Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1524900
30 • THE ARTISAN FALL 2024 and Rela, along with Dennis and the hair team, did the initial make- up tests, with me quarantined in my home consulting on FaceTime. It was three days before we were to begin shooting when Ken and I realized we needed someone incredibly talented, dedicated only to taking care of Sofia. Enter Todd MacIntosh. We handed off the pieces of her initial design and le him to work his magic and make any modifications that needed to happen going forward. ere were many. Along with Kelly, they designed all the looks for her character progression. We were still unsure of how many years ahead the episodes were going to take us. Having Todd with his amazing skill set allowed us to focus on all of our other characters. Todd's daily routine started with reclining the chair and adjusting the lighting, making sure Sofia was comfortable during her application. Starting on her eyebrows, he applied a thin layer of Deena Wax to protect the hairs, then powdered. Westmore silicone adhesive was used over the wax to help flatten the brows. Pros-Aide was used around the eyebrow. Removing the center acetate backing on the blocker to position and secure placement. Each side needed the acetate to be removed simultaneously as the piece was applied in one continuous movement. en it had to be smoothed out and blended, repeat with other eyebrow with overlap above nose. Latex was stippled over lightly up to hairline again powder. Her nose appliance was prepped with Pros-Aide around nostrils, then repeat the process on Sofia. When dry, lock the nostrils in place and li the tip of the personal hair stylist, had been with us at all of our make-up tests. Once we had decided on her look, he was able to start designing her hair styles. For her initial 1970's look, he styled her wig in keeping with its natural wave, allowing it to have frizz and feel uncontrolled in the spirit of Janis Joplin. At the beginning of our story, Griselda is fleeing from Colombia aer having just killed her husband. She arrives in Miami with nothing but her children and a kilo of cocaine. We needed to have the audience feel the haste of this decision. At this point, we were still in loose prep and were slated to start production in November. As November came rolling around, Netflix choose to make some changes to the scripts and decided to push production until the beginning of January. Now we had another three months to wait until we began. Sofia was contracted to shoot America's Got Talent and now our schedules were going to conflict (more on this later). As we rolled into the holidays, it was time to start assembling our teams. Ken suggested we ask Marissa Lafayette to join us and I asked Rela Martine. Dennis Parker had collaborated with Kathleen Leonard on many shows. She came on as the key hair stylist with Lauren Upshaw as the third. Shanty Oriata came from a Disney background with extensive wig experience. She was a natural fit for what we needed. As the new year came to pass and we were gearing up for our make-up tests, the director and I both contracted COVID. Dear Lord... Would we ever get to shoot this show? It is in times like these that modern technology proved to be a blessing. Ken, Marissa,