Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546154
www.postmagazine.com 14 POST AUG/SEPT 2026 paint-out, and there's a great deal of painting in hillsides, distant lighthouses and stuff like that. So there is a lot of environmental work happening." The production tried to capture as much of the imagery in-camera as possible, but the reality they faced was that there aren't a lot of underdeveloped beachside communities that could represent the aesthetic of Widow's Bay. "We painstakingly tried to get as much as humanly possible in-camera," says Sprenger. "And what that usually resulted in was, we would shoot a location that was 85 percent of what we needed it to be. And then the visual effects team would ei- ther do set extensions or paint out or whatnot. But there really are no big-ticket items. When we're out on the boat in the water, We went out at night on the water in the ocean and shot. We did everything as practical as humanly possible, because, again, we're sort of referencing this nostalgia of filmmak- ing from the '70s and '80s, and they didn't have huge visual effects teams and couldn't do a lot of that stuff, so we really were trying to like play by those rules." Most of Widow's Bay was shot in and around Cape Ann, which is northeast of metro Boston. "What's nice about that is, it is a cape, so there's at least three edges that look out into the ocean. We definitely shot a lot up there." A unit also captured aerials and wide shots in Maine. The series' town hall exterior was located about an hour and 45 minutes west of Boston, while its entire interior and basement was built on a set. Exteriors were also shot for the Loftis house, with the interior created on a stage. "I would say 95 percent of what you see on the show is on a stage," Sprenger reveals. New England Studios in Devens, MA, served as home for much of the production. "[It's] a modest-size studio, but up to Hollywood- level expectations in the way it's built and how big it is," notes Sprenger. "It was amazing. I mean, we had four sets. A lot of the boat interiors were on- set. We built these giant gimbals to make the boats move. We would go outside on the ocean, shoot the exteriors, and then we would go on a blacked- out stage and shoot interiors on the boats." Harbor in New York City handled the show's dailies "Basically, we recorded in-camera," says Sprenger. "We downloaded everything and then we set up a fiber drop at our production office that would allow us to take drives and upload them over a secure network to Harbor. Then Harbor would sync every- thing, color the dailies, generate everything, put it all up on the cloud, and then (we) would be able to see them the next day. Our DIT, A. Kyo Moon, was super instrumental in making sure that workflow (was) rock-solid and consistent throughout." Most of the show was shot with a single camera, with a second camera prepping for the next scene. In the case of Episode 9 — the sequence in which Mayor Loftis ventures out to the lighthouse during a fierce storm — the scene was shot over several nights and is a combination of practical effects, set extensions and visual effects. "That sequence was probably shot over the course of 12 different shoot days and nights," says Sprenger. "And it required an unbelievable amount of practical effects, rain towers, lightning strikes, wind machines and our actors just getting drenched the whole time. The lighthouse is a com- bination of a practical lighthouse, a CG lighthouse, a set build (and) VFX. It's just this massive marry- ing of all departments, and when you watch it, it just like feels like such a fun journey to go on." EDITING Kyle Reiter is one of four editors who cut the series, along with Jen Bryson, Isaac Hagy and Cameron Ross. Like cinematographer Christian Sprenger, it was his prior work with director Hiro Murai that led to his involvement on this show. "Hiro Murai, Christian, Isaac and myself have worked on every narrative thing that Hiro's done," shares Reiter. "Starting with Atlanta — I cut two episodes of Barry that he directed — Station Eleven, Mr. & Mrs. Smith. So our, our post team and our post producer, Kaitlin Waldron, we sort of go project to project with him. We've been working together for over a decade, and I think what's important is that, even though we have varying degrees of experience, I think we all sort of came up in this space together and we really trust each other. It feels like one brain trust between all of us. It makes the work a lot easier because we have a shorthand." Reiter cut the first episode and helped to set a tone for Widow's Bay, knowing the story arc for Mayor Loftis would evolve from a non-believer to much less skeptical as the show progressed. The editing team cut on Avid systems at Post Script in North Hollywood.