE. AUBREY AND BIRDIE'S BEDROOM DESIGN AND SET DECORATION WAS INSPIRED BY THE YOUNG ACTRESSES' REAL-LIFE BEDROOMS. SET PHOTO.