A favorite prop decoration

I just wrapped a web series shoot as the Production Designer where I spent the time immersed in creating the aesthetic of a bunch of 20-something bros (screen grabs of all the different sets coming soon!).  

When I was looking for dressings to decorate an apartment to look like a bunch of aimless 20-something guys had taken over, I instantly fell in love with this mariachi man cut-out.  It was just so playful and funny in a nonsensical way. 

And apparently the people at Build It Green have also become so attached to him, that the only way they let me borrow it is to promise I would bring it back. 

So with a final shot on set with our favorite decoration (if we look tired, haggard, and unkempt this was the last hour of a week long shoot):

we had to return him to his home in front of the Build it Green cash register how we found him:

Crazy Amazing Skyline View from Set

this is seriously a no filter snapshot from my phone--the view was so incredible

I recently had the amazing fortune to work on a shoot from the penthouse of The Standard East Village (so fancy right?).

In between all the packing/unpacking/moving/unloading/loading we had the chance to soak in these incredible views of beloved New York. 

That's one of the things I love about production work: it has brought me to all sorts of cool places throughout New York.   Going to set I often find myself in corners and heights of New York I wouldn't normally find myself in and I totally appreciate the opportunity to explore new areas. 

isn't it crazy how many water towers there are in Manhattan? I feel like the water tower has come to be the symbolic icon of Brooklyn so I was surprised to see so many on Manhattan rooftops too. 

Because let's be real, there are not many circumstances under which I would find myself in the penthouse suite of The Standard. (oh yeah, I'm not an eastern european model or Saudi financier in town for business)

(again if my internet game was better I would insert one of those ridiculous fashion editorial/aspirational advertising spreads that would encapsulate the two archetypes I mentioned). 

Anyways, when I have the opportunity to soak in the iconic skyline of NYC like this I sort of hear the soundtrack cue in the back of my head to:

mixed with:

mixed with:

...and then of course after a while the penthouse rooftop becomes just a holding place for the crew and all the crazy amounts of equipment and just another place to wait between takes or when you are needed:

Self-Pity Still Life

I just finished working on a web series, Living the Dream with Production Designer Amy Howard, where we had to create a scene showing a character feeling sorry for herself and binging on comfort food.  

Don't you love how cheese puffs, ice cream, gummy candy, and that iconic Chinese take-out box is synonymous with "character-descended into-feeling-sorry-for-herself?"

One of my favorite quips from The Mindy Project is from Season 1 where Mindy is laying on the floor of her office post-breakup and tells her intern to "just keep feeding me sour straws."

(If my internet game was better, I would insert an awesome GIF of that scene here, sorry to disappoint my game isn't there yet)

I love the "self-pity still life" of all the junk food we created.  

We found a Christmas Tree in August!

We wanted to find a fresh Christmas Tree in Manhattan in the middle of August.  It sounded crazy but I thought we could do it, I mean in NYC anything is possible right?  

So we headed to where I went many times during set decorating: Manhattan's wholesale Floral District.  We walked into Ev   ergreen on 6th Avenue, asked if they had a Christmas tree and this was just sitting there waiting for us. 

I was so proud of finding a live spruce Christmas tree in the middle of August. 

You can see the tree all decorated in the spirit of Christmas here.

Picking Wildflowers on the side of the Highway...

We needed wildflowers to augment the floral arrangements and centerpieces for the wedding set so I accompanied production designer Kendall as well as fellow set dresser MaryKate on several wildflower picking trips along the side of the highway in New Jersey. 

I joked we could open a floral shop and call it "Route 1" for where we source our local, wild foraged flowers.  

You can see these flowers in the centerpieces on the set of It Had to Be You here.