Podcast

Decorating Pages: TV and Film Design

Film Interviews, TV & Film

Dive deep into the captivating world of Film and TV production design with the "Decorating Pages Podcast." Hosted by the acclaimed, Emmy-winning set decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast pulls back the curtain to reveal the intricate and fascinating world of behind-the-scenes craftsmanship that brings your favorite stories to life on screen. From blockbuster movies to hit TV series, join Kim as she chats w/ award winning production designers, set decorators, and other industry insiders. Get exclusive insights and anecdotes about creating the visual magic that captivates audiences around the globe

Episodes
262
Releases
Weekly
Typical length
1 hr 7 min
On air since
2018
Latest episode
17 hours ago

Episodes

262 episodes, newest first

  1. East of Eden (Netflix): Set Design, Filming Locations - Set Decorator Amber Richards

    Season 9, Episode 282

    Show notes

    How did Netflix’s East of Eden recreate early-1900s California almost entirely in New Zealand?

    Set Decorator Amber Richards returns to Decorating Pages to break down the extraordinary period world of Zoe Kazan’s East of Eden, starring Florence Pugh, Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist.

    Amber was previously on the podcast discussing The Power of the Dog and Mulan. She was nominated for an Academy Award with Production Designer Grant Major for The Power of the Dog, and the two collaborated again on East of Eden.

    Amber takes us behind the scenes of the production’s enormous set-decoration challenge: shopping Los Angeles prop houses in just four and a half days, shipping two 40-foot containers of dressing back to New Zealand and creating 82 full period sets during a 96-day shoot.

    We discuss the Trask homes, Faye and Kate’s brothel, Cathy’s nearly black interiors, custom furniture and textiles, historic New Zealand filming locations, artwork, practical builds and the small details that make a period environment feel authentic.

    It’s a detailed look at how production design and set decoration helped transform New Zealand into John Steinbeck’s America.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: http://www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    👉 Love movie & TV design? Join Decorating Pages for behind-the-scenes stories, set breakdowns + new interviews

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 6 min
  2. Frankenstein’s Laboratory: From 1931 to Guillermo del Toro

    Season 9, Episode 281

    Show notes

    Who actually invented the Frankenstein laboratory we all recognize?

    Mary Shelley gave Victor Frankenstein a workspace—but Hollywood gave us the stone walls, operating table, massive electrical machines, lightning and strange scientific equipment that became synonymous with Frankenstein.

    Kim Wannop traces 95 years of Frankenstein production design, beginning with James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931), moving through Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974), Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025), and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! (2026).

    Discover why Young Frankenstein used original laboratory equipment created for the 1931 film, how Oscar-winning Production Designer Tamara Deverell and Set Decorator Shane Vieau transformed Victor Frankenstein’s laboratory into a monumental water tower, and how each generation of filmmakers has reinvented the same visual idea.

    A deep dive into Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro, production design, set decoration, horror movie sets, Young Frankenstein, classic Universal horror and the design history behind one of cinema’s most recognizable environments.

    33 min
  3. 10 Horror Movies Designed to Terrify You | Alien, Halloween, Nosferatu & More

    Season 9, Episode 280

    Show notes

    What makes a horror movie set genuinely frightening?

    Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop and Emmy-winning Production Designer Adam Rowe each chose five horror films for the other to watch through the lens of production design and set decoration.

    Together they break down the sets of Rosemary’s Baby, Halloween, Alien, When a Stranger Calls, Poltergeist, Copycat, The Others, Midsommar, Hereditary and Nosferatu (2024).

    Why does the perfectly normal suburban world of Halloween make Michael Myers more frightening? Why does Rosemary’s cheerful apartment feel so different from the darkness next door? How did Alien create a science-fiction world that still feels completely believable? And how can the murals, furniture, windows, lighting and even the placement of a television quietly tell us that something is wrong?

    Adam also shares lessons from working on darker projects including Criminal Minds and Dexter, where practical design choices — working locks, doorways, shadows, mirrors and lighting — become essential pieces of suspense.

    This is a designer’s-eye look at horror: not simply what scared us, but how the filmmakers designed the spaces to make us scared in the first place.

    1 hr 45 min
  4. Insidious: Out of the Further Production Design | Nick Bassett on Designing Fear

    Season 9, Episode 279

    Show notes

    How do you design a horror movie set to actually make an audience uncomfortable?

    Production Designer Nick Bassett joins Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop to go behind the scenes of Insidious: Out of the Further, the latest chapter in the Insidious horror franchise.

    Nick reveals how the production design team created the film’s terrifying practical environments—from the enormous pillow-fort maze to Gemma’s family home, the dentist office and the tattoo parlor built partially in reverse for an elaborate mirror sequence.

    They break down how architecture can create suspense, why hallways and rooms are sometimes intentionally altered for horror blocking, how the same house was transformed between the 1990s and the present day, and how practical sets, in-camera effects and visual effects worked together to expand The Further.

    Nick also talks about working with Set Decorator Maddie Worthington, sourcing American-looking furniture while shooting in Melbourne, designing believable character history through set decoration, the pressure of an extremely short prep schedule, and why some of the most important production design choices are the details audiences may never consciously notice.

    Bassett’s credits include Evil Dead Rise, Sweet Tooth, Ash vs Evil Dead, Fear Street: Prom Queen, Avatar and Guns Akimbo.

    If you love Insidious, horror movie sets, production design, set decoration, practical effects, filmmaking and behind-the-scenes movie stories, this episode is for you.

    Watch the full video interview on the Decorating Pages Podcast YouTube channel for Nick’s drawings, set photographs and behind-the-scenes images.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: http://www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    👉 Love movie & TV design? Join Decorating Pages for behind-the-scenes stories, set breakdowns + new interviews

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 10 min
  5. Stanley Kubrick Production Design: The Shining, Barry Lyndon, Dr. Strangelove, Spartacus & The Killing

    Season 9, Episode 277

    Show notes

    Stanley Kubrick’s films are known for their unmistakable visual style — but who actually designed the sets?

    Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop examines the production design and set decoration of five Stanley Kubrick films: The Killing, Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, Barry Lyndon and The Shining.

    Go inside Ruth Sobotka’s stark noir environments for The Killing, the Oscar-winning art direction and set decoration of Spartacus, Ken Adam’s legendary Dr. Strangelove War Room, the historic locations and candlelit interiors of Barry Lyndon, and Roy Walker’s unforgettable Overlook Hotel for The Shining.

    Kim breaks down the impossible architecture of the Overlook, Room 237, the red bathroom, the truth about Barry Lyndonbeing shot by candlelight, Kubrick’s use of negative space and architecture, and how production designers, art directors, set decorators and cinematographers helped create what we now think of as the “Kubrick” look.

    A production design deep dive into five classic films — and the designers whose work deserves to be part of the conversation.

    1 hr 13 min
  6. The ’80s TV Sets That Raised Us | Sesame Street, Pee-wee, Punky & More

    Season 9, Episode 276

    Show notes

    What did Sesame Street, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Punky Brewster, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Full House, Scooby-Doo, Rainbow Brite and Jem teach us about design before we even knew what production design was?

    In this episode of Decorating Pages, Emmy-winning set decorator Kim Wannop goes back to the television worlds that shaped a generation of kids growing up in the late 1970s and 1980s.

    Why did the Sesame Street neighborhood feel so real? Why does Mister Rogers’ set still feel remarkably calm? Why did Punky Brewster’s bedroom make so many kids want control over their own rooms? And how did the extraordinary visual world of Pee-wee’s Playhouse prove that objects, colors, patterns and furniture don't have to match when they share a strong point of view?

    Kim also revisits early Nickelodeon favorites including Pinwheel and Today’s Special, the evolving bedrooms of Full House and Clarissa Explains It All, and the animated worlds of Scooby-Doo, Rainbow Brite and Jem and the Holograms.

    It’s a nostalgic look at 1980s television, production design, set decoration, color and childhood spaces — and at the visual lessons we were absorbing long before we knew how much those environments were influencing us.

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr
  7. Inside the 2026 Emmys: Production Design Winners & Behind the Scenes

    Season 9, Episode 275

    Show notes

    I spent both nights of the 2026 Emmys inside the Peacock Theater, and this week I’m taking you with me — from a Decorating Pages point of view.

    We’re talking about this year’s Production Design Emmy winners, including The Muppet Show, The Traitors, Fallout, Widow’s Bay and Pluribus, and an extraordinary weekend for Production Designer Denise Pizzini, who walked away with Emmys for two completely different shows.

    But this isn’t just a winners recap. I wanted to talk about what these nights actually feel like when you work in the crafts: sitting in a theater surrounded by editors, costume designers, sound teams, production designers, set decorators and hundreds of other artists whose names usually live in the end credits.

    I’ll take you inside the Peacock Theater, talk about this year’s Emmy stage, the speeches, seeing past Decorating Pages guests become Emmy winners — and then walk into the Governors Gala with me before anyone else gets there.

    As one of this year’s Gala Committee Chairs, I got to see the finished “Garden After Dark” design completely empty before more than 2,000 guests came through the doors. And yes, I looked at the whole thing like a giant set.

    Plus, What Wannop’s Watching: The Odyssey, Reality Bites and Lanterns.

    This is the Emmys through the eyes of the people who build the worlds on screen.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: http://www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    34 min
  8. Designing Sugar Season 2: Los Angeles Noir with Production Designer Meghan C. Rogers

    Season 9, Episode 273

    Show notes

    How do you design a modern Los Angeles noir without simply recreating the past?

    In this episode of Decorating Pages, I talk with Production Designer Meghan C. Rogers about creating the visual world of Season 2 of Apple TV’s Sugar, starring Colin Farrell. Meghan joined the series for its second season and pushed the show’s established noir language further, using architecture, texture, lighting and locations to make Los Angeles itself part of John Sugar’s story.

    We get into the massive Indonesia sequence built at the Paramount water tank, including the engineering, water-safety and fire requirements behind a set that had to work both inside and outside. Meghan also takes us through the Hotel Del Corazon and its Casablanca-inspired circular bar, Sugar’s mid-century hideaway in the Hollywood Hills, the boxing gym, K-Town locations, homeless encampments created beneath some of LA’s incredible concrete architecture, and a vintage trailer the art department found on Facebook Marketplace.

    We also talk about the less glamorous realities behind what appears on screen: graphics departments, graffiti and artwork clearances, sun studies, multiple company moves in a single day, rebuilding interiors, finding camera-friendly architecture and what happens when production asks you to flip a set…and then suddenly needs the original set back.

    For Meghan, the opportunity was ultimately about showing Los Angeles in all of its layers—from glamorous hilltop views to the city underneath the freeways—and finding a contemporary version of classic noir that still belongs completely to Sugar.

    Sugar Season 2 is streaming on Apple TV.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: http://www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    👉 Love movie & TV design? Join Decorating Pages for behind-the-scenes stories, set breakdowns + new interviews

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcastY

    ouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr
  9. HBO Max Emmy-Nominated Production Designers | The Pitt, Euphoria, Hacks, Gilded Age & A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

    Season 9, Episode 272

    Show notes

    Presented by HBO Max | For Your ConsiderationIn this special Emmy® season episode of Decorating Pages, I’m joined by five HBO Max Emmy-nominated production designers whose shows could not look more different: Nina Ruscio of The Pitt, Bob Shaw of The Gilded Age, François Audouy of Euphoria, Rob Tokarz of Hacks, and Tom McCullagh of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.We get into what production design actually does for storytelling — from making a 25,000-square-foot emergency department disappear into reality on The Pitt, to transforming existing locations into the extravagant world of The Gilded Age. Rob Tokarz breaks down creating an entire fictional 1970s television history for Hacks, François Audouy talks about shooting Euphoria on film and building a practical miniature Los Angeles for its giant Cassie sequence, and Tom McCullagh takes us inside the enormous Ashford tournament build for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

    We also talk about something every production designer understands: finding the location you don't want, making it work anyway, designing sets that can shoot in every direction, building spaces actors actually respond to, and creating worlds that support story without calling attention to themselves.At the end, I ask each designer to choose one set they would show a film student to explain what the art department really does — and their answers are practically a production design class in themselves.

    Featured Production Designers:Nina Ruscio — The Pitt. Bob Shaw — The Gilded Age François Audouy — Euphoria Rob Tokarz — Hacks.Tom McCullagh — A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

    Explore the HBO Max FYC experience and watch the nominated programs:https://www.hbomaxfyc.com/homeFYC Site Access Code: B25C8W3R

    More from this special presentation:https://www.decoratingpagespodcast.com/hbomaxfyc

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: http://www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    👉 Love movie & TV design? Join Decorating Pages for behind-the-scenes stories, set breakdowns + new interviews

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 27 min
  10. The Muppet Show: Rebuilding the Original Muppet Theatre

    Season 9, Episode 271

    Show notes

    How do you bring back one of television’s most beloved environments when almost none of the original scenery or plans still exists?

    Emmy-nominated Production Designer Denise Pizzini and Set Decorator Bethany Barton reveal how their team recreated the original Muppet Theatre for the Disney+ special The Muppet Show.

    Using screenshots, extensive research and one surviving drawing of Kermit’s backstage office, they reconstructed the theatre’s architecture, auditorium, backstage spaces, practical lighting and decades of beautifully controlled clutter.

    Denise and Bethany explain the hidden engineering required to design simultaneously for Muppets, puppeteers and human performers—from elevated stages and hollow counters to removable chair backs, adjustable furniture and performer pits.

    They also take us inside Sabrina Carpenter’s glittering cowboy bar, Miss Piggy’s Bridgerton-inspired ballroom, the Bayou musical number and Gonzo’s practical stunt set with real fire and sparks.

    It’s a detailed look at nostalgia, scale, fabrication and the high-stakes scavenger hunt required to make Jim Henson’s world feel as though it never stopped living.

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 4 min
  11. Elle Production Design | Laurin Kelsey on the World Before Legally Blonde

    Season 9, Episode 269

    Show notes

    Production Designer Laurin Kelsey joins Decorating Pages to discuss designing Elle, the new Prime Video series from Amazon MGM Studios.

    Laurin takes us inside the visual world of a younger Elle Woods and explains how production design helped build her backstory through color, contrast, nostalgia, and character. We talk about finding Elle’s signature pink, creating the difference between Beverly Hills and Seattle, and designing the spaces that shape her world before UCLA and Harvard.

    In this episode, we discuss Elle’s bedroom, the Woods family house, the Seattle high school, the Cosmo office, Blockbuster, and how the design team balanced 90s authenticity with a fresh visual style for today’s audience.

    This conversation is a thoughtful look at how production design and set decoration can reveal who a character is becoming through palette, texture, space, and detail.

    Listen to Decorating Pages for more interviews with the production designers, set decorators, and art department teams behind your favorite shows and films.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 9 min
  12. Summer Blockbusters & Production Design: Jaws, Star Wars, E.T., Jurassic Park, Barbie, Harry Potter and The Avengers

    Season 9, Episode 267

    Show notes

    In this episode of Decorating Pages, Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop takes a design-forward look at the production design of summer blockbusters.

    From Jaws and Star Wars to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, Top Gun: Maverick, Inside Out 2, and Barbie, this episode explores how production design and set decoration helped turn summer movies into cultural events.

    Kim breaks down how blockbuster worlds are built to read instantly, create emotion, support story, and stay in the audience’s memory long after the credits roll. From beach towns and spaceships to suburban homes, dinosaur parks, pirate ships, and dream houses, these are the sets that helped define generations of moviegoing.

    A must-listen for fans of production design, set decoration, filmmaking, movie history, summer movies, and behind-the-scenes film craft.

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 6 min
  13. Rooster Production Design with Cabot McMullen: HBO, Steve Carell, Bill Lawrence & Comedy Set Design

    Season 9, Episode 266

    Show notes

    Production Designer Cabot McMullen, Art Director Raf Lydon, and Set Decoration Buyer Susan Chooljian join Decorating Pages Podcast to discuss the production design of HBO’s Rooster.

    Host Kim Wannop talks with the team about designing Ludlow College, creating an East Coast campus world in California, and building half-hour comedy sets with scale, texture, history, and character. Cabot shares his long creative history with Bill Lawrence, from Spin City and Scrubs to Shrinking and Rooster, and explains how authenticity drives the design of the show.

    The conversation covers the Warner Bros. stage builds, University of the Pacific exteriors, neo-Gothic architecture, the Elizabeth Stoddard Student Center, Walt’s office, the diner, the bar, the steam room, custom wallpaper, aging, plaster work, sourcing, graphics, and the layered design details that make Rooster feel like a real college town.

    For Your Emmy Consideration: RoosterOutstanding Production Design for a Half-Hour Program

    Production Designer: Cabot McMullenArt Director: Raf LydonSet Decoration Buyer: Susan Chooljian

    Listen to Decorating Pages Podcast for behind-the-scenes interviews with Production Designers, Set Decorators, Art Directors, and the creative teams behind the sets of film and television.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 13 min
  14. Half Man Production Designer Emer O’Sullivan on Designing Richard Gadd’s HBO Drama

    Season 9, Episode 265

    Show notes

    Presented by HBO Max | For Your Consideration – HALF MAN – Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More)

    Production Designer Emer O’Sullivan joins Decorating Pages to discuss the production design of the HBO/BBC limited series Half Man, created by Emmy-winning Richard Gadd and starring Richard Gadd and Jamie Bell.

    Emer breaks down the design of Half Man, including Laurie’s house, the boys’ bedroom, the kitchen, the hospital room, the prison visiting room, the wedding locations, and the Glasgow architecture that grounds the story across multiple decades.

    In this conversation, Emer talks about using social realism photography, fashion photography, mood boards, hand drawings, wallpaper, pattern, color, and Scottish municipal architecture to create a world that feels emotionally truthful. She also discusses the responsibility of portraying working-class homes with warmth, pride, and specificity, rather than reducing them to gray or downtrodden spaces.

    Kim and Emer also discuss the “cozy claustrophobic” design of Laurie’s house, the pistachio and pink palette, how domestic spaces change over time, building the upstairs of the house, transforming a rough location into a major set in eight days, and designing the prison visiting room with glass, brutalist influence, and controlled discomfort.

    This episode is a must-listen for fans of Half Man, Richard Gadd, Jamie Bell, HBO dramas, production design, set decoration, Scottish television, character-driven interiors, and anyone interested in how sets carry emotion, memory, trauma, and story.

    Half Man is now streaming on HBO Max.

    For Your Consideration: HALF MAN — Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More)

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 1 min
  15. Wonder Man Production Design: Marvel, LA Locations & Hollywood Sets with Cindy Chao, Michele Yu and Lizzie Boyle

    Season 9, Episode 264

    Show notes

    Presented by Disney/MarvelFor Your Consideration — Wonder ManOutstanding Production Design For A Narrative Program — Half-Hour

    Production Designers Cindy Chao and Michele Yu and Set Decorator Lizzie Boyle join Decorating Pages to talk about the production design and set decoration of Marvel’s Wonder Man.

    Host Kim Wannop discusses how the team built a grounded Hollywood story inside the Marvel universe, using real Los Angeles locations, character-driven sets, old apartments, theaters, bars, trailers, offices, practical destruction, and behind-the-scenes filmmaking spaces.

    The conversation explores Simon’s East Hollywood apartment, Trevor’s faded-glory LA home, Marvel’s DODC prison, the black-and-white episode, and how Wonder Man uses production design and set decoration to tell a superhero story that feels personal, funny, human, and rooted in Los Angeles.

    Emmy voters, please consider Wonder Man for Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Program — Half-Hour.

    Official FYC page:https://debut.disney.com/fyc/disneyplus/series_fyc/wonder-man-1768593147910?tab=episodes

    A must-listen for fans of Marvel, Wonder Man, production design, set decoration, Los Angeles filming locations, Hollywood history, and behind-the-scenes television craft.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design contentI

    nstagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 7 min
  16. Hacks Emmy FYC: Rob Tokarz on Designing Deborah Vance’s Final Season

    Season 9, Episode 262

    Show notes

    Today on Decorating Pages, this Emmy FYC episode is presented by HBO Max in celebration of Hacks for Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program, Half-Hour.

    Host Kim Wannop talks with Emmy-nominated Production Designer Rob Tokarz about the final season of Hacks and the detailed production design behind Deborah Vance’s world.

    Rob breaks down the submitted Emmy episode, including the 1970s sitcom set created for Deborah’s fictional television history, the custom wallpaper, the Paley tribute, shooting at the Academy Museum, Deborah’s mansion and closet, the Las Vegas cube sequence, and the massive design work behind the final season.

    He also shares how the Hacks team created around 158 sets across 75 shooting days, built part of the Las Vegas Strip on stage, and used locations, graphics, set decoration, and period detail to support the comedy and emotional story of the series.

    This episode is a must-listen for fans of Hacks, Emmy voters, production designers, set decorators, art directors, film students, television lovers, and anyone who wants to understand how great sets help tell story.

    Hacks is now streaming on HBO Max.

    For your Emmy consideration.

    YouTube trailer link: https://youtu.be/4OegsEuqMmo?si=27cDJlZfKob9iFv3

    @Hacks @HBOMax #Hacks

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 3 min
  17. The Pitt - Production Designer Nina Ruscio and Set Decorator Matt Callahan Emmy FYC

    Season 9, Episode 261

    Show notes

    This episode of Decorating Pages is presented by HBO Max in celebration of The Pitt Season 2 for Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour Or More)

    Production Designer Nina Ruscio and Set Decorator Matt Callahan join Kim Wannop to discuss the Emmy-winning HBO Max medical drama The Pitt. After Season 1 earned 13 Emmy nominations and five Emmy wins, including Outstanding Drama Series, Season 2 returned to Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center with another 15-hour real-time emergency room shift set during Fourth of July weekend.

    In this interview, Nina and Matt break down the immersive production design of The Pitt Season 2, including the expanded triage area, the 360-degree ER set, the ambulance bay, medical equipment, hospital continuity, practical lighting, dressed drawers, background storytelling, and the enormous challenge of creating a hospital world that feels completely real from every angle.

    This is a deep dive into production design, set decoration, medical drama design, HBO Max’s The Pitt, Emmy FYC craft, and the invisible work that makes one of television’s most acclaimed dramas feel so authentic.

    For Your Consideration: The Pitt Season 2 Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour Or More)

    @HBOMax #ThePitt

    https://youtu.be/Xq8x47ky2Tw?si=PKPic6faHInJCp-W

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    55 min
  18. Production Designer Alex DiGerlando on Love Story & Black Rabbit, 90's and current day NYC design

    Season 9, Episode 260

    Show notes

    Production Designer Alex DiGerlando joins Decorating Pages to discuss the production design of FX’s Love Story and Netflix’s Black Rabbit.

    Alex breaks down the sleek 90s-inspired world of Love Story, including Carolyn Bessette’s apartment, the Calvin Klein offices, Jackie Kennedy’s home, the George magazine offices, real New York locations, period magazines, and the challenge of designing a version of the 90s that feels specific, emotional, and cinematic.

    Then the conversation moves into Netflix’s Black Rabbit, where Alex talks about designing the layered, textured, three-level restaurant set, working with Set Decorator Lydia Marks, using virtual walkthroughs, and creating a New York space filled with history, character, and tension.

    This episode is a craft-focused deep dive into production design, set decoration, research, restraint, maximalism, and how environments shape story.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 15 min
  19. High Potential Set Decorator Kim Leonard & Palm Springs Restoration

    Season 9, Episode 259

    Show notes

    Set Decorator Kim Leonard joins Decorating Pages to talk about her work on High Potential, including Morgan’s layered character house, the fast-moving “Morgan Visions,” and the real process of decorating a one-hour network television series in Los Angeles.Kim also shares the story behind her Palm Springs restoration of a 1958 Palmer & Krisel house with original Steve Chase details, now connected to Modernism Week and Atomic Ranch. From textured plaster walls and restored vintage lamps to desert modern restraint and character-driven design, this episode is a deep dive into how Set Decorators see potential in spaces, objects, and stories.Host Kim Wannop and Kim Leonard discuss production design, set decoration, sourcing, local shopping, architectural preservation, character details, and the creative problem-solving that goes into building worlds for television.A must-listen for fans of High Potential, production design, set decoration, Palm Springs modernism, Steve Chase interiors, and behind-the-scenes television craft.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    1 hr 8 min
  20. Late Night TV Set Design: Carson, Letterman, Colbert & the End of The Late Show

    Season 9, Episode 258

    Show notes

    With The Late Show with Stephen Colbert coming to an end, Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop looks at the design history of late-night television through the rooms we know so well: the desk, the guest chair, the skyline, the curtains, the bandstand, and the host’s chair.

    In this episode of Decorating Pages, Kim breaks down late-night TV set design from Johnny Carson to David Letterman, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers. She looks at Carson’s iconic command-center set, Letterman’s strange and brilliant NBC office energy, his move to CBS and the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, Colbert’s grand restoration of that theater, Kimmel’s Hollywood-after-dark lounge, Fallon’s warm New York variety show, and Seth Meyers’ writer’s room with a view.

    This is a set decorator’s look at how late-night shows use similar design staples but create completely different identities for each host. Because in late night, the desk is not just furniture. The room tells us what kind of night we’re about to have.

    Listen to Decorating Pages for production design, set decoration, TV design, film design, Emmy FYC interviews, and behind-the-scenes conversations about the worlds built for screen.

    👉 Get the FREE Quick Reference Set Decorating Template: www.decoratingpagespodcast.com

    Discover the Art of TV & Film Design with Decorating Pages Podcast

    Hosted by Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop, this podcast takes you behind the scenes of your favorite shows and movies. Each episode features in-depth conversations with the industry’s top production designers, set decorators, prop masters, and art department professionals, offering rare insight into the creative process of visual storytelling.

    Whether you’re a film and TV fan, aspiring designer, or entertainment industry pro, Decorating Pages Podcast is your backstage pass to the world of production design. Learn how sets are built, stories are shaped visually, and characters come to life—one episode at a time.

    🔔 Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Stitcher, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio so you never miss an episode.

    📲 Follow for daily design content

    Instagram: @decoratingpages

    TikTok: @decoratingpagespodcast

    YouTube: Decorating Pages Podcast

    51 min