Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1507937
M R S . D AV I S | P E R S P E C T I V E 6 1 working under Production Designer Eve Cauley. I had just graduated from UCLA and Harry was a former architect and fortuitously, we got swooped up into the design department of the film—I got placed into the set decoration department and Harry quickly advanced to be a Set Designer. When the film wrapped, we said goodbye, not to see one another again until I phoned him to supervise Mrs. Davis twenty-seven years later. It took a few weeks for us to realize that we had met before and where. In our new offices, Harry made the rounds every morning, taking time to stop and talk through the day with each Art Director, keeping them straight on their tasks so that their imaginations could flourish. Our system worked and we gave birth to a kinetic machine spewing out madcap ideas and sets at a furious speed while still hitting budget marks and deadlines. The output was so incredibly varied that Art Director Eric Jeon one day quipped that if you wandered around and looked at each Art Director's computer, you would never believe we were all working on the same project. That was Mrs. Davis, a heaving, pumping, bumping machine of invention with no limitations. I had three weeks to get the pilot ready while simultaneously designing episodes two through eight and managing a team working in Barcelona, Spain—under the brilliant Supervising Art Director Papick Lozano. We didn't have full scripts, but we had outlines to a story that Gene Kelly (executive producer) generously came into my office each morning to explain in careful detail. I loved working with Gene. He is kind and calm and knowledgeable and loves the story. A veteran in the film industry and someone to learn from. Quick decision-making was key to holding to deadlines and a deep sense of following my own intuition was the secret sauce. We quickly latched onto 15714 DIRECTOR: DRAWING: STAGE/ LOCATION: DRAWN BY: DATE: SCALE: REV: SET NO. SHEET NO. SET NAME: PRODUCTION DESIGNER: RUTH AMMON SUPERVISING ART DIRECTOR: ART DIRECTOR: MICHAEL ALLEN GLOVER 4000 Warner Blvd. BLDG. 131, 1st Floor Burbank, CA 91522 Mrs. Davis IF THIS BAR IS NOT 1" LONG DRAWING NOT TO SCALE 15714 DIRECTOR: DRAWING: STAGE/ LOCATION: DRAWN BY: DATE: SCALE: REV: SET NO. SHEET NO. SET NAME: PRODUCTION DESIGNER: RUTH AMMON SUPERVISING ART DIRECTOR: ART DIRECTOR: MICHAEL ALLEN GLOVER 4000 Warner Blvd. BLDG. 131, 1st Floor Burbank, CA 91522 Mrs. Davis IF THIS BAR IS NOT 1" LONG DRAWING NOT TO SCALE E. DURDEN HEADQUARTERS. ILLUSTRATION BY JAMIE RAMA. F. DURDEN HEADQUARTERS. ELEVATIONS BY KYLE COURTER. G. DURDEN HEADQUARTERS. SET PHOTO. E G F