Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521244
9 2 P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 2 4 On the first shoot day of Reservation Dogs, the call sheet had a banner announcement for a "Blessing Ceremony at Call." At 8 a.m., the parking lot of our Tulsa location, a strip mall clinic we had turned into an Indian health services center, was filled with the usual trappings of a film set: trailers, catering tents, frayed nerves. But the entire cast and crew (both on- and off-set personnel) were also gathered, arranged in a loose circle around a smaller band of Indigenous community leaders, elders, and Sterlin Harjo, the creator and showrunner. Wotko Long, an elder who would pop up as various background characters over the next three seasons, welcomed everyone to Muscogee Creek land. Legendary Seminole and Cherokee artist Dana Tiger, who would also appear on the show, sang with a local Indigenous drum group. Sterlin spoke, telling us that while we were making a comedy, we shouldn't forget how many years of suffering led to our ability to joke about it—how Native Americans have always appeared as either props or villains and how this would be the first show to let them tell their own story. And, most poignantly, how every Native American in the cast and crew was there because one of their ancestors had found a way to survive. The moment not only situated the production in a larger context and invested the work we were about to do with purpose, but also made the priorities clear: We were making a television show about four Indigenous teenagers in Oklahoma, but beyond that, we were here to listen, learn and invest as much time and heart into the community as they were investing in us. Now that the final season has aired, I wanted to look back with set decorator Tafv Sampson at how we were able to weave authentic locations and community-based design together to create a uniquely strong sense of place. C o n n e c t i n g w i t h t h e C o m m u n i t y R E S E R VA T I O N D O G S B Y B R A N D O N T O N N E R - C O N N O L L Y, P R O D U C T I O N D E S I G N E R A. BOARDING SCHOOL CLASSROOM. ILLUSTRATION BY KATSUYA IMAI USING SKETCHUP AND PHOTOSHOP. B. THE CLASSROOM AT AN AMERICAN INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL IN GENOA, NEBRASKA, 1911. C. THE CLASSROOM AT AN AMERICAN INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL IN CUT BANKS, MONTANA. WE TOOK NOTE OF EVERYTHING FROM THE DESKS TO THE PANELING STYLE AND LESSONS ON THE CHALKBOARDS. A B C