DGA Monthly | Volume 5, Issue 7 - July 2008 | A DGA Special Projects Committee Seminar: Working with Production Designers

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Left-Right: Production Designer Jeannine Oppewall, Directors Gary Ross and Barry Sonnenfeld, DGA National Board/Special Projects Committee member Victoria Hochberg (moderator), Production Designer Bo Welch, Director Charles McDougall and Art Directors Guild President/ Production Designer Tom Walsh. - photos by Byron Gamarro - click images for larger views

Members view the products of collaborations between Directors and Production Designers.

Director Rachel Feldman (center) chats with panelists Barry Sonnenfeld and Bo Welch.

On Saturday, May 17, 2008, the DGA Special Projects Committee presented another installment of its “WORKING with...” Collaboration Series. The theme of the day’s seminar was “Working with Production Designers,” and featured a panel of directors and production designers who spoke about their collaborations.

Following an introduction by DGA National Board/Special Projects Committee member Victoria Hochberg, who also served as moderator of the event, the seminar kicked off with director Gary Ross and production designer Jeannine Oppewall. They discussed their work on Ross’ films Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, for which he was nominated for the 2003 DGA Feature Film Award. Next up was director Charles McDougall and Art Directors Guild President/production designer Tom Walsh who talked about creating the look and feel for their 2005 DGA Award-nominated and Primetime Emmy-winning pilot episode of Desperate Housewives. The final discussion covered the feature films Men in Black and Wild Wild West with director Barry Sonnenfeld, winner of the 2007 DGA Comedy Series Award for his pilot episode of Pushing Daisies, and production designer Bo Welch. After the presentations, all the panelists came together for a Q&A session with the audience.