Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546176
PROPERTYMASTERSGUILD.ORG 11 confidence. Is that something you've always believed? APRIL BLAIR: I do release a lot to the people around me. But there are things where I know exactly what I want. Sometimes directors arrive and ask, "When do I approve wardrobe?" And I'm like... Oh... You don't." (laughs) PROP CULTURE: Talking with you, it's clear everything begins with your aesthetic. Whether it's a hero prop or something as ordinary as a pair of oven mitts, everything contributes to the same world. Where does that attention to detail come from? Those are fantasy worlds, but I try to apply that same philosophy even to something contemporary like Ransom Canyon. I still approach it as world-building. PROP CULTURE: Looking at your career, you've built worlds that couldn't be more different. Jane by Design. Wednesday. The Shannara Chronicles. Ransom Canyon. Yet they all feel intentional. Does your approach change from one project to the next? APRIL BLAIR: I look at everything holistically. Every single thing is part of building that world. There were incredible props in Jane by Design. The lookbook was really what the entire episode was built around. Props are always very important to me because they're part of the details that build the world for the actors, the crew. and the audience. There isn't usually one specific prop that I'm thinking about while I'm writing. I kind of wait until I can start talking with the department heads. Then it begins to grow. PROP CULTURE: Sometimes the simplest objects end up telling the biggest stories. A single line in a script can become an unforgettable moment on screen. Was there an object this season that became much bigger than you originally imagined? APRIL BLAIR: Absolutely. One of my favorites coming up in Season 2 is the box Staten sends with the note inside. The flower. The embossing. The Double K logo. Josh Duhamel writing the letter himself. When you see that scene, you're right there with the box and the letter. When I was writing it, it was simply, "He sends her a box with a note." Then we started talking about it together, and it became something much more beautiful than what I originally had in my head. The same thing happened with the charcuterie board. On the page it's just "He brings a cheese board." Then you start realizing it has to be the most beautiful thing. It Shas to feel like it came from that other world and landed on the table. Because it's telling a story. Staten shows up and he's the perfect man who made his own charcuterie board, ordered the perfect meat and cheese spread and arranged everything beautifully. The board had to feel intimidating. PROP CULTURE: Listening to you describe those moments, it sounds like you're not simply choosing beautiful objects. Every detail must reveal something about the character or the world they're living in. Is that where your attention to detail really comes from? APRIL BLAIR: Ransom Canyon isn't just a Western. It's wish fulfillment. It's romance. It's escapism. To create that, you have to paint a very specific world. I'm obsessed with Nancy Meyers movies. I'll literally pause them and ask myself, "What's in the kitchen?" "What are they holding?" "What are all the little details?" Those details are delicious to me. PROP CULTURE: I loved hearing you say that because it reminded me of something else you've mentioned. When you're writing, you don't picture an actor. You picture yourself. APRIL BLAIR: Exactly. People always ask who I pictured when I was writing a role. Me. When I was writing Quinn, I wasn't imagining an actress. I was imagining myself in the scene. Not because I thought I would ever play the part, but because that's how I understand the character. Now, of course, I think of Minka because she's Quinn. But before casting, it was me. JANE BY DESIGN THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES WEDNESDAY APRIL BLAIR: I definitely have an aesthetic. I like world-building. The people I probably learned the most from were the Wednesday showrunners, Al Gough and Miles Millar. They're very visual storytellers. Everything is detailed. I worked with them on Into the Badlands, The Shannara Chronicles and Wednesday, and when you walk into their office, there are vision boards everywhere. Everything tells a story. They're constantly world-building.