Red Stewart chats with Seth Reed about The Gifted…

Seth Reed is an Emmy nominated production designer and art director who has been involved in the film and television industries since the 1990s. He is best known for his work on projects like Minority Report, Cosmos, Supergirl, and The Gifted.

Flickering Myth had the privilege to interview him, and I in turn had the honor to conduct it:

Mr. Reed, thank for taking the time out of your day to speak with me sir. The terms “production designer” and “art director” are often used synonymously. Having both credits on your IMDB page, would you say that they are the same role, or are there distinguishing differences between the two based on your own experiences?

The roles of Production Designer and Art Director are two different types. Each is integral to the functioning of the Art Department and to the implementation of the sets, however the Designer is the leader of the department. The Designer works out ideas and conceives sets, while the Art Director takes direction from the Designer and then supervises the actual building of the sets. While the Production Designer meets with the Producer, Director and Cinematographer, the Art Director is carrying out the design with the Construction, Set Decoration, Locations and Props Departments. Both jobs are quite distinct. In order to become a Production Designer, I’ve worked my way up through numerous roles in the Art Department – Art Department Coordinator, Set Designer, Assistant Art Director, Art Director and finally Supervising Art Director (on bigger movies).

I’ve always wondered about the process of production design. Is everything done in pre-production, where you read the script and design a set based on the budget, time, and writer directives, or do you have to be on set everyday to oversee the development of things, much like an architect and a construction site?

The process of Production Design for television – it’s a little different for film – does indeed require a lot of work up front, before we start filming. In TV, of course, the pace is very rapid, so the designer must work quickly. I read the script, have meetings with the writer and producer and try to decide where we are filming – is it a location or is it a build on stage? For me as the Designer, it’s important to understand how we are going to shoot the scene. Often I am helping to set up the shots with the Director, and frequently a story board artist is brought in to supplement. This will tell us how much “set” we will need to properly serve the script.

Television production is very much about logistics and time, usually I must design and get approval for sets and begin building within just a few days. For this I need the help of our Art Department. I start with sketches – then the Art Director may take those sketches and use digital modeling and Photoshop to create images that look more finished. There’s a Set Designer to draw things up for Construction and a Graphic Designer that can add flavor and style to the look. During the entire process we are already setting up – budgeting, ordering materials and graphics, figuring out specifics like paint colors, fabrics, furniture and art. As we start building and assembling, the Art Director gets the ball rolling, manages the day to day, and I come in to review. I am often already busy on the next episode, so there can be an overlap where up to 3 episodes could be in some stage of filming, preparing sets or scouting. Meanwhile, as the new sets are prepared, I may make a few adjustments along the way, especially as my colleague the Cinematographer gets into it.

Film Production is very much about communication and collaboration. All of this happens before the filming even starts.

I’m curious what happens to sets after they are done with- are they destroyed, are they put into studio archives, are they donated to museums, what happens?

On The Gifted, we typically re-use the sets that we build for the show many times over the course of the season. So, when you say “done,” you have to understand that we’ve already shot many of those Stage Sets 2-4 times – in different versions where we have changed walls or ceilings, repainted and redressed so they look so different you cannot recognize them. Plus we have stored sets from last season, some of those are reworked as well. We leave very little to waste. I am sure that the sets from this season will either remain standing or will be carefully “scene docked” for future use. On one show that I have worked on in the past, a historical called From the Earth to the Moon for HBO, we did donate some of our work to a museum. We recreated an Apollo Lunar Module, as accurately as possible based on historical records. On another show, The Long Road Home, which we did last year for National Geographic about the Iraq War, we recreated a part of Baghdad as accurately as we could. People came through the set and were amazed at how exact everything was, especially the matching architecture. Though the set was not preserved or donated, it served as a remarkable reminder for many many soldiers who had fought in Iraq. Soldiers, generals, gold star families came through and saw and remembered. It was cathartic and it was, at least for a few, so realistic that it was a bit of living therapy.

In direct answer to your question, often sets are thrown away at the end of a show. If they can be shared, they will be, as I have frequently gone to other shows to see what they have or made phone calls. We all love the idea of reuse and recycle, so we try very hard to save wherever we can.

How hard is it for you to work with production assets that are merged with green screen and CGI props? Is it always a challenge because you aren’t working with anything concrete, or have you been in the industry long enough to know how to incorporate them easily?

Working with the Visual Effects Department (VFX) is a key part of any collaboration between the Art Department, Cinematographer and others. We all work together and shots are discussed over and over. If the Art Department cannot provide a practical solution, let’s say we are seeing a mutant power manifested, VFX or SPFX will be stepping in to provide the rest of what is needed. Everything is tightly interwoven and we are never guessing about what we will see. Often the Art Department supplies an illustration that depicts the scene with lighting and effects. We try to present a complete picture for the production of how the scene will play out before it is even shot.

What’s it like to go from doing network television to streaming television to feature films? I would imagine they’re radically different fields for a production designer given the different budgets, different viewership models, different audiences, and different platforms.

In the worlds of network TV, streaming TV, and film, things are quickly evolving. I started in film, back in the days when we were just using pagers and “cellular” phones were a rarity. Communication and information was much slower, research involved going to the library. Everything is digital now. We design, research, present ideas, draw, create sets and then film them digitally. We work on much shorter timelines than ever before.

Still, we are able to use our digital tools to more carefully ensure that the director and producers understand what our sets will be like. In the old days, in film, our longer prep times allowed us to do more thorough and complete projects. We built beautiful foam core (or better) models, we had illustrators make a few gorgeous hand-drawn images. This has all been changing and now in TV, we are able to get designs out more quickly and build better sets than ever before. Timelines are still short, but we can present great ideas and get the information out.

Let’s talk about The Gifted. Now, the pilot of this show was directed by Bryan Singer, who also directed Valkyrie, a film that you were involved with. Is there any connection between the two projects, or just a coincidence?

Though Bryan Singer is a common denominator in both The Gifted and Valkyrie, this is just a coincidence. I did not come to this project through Mr. Singer, though it may have helped once I interviewed for the job. My first interview was with the great Derek Hoffman, Executive Producer, and part of Mr. Singer’s team. He did not directly reference Valkyrie, but it is possible that Mr. Hoffman made the connection.

Given the plethora of X-Men projects, how much freedom were you given on The Gifted? Were there any requests to draw an aesthetic similarity to the movies or Legion for example?

In the look and design of The Gifted, I think it is hard to escape the influence of the movies – my favorites are X-Men: Apocalypse and Days of Future Past. Of course I am influenced, personally, to do just as great a job and to tell the stories that we have on The Gifted just as colorfully. However, I was given no request to utilize anything from these or other shows or to show any similarities. The Gifted has its own stories and its own look and we have worked hard this season to really make it unique. I’m sure you can tell from the three separate worlds of the Mutant Underground, the Inner Circle, and the Morlocks. Each is distinct in look and feel, and each expresses the beliefs of its different character groups.

The Gifted joins a long line of sci-fi/fantasy projects you have been doing the past several years, including Supergirl, Salem, and The Expanse. Is there something about those genres that makes you seek out those kinds of projects consistently, or do you prefer genre variety and this is just a temporary phase in your career?

As a Production Designer, I would say that I have gravitated towards Film and Television projects that involve space ships – real or science fiction. Especially if it’s “science” or “historical,” I love it. Though trained as an architect, I grew up with a doctor and spent much time in school enjoying my biology, anthropology, archaeology and history classes. I have a Master’s Degree in Architecture and a Bachelor’s in Anthropology. Science is the common ground. This is not a temporary phase, Space Station 76, From the Earth to the Moon, and Cosmos can all be added to the list!

Can you possibly tell us about any surprises to expect the rest of this season?

The scripts are tightly controlled, so I cannot say anything except that it gets very very exciting – everything just ramps up more and more as we get to episode 2:16. I have not seen all of the scripts either, I only get the one that we are presently working on, so even I do not know the ending!

Flickering Myth would like to thank Mr. Reed for sitting down with us. The Gifted currently airs Tuesdays on Fox Television.

Special thanks to Britney Thai of Impact24pr for making this interview possible!

Red Stewart