Decorating Pages: TV and Film Design

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: 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

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

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

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

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