Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1544153
10 PROP CULTURE I SPRING 2026 to worry about when you're directing. So, when you have somebody who clearly gets it and cares about it with a passion, it's a pleasure and you get this glorious feeling. When you can turn to the Property Master and say, what do you think, because you have thought about this more than I have, that is the kind of collaboration that becomes one of the real joys of directing. PROP CULTURE: Working on a film set is all about collaboration. JONATHAN: Have you seen The Pitt? PROP CULTURE: Of course. Rick Ladomade is the Property Master. JONATHAN: On The Pitt, my dear friend Noah Wyle, who is having the time of his life and whose career is on fire, took me to the set while we were shooting at Warner Bros. The set of The Pitt truly feels like a real hospital. The crew wears scrubs and there are no phones. When the actors come out of hair and makeup, they're funneled into the building, and just inside the soundstage entrance is a wall of cubbies labeled with each character's name. Inside each box are each character's props in a bag. Dr. Robby has his own props. The actors prop themselves rather than having someone hand things to them. They put on their own stethoscopes, each in their own style. At the end of the day, the responsibility is to return your props to your cubby and go home. I have never seen that system before, but I thought it was a fascinating addition to the seriousness of that show. PROP CULTURE: How a system like that would function outside a structured hospital environment in a world where inside a spaceship, which is a strange thing to say. The props did not feel iconic to us. They became iconic to the fans. PROP CULTURE: When you are working with established Star Trek props, how specific do you get about their behavior? JONATHAN: When guest actors would come in, they would be handed a PADD with the LCARS graphics on it and they would go crazy pretending to type shit in. If I have given this note once and I have given it 40 times: slow down. Watch what LeVar does, what Wil Wheaton does, what Brent does. They have made clear choices about what each button does. PROP CULTURE: As a director, do you find yourself thinking more about the physical reality of props, their weight, scale, and how they sit in an actor's hands or how they photograph? JONATHAN: The weight of something is often very significant to an actor. You feel it immediately. On shows set in a contemporary world, when a character needs glasses, a watch, a pen, those kinds of personal items, I usually let the actor choose from options the Property Master provides. And if it is something larger, like a big gun or something that is a two-hander, I always look at it in full figure profile. If it feels too big or too small, it can look ridiculous. PROP CULTURE: Writers often cannot truly visualize the weapon because they are unfamiliar with them and have to search online just to see what they look like. Then when that massive sniper rifle ends up in an actor's hands, the scale can come across unintentionally comical. JONATHAN: Let's talk about an experience I had. Actually two experiences with props that fall into this same subject. I was playing Little John. It was in a period holodeck story on Star Trek. I think it was a Robin Hood story, and I was the big guy with the staff. PROP CULTURE: Yes, I know it well. The episode was "Qpid." Captain Picard was Robin Hood. JONATHAN: I had a fight sequence with a stuntman, and we rehearsed it over and over. He had an iron broadsword, and I had a large eight-foot staff made of oak. For rehearsal, we used the hard rubber versions because the staff is dangerous. There was a lot of movement. It was exciting. I would push down here, precision and timing drive the storytelling, it feels naturally suited. But on a period piece or a more action-driven project, would that same self-contained prop responsibility enhance realism or complicate it? JONATHAN: As you know better than anyone, some actors are great with props. Gates (Dr. Beverly Crusher) on our show was fabulous with props, thank God, because she was the good doctor. Noah, to mention him again, brilliant with props. Me, not so much. I would have been happy to keep my hands in my pockets. PROP CULTURE: Was it something technical in the handling of props, something that surfaced in rehearsal, or more about how you connect to objects within a performance? JONATHAN: Unless it was fully functional in a way that I needed to have it, I wouldn't choose to have a prop for prop's sake. And some actors use the prop as a prop to prop them up and to give them something to do with their hands. I need to live with the prop as an actor so that I feel comfortable with it and I look comfortable with it. PROP CULTURE: When a new actor steps onto set and is handed a piece of Trek history, something fans instantly recognize, do they ever freeze? It feels a bit like handing a musician Jimi Hendrix's guitar and asking them to just play a song. JONATHAN: No, I don't remember having that experience, but I'm sure that internally certain actors said holy shit, I got a phaser in my hand. It is funny, they never felt iconic to me. We spent 182 episodes and four movies on that ship, so my whole world was THE PITT