Advertise on podcast: Decorating Pages: TV and Film Design

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.

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.

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: 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

They offered you the set decorating job. Great. Now ask how much prep, crew, and budget you actually have—because “we’ll figure it out later” has a way of becoming your problem. In this Gold Room episode, I’m sharing the questions I ask before accepting a film or television job. What are we decorating? When will the sets be ready? What crew is budgeted? How much wrap do we get? Who is the production designer, and who’s the DP? I also get into set decoration budgets, purchasing approvals, rates, mileage, kit rental, and the answers that make me ask another question. I’ve said yes when I knew far less. And sometimes you need the work, so you’ll say yes anyway. I want you to know what you’re walking into—and whether you’ve been given what you need to do the job well.

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.

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

What is it actually like to go to the Emmys? In this Gold Room episode, I’m answering the questions people really ask about television’s biggest night — from how you get a ticket and where everyone sits, to what happens during commercial breaks, where winners go after they leave the stage, and what the Governors Gala is really like once the cameras are off. I’ve attended 16 Emmy ceremonies, been nominated four times, won for VEEP, and now serve as a Governor of the Television Academy, so I’m taking you inside the parts of the night most viewers never get to see. I’m also talking about the less glamorous realities: the red carpet heat, the long walk to the gala, seat fillers, networking, sore feet, and how I managed three Emmy-night looks — dresses, shoes, jewelry and accessories — for under $500. Then we head inside this year’s Governors Gala, The Garden After Dark, including how the event is designed, what happens before thousands of guests arrive, the food, the parties, the Emmy engraving station, and what it feels like to be one of the first people inside the room. And I end with the question people rarely ask out loud: does winning an Emmy actually change your career? I share what changed for me — and what absolutely did not. This is the Emmys from the inside: glamorous, exhausting, emotional, occasionally ridiculous, and very different from what you see on television.

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: 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

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: 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

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

How do you tell someone you are available for work without making them feel responsible for finding you a job? In film and television, productions are often staffed before they are officially announced. That means freelancers cannot simply wait for a job posting. We have to reconnect with colleagues, stay visible, use our professional communities, and make sure people know when we are available. In this Gold Room episode, Emmy-winning Set Decorator Kim Wannop shares five practical strategies for looking for your next film or television project without sounding desperate. Kim discusses how to create a targeted contact list, approach different professional relationships, reconnect with former colleagues, use social media as a professional introduction, reactivate weaker industry connections, and follow up without becoming annoying. She also shares the phrases that can unintentionally weaken an outreach message—including “I’ll do anything,” “Sorry to bother you,” and the always-dangerous “Let’s get coffee sometime” from someone you have never actually had coffee with. This episode is for set decorators, production designers, art directors, buyers, filmmakers, freelancers, and creative professionals navigating the unpredictable space between projects. Looking for work is part of the work. You do not have to apologize for it—you just need to approach it professionally.

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 Gold Room episode of Decorating Pages Podcast, Emmy-winning set decorator Kim Wannop talks about the reality of being between jobs in film and television — especially during a slow production period in Los Angeles. This episode looks at practical, decorator-forward ways art department people can use their existing skills outside of a soundstage, without huge startup costs or unrealistic advice. Kim talks about the value of a set decorator’s eye: sourcing, styling, editing, visual storytelling, camera literacy, and knowing how objects create character. She also shares ways to stay creatively inspired between projects, from museums and classes to neighborhood walks and building a useful reference library. For set decorators, production designers, art directors, buyers, prop people, stylists, and creative freelancers, this episode is about staying sharp, staying realistic, and remembering that the eye still works even when the phone is quiet. Topics include set decoration, production design, Hollywood production slowdown, art department careers, creative side hustles, visual research, film and television design, and life between jobs in the entertainment industry.

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