Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546033
scale, circulation and hierarchy. Those early plans were what I used to get approvals from the executive producers and establish the spatial concept. From there, I built a 3D SketchUp model in a kit-bash session, pulling from the 3D Warehouse to communicate the design scheme. It wasn't construction-ready, but it let me show the idea clearly to Raf, Clayton and the team, including Set Designers George Maya, Taura Rivera, Colin De Rouin and Victoria Ruskin. Our schedule was extremely compressed, and the creative asks from the writers kept increasing—we kept adding designers just to keep pace. By the time the build was underway, Rooster occupied three stages on the Warner Bros. lot: Stage 17 for the main Ludlow College unit set, Stage 14 for the permanent domestic interiors and exteriors, and Stage 7 for ancillary Ludlow interiors and swing sets. The main Ludlow set alone filled seventeen thousand square feet on Stage 17, with thirty- five feet to the perms—every inch used, roughly 75% of it elevated all the way up, and more than one hundred and thirty sheets of construction drawings generated by the end. At that scale, the 3D model became the common language of the department, keeping design, drafting, construction, lighting, camera and production aligned while Ludlow grew around us. Clayton: At some point, you and I started working directly in the model together. Cabot: Yes—because you're such a fast, intuitive 3D designer, the most productive thing was to work in the same room, in real time, with you operating the model while I gave design direction: move this stair, widen that opening, raise the ceiling, add a view through here. It was so frictionless, it felt like watching a favorite television channel. We started calling it "SketchUp TV." Raf: What made it valuable was that it wasn't just presentation—it was design development happening live. Cabot: The model also went beyond the Art Department. We handed 3D assets to gaffer Christian Grosselfinger, who uploaded them into Unreal Engine to build lighting mock-ups for cinematographer Blake McClure—a way to study windows, practical lighting, masking, backings and greens before the set was fully realized. A. MAIN LUDLOW COLLEGE SET. PLAN STUDY BY CABOT MCMULLEN DRAFTED BY GEORGE MAYA IN AUTOCAD. STAGE 17 WARNER BROS. B. GREG'S CLASSROOM. PRODUCTION STILL C. ARCHIE'S LECTURE HALL. STAGE 17 WARNER BROS. PRODUCTION STILL. B C A