Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/987068
23 Occupied Land PRODUCTION SOUND JOINS AN ENSEMBLE EFFORT TO REALIZE DIRECTOR TAYLOR SHERDIAN'S CINEMATIC STORY YELLOWSTONE. Thomas Curley CAS casually takes a sip of his iced tea while sitting outside a North Hollywood pizzeria. The sun settles behind a scattering of puffy grayish clouds as a breeze wisps by reminding him of the weather conditions sound endured while recording Yellowstone, a 10-episode scripted series from creator Taylor Sheridan, whose written material includes Sicario, Hell or High Water and Wind River, the latter which he also directed. Curley's relaxed, approachable demander disguises any of his previous accolades—a career that started out shadowing Sound Mixer David MacMillan, a now CAS Career Achievement Award recipient and Boom Operator Duke Marsh—which has flourished into an Academy Award, AMPS and BAFTA win for his work on the Damien Chazelle-directed Whiplash. The New York native is as humble as they come residing in Los Angeles and building up the appropriately named location sound recording company Curley Sound with his brother Brian Curley. "This was the biggest show in terms of scale I've ever worked on," says the production sound mixer, who was hired on through a Whiplash connection via First Assistant Director Nick Harvard. With its massive scope, Yellowstone was an "enormous undertaking" in terms of its production. The hour-long series was the first greenlit project from the newly formed Paramount Network, which meant "quality was the top priority." The allegory follows the Dutton family, led by John Dutton (Kevin Costner), who controls the largest ranch in the U.S. and the people that are trying to take it away from them by any means necessary. Accompanying Costner is Wes Bentley, Kelly Reilly, Luke Grimes and Cole Hauser, who plays his sons and daughters, as well as Gil Birmingham, a local Indian Chief named Thomas Rainwater and Danny Huston as a greedy land developer. Production shot in parts of Utah and Montana from August to December of last year utilizing the Utah Film Studios in Park City for its studio work. For crew, Curley tapped veteran Boom Operator Knox White and local Utility Andrew Cier. "Production's hands were tied in terms of spending extra money to bring out a third, but it turned out very well. Andrew came up working with some good people like Sound Mixer Jonathon Stein (The Sandlot). Plus, he knew the local people, the area and the terrain." Working with White on the other hand was something that was always in the back of Curley's mind. "I did a day or two with him a while ago, but for most of my career, he was three tiers above me doing James Cameron films. Our stars finally aligned and I brought him out into the woods. He's a surgeon with the microphone and very endearing," says Curley. "Better yet, he has stories for days which made the tough days a bit easier." Curley was flown out for a week before production and engaged with Cinematographer Ben Richardson (Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Chi) to find out "how tough he was going to make it" for them, he jokingly says. "In terms of DPs, Ben really knows technology which is near and dear to myself. He made a really good recommendation that turned out to be the best money I think I have ever spent." The suggestion was the Ambient ACN Lockit system for timecode. Curley implemented Ambient Nano Lockit boxes to three ARRI Alexa cameras and one Alexa Mini with the Ambient Master Lockit. "Routing our timecode this way proved it was something I never had to worry about and it also made camera happy." A production meeting ironed out basic concerns, and for sound, they found out for most part they would be out in the middle of nowhere. Even indoors or inside a house, they would be out in the middle of nowhere. The only big metropolitan stops being locations in Salt Lake City and the small town of Darby, Montana. by Daron James