Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1524788
5 6 P E R S P E C T I V E | J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 2 4 Lawmen: Bass Reeves was a job filled with challenges. One can't exactly walk out onto the streets of Fort Worth, Texas, and recreate the towns and streets of 1870s Fort Smith, Arkansas, Checotah, Oklahoma, and the Indian Territories in Texas. Fortunately, I had a good team of artists and craftspeople who were with me on this journey to another time and place. The production offices were located in Forth Worth, Texas. Why? Because Taylor Sheridan, the original pilot director, has a ranch in Fort Worth. The production should have been centered in Austin, Texas…an area of Texas with lots of different landscapes and studio space. Fort Worth is a wonderful city…but it's flat…and more flat…and has no stages to build sets on. But we had Silverado…Taylor's ranch, about twenty-five minutes from downtown Fort Worth. We decided to build two key sets at this ranch and find as many set pieces there as possible to fill out the schedule. Bass's farmhouse and Big Sara's home were built at the Silverado Ranch. For both locations, the ranch provided spectacular views and the topography that the series needed to service the action. The interior of Bass's farmhouse was built on location, as well as on stage, because we needed to be able to see action from the inside of the house to the outdoor landscape. And we built barns, chicken coops, corrals and planted extensive areas of crops that were needed for the story. Onstage, we built the interior of the first floor of the Bass farmhouse, as well as the second-floor bedrooms. A B l a c k H e r o o f t h e O l d W e s t L AW M E N : B A S S R E E V E S B Y W Y N N P. T H O M A S , P R O D U C T I O N D E S I G N E R A. REEVES' FARMHOUSE. BUILT ON LOCATION AT THE SILVERADO RANCH AND ONSTAGE. SET PHOTO. B. REEVES' FARMHOUSE. SET PHOTO. A