Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1533885
PROPERTYMASTERSGUILD.ORG 13 "What are you doing?" someone way more experienced than myself asks me. "They will never see that." I keep going. They may never see that, but the prop has to be real, if only for me. On the day of filming, I watch Treat Williams walk onto the set. He goes to his character's desk, picks up the scrapbook, and leafs through it. I watch his face: a smile of recognition, puzzlement, sadness, a chuckle. The camera is about to roll. Treat puts the book down, but it is still open. He never picks it up again in the scene, never leafs through it, but after the day is over, Treat Williams comes up to me and says, "Pola, you know, I always look forward to coming to the set. Your props … they bring such life to the scene!" What a validation! I take it to every show I work on and every prop I make. Lesson learned: The energy you pour into any creation shines through. THE VEGETABLE NECKLACE I just received the newest episode's script working on Gilmore Girls. I have a day and, of course, the night to come up with the prop. It's a vegetable necklace that Jackson gives Sookie as a gift. I see it as a string of tiny porcelain vegetables, maybe with beads in between. Such jewelry doesn't exist, but I must make one or two since we always need doubles. How? Well, I have to figure it out and fast. The necklace is one of many props I must deliver for the next day, but I have a plan for the rest. The scripts come late, sometimes the day before we start shooting. Such is Amy's process, and I respect it. Amy Sherman-Palladino is a brilliant writer. I understand her work. I am deeply attuned to her creative energy, and the opportunity to deliver the visual element that organically lives in her world is thrilling. I call my friend, a ceramic artist, and we spend the night sculpting the tiny vegetables with the help of some Pinot Grigio and homemade cookies. The work gets done, but the pieces don't have the porcelain shine. At six in the morning, I am back at Warner Bros. Studio. Casey Kasemeier, our remarkable sign painter, is on the clock (thank God!). He is an alchemist and knows how to turn base metals into gold and clay into porcelain, and by 8 a.m., the magic is complete. I spend the next hour and a half putting the necklace together. The jewelry piece is done, worthy of being on camera, and worthy of being a gift. "Oh, look at that!" Amy touches the tiny pieces. "The vegetable necklace! Beautiful." I feel triumphant. After a minute, she gives me back the prop. "Well, I hate to say this," Amy says, "but the scene is out." I close the box. I am still triumphant, "Oh, well," I say and move on. ZODIAC Opposite page top, this page center and bottom: GILMORE GIRLS