Art Direction
In the spring of 2023 I worked as art director on the recreation unit of this top rated Hulu series based on the popular podcast of the same name. With a small art department team we had the job of recreating actual locations spanning from the early 90’s to current day to tell this shocking story of a secret life and the effect it had on this married couple.
I was invited back in 2024 to work once again as art director on the second season of this popular Hulu series that will air in the summer of 2024.
For the second time in my career I was hired to recreate 1980’s killer Gary Heidnik’s basement, this time on a larger scale to accommodate more elaborate camera moves, more actors, and more detail. Going off crime scene photos taken at the North Philly home, set designer Chris Jones and myself brought all the dinginess, filth, and darkness to life in Paulsboro, New Jersey’s Hill Theatre Studio. This time I was also responsible for creating Heidnick’s kitchen and living room. With an incredible cast and crew, our recreations showed the audience all the violence, mayhem that took place in this house in 1987.
Dietz and Watson, “When It Comes To Family, Every Detail Matters”, Lotus Filmworks
A fun shoot at a beautiful farmhouse where we turned the barn into a makeshift smokehouse and staged an indoor prep area and outdoor picnic. Working alongside food stylist Dan Macey we created the perfect family outdoor dining experience.
Barclay Card “Coach Knows Best”, NFL Films
The challenge of this shoot was creating a living space in a hockey stadium with a glass wall that overlooked the rink and restrictions on removing awards and monitors that covered the walls. We built large canvas’ to cover the screens and strategically placed furniture to hide signage, switches and plaques. The snack stand was covered in the typical ridiculous amount of branding that we replaced with custom made menus along with fake soda and fruit drink labels.
iBelong.org “Ray” Alkemy X
This was a fun spot to work on where I created a comic book artist’s work space in the rounded room of a Main Line mansion. Friend and comic book artist Steve Arnold illustrated the various stages of comic book covers and supplied some of his amazing work to fill the space.
LMN Network, “Killer Profile”, Stage 3 Productions
I worked as art director on this series, recreating locations from actual crime scene photos supplied to us by law enforcement agencies. Along with Set Designer Chris Jones of Ready, Set, Go we created the gruesome, dingy basement of killer Gary Heidnik built on a raised set to include a dug out hole for victims in the basement floor. I was lucky enough to find items including a vintage Trident pinball machine that were the exact items in the crime photos. While the show required me going to a dark place to design these sets, it was one of my favorite experiences.
Penn Medicine, Abe Froman Productions
These commercials were a series of patient profile spots that I art directed, each with a different patient, a personal story along with a look and feel unique for that story.
TruMark Financial, Alkemy X
A puzzle that can’t be solved until you try to actually do it…how do you make a giant forkful of cooked spaghetti? I now know the answer. A fun series of spots with the theme of competition running through them.
New Jersey Tourism,
I have always had a soft spot for the tourism commercials I have worked on…I love the multiple locations, the traveling with a crew and the run and gun speed of the shoots.
Philadelphia: The Great Experiment, History Making Productions
Over the past 5 years I have been lucky to work on a number of episodes of this series along with Steve Pannepacker and Elise Viola production designing and an amazing department of artists and carpenters. We have covered centuries of history in the Philadelphia area and this educational series is near and dear to my heart, being born in raised in the title city. Working in and around the city in the most historic of places and recreating key moments in local history has been one of my favorite ongoing projects.
Ben Simmons ESPN Secret Life of Pets 2 Promo, Greenpoint Pictures
This was a spot that aside from the usual art directing, involved having embroidered patches designed of 76ers player Ben Simmons’ actual dog, a custom children’s book with illustrations of his dog and tons of little touches that never made it into the final cut. A fun one, nevertheless.