It’s apropos that producers-directors-writers Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino be part of a Guild Awards Preview–for reasons that include but go beyond those guild nominations they’ve directly received thus far over the years.
That tally by the way includes: five Directors Guild of America Awards between them–three for Sherman-Palladino and two for Palladino, all for episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video); three shared Producers Guild Award nods, also for Mrs. Maisel; and a Producers Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 for Sherman-Palladino. Plus there are two Writers Guild Award nominations shared by the wife-and-husband team for Mrs. Maisel. And earlier Sherman-Palladino earned her first WGA nom for Roseanne.
Just as if not more impressive, though, are the other assorted guild award nominations spawned by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the series created by Sherman-Palladino. It takes a village to raise a series and among the guild award winners behind Mrs. Maisel over the years are cinematographer M. David Mullen, ASC and production designer Bill Groom.
Mullen is a three-time ASC Award nominee for Mrs. Maisel. Groom has won two Art Directors Guild (ADG) Excellence in Production Design Awards for Mrs. Maisel, adding to four prior ADG nominations (including a win) for Martin Scorsese’s Boardwalk Empire, and another nod for the Gus Van Sant-directed feature Milk.
For season four of Mrs. Maisel, the directors/producers/writers, cinematographer and production designer all figure prominently in the current guild awards derby. SHOOT connected with Sherman-Palladino and Palladino to gain insights into their lensing and production design colleagues as well as the challenges posed by Mrs. Maisel this time around.
COVID was a prime challenge, shared Sherman-Palladino who didn’t want the work to at all indicate that this was the COVID season for Mrs. Maisel, a series always marked by big scope, energy and movement. “Every year Midge [Maisel, portrayed by Rachel Brosnahan] has her world expand a bit. Things are very structured and very small as she ventures out, But as her ambition grows, her world grows. We didn’t want to feel her world suddenly stopped or was constricted [due to the impact of COVID on production].”
While concerns and safety protocols in response to COVID curtailed some planned traveling and kept season four in New York City, the expansion of Maisel’s world could still be accomplished–thanks to the artistry of contributors such as Groom who brought a major new environ into the mix, heading up the creation of a decaying and then rejuvenated Wolford strip club. It’s there that Midge Maisel takes on emcee duties for a burlesque show which starts out with crude bare-bones acts that over time become more elaborate and choreographed. And over time the burlesque theater itself shapes up as a venue–with ambitious productions done on stage–at the behest of Maisel.
In addition to the Wolford Theater, among other special season 4 environs was a ‘60s game show set replete with studio audience–work firmly rooted in the script and extensive research.
Sherman-Palladino said of Groom, “He has so much incredible experience. We really value and love people who are war torn…who know how to get everything done. He understands how we shoot and how we like to shoot when he’s building something or looking to turn something into something we need. He gives us what we want whether we ask for it or not, so rich, layered and textured.”
In that vein, Sherman-Palladino described the Wolford theater as the epitome of “shabby gorgeousness,” reflecting the expansive mindset of Maisel while designed in such a way that “we never ran out of ways to shoot it.”
Palladino concurred, adding that Groom “reads scripts carefully and creates sets based on the characters,” a far cry from those who merely “build boxes” and “put furniture in them.” Palladino said that Groom’s environments and backdrops help to reflect, build and develop the characters, underscoring the artistry of production design.
Similarly, Palladino described Mullen as being “a kindred spirit” who’s made integral contributions to Mrs. Maisel.
Expounding upon that was Sherman-Palladino who said of Mullen, “He’s got an amazing sense of color. He’s not a DP who’s afraid of movement. A lot of DPs want to light something beautifully in a corner. We don’t do that, We don’t settle. We move and move. He’s a lover of musicals, a lover of old movies, a lover of movement, a lover of wide shots. He embraces all of that.”
Sherman-Palladino also cited Mullen’s vibrancy and penchant for putting women in a good light figuratively and lighting women literally “with such care, which I find is rare. It’s not about vanity and 14 layers of gauze. When you have leading ladies treated that way, it makes a difference. It really matters to him that they feel confident and taken care of. That’s huge. They’re free to act.”
Mullen, continued Sherman-Palladino, is also “a gentle spirit who’s very commanding in a very quiet way. He’s not a cowboy. Being a woman director, I’ve dealt with a lot of cowboys which is fine. That’s not the way I choose to work. I like our set to be a little bit more of a family, a little bit more sensitive. We’re a female-driven show with strong female leads and the tone should be set that way. He [Mullen] is a quiet, respectful authority but definitely an authority. He’s also funny. We adore David Mullen.”
There was also a big picture reason to adore–and appreciate–season four a little more, noted Sherman-Palladino. “It was a season so emotional off screen,” she related. “We were so fortunate because we didn’t have to stop working [during the pandemic]. A lot of people didn’t get to work. We got to work. Many had been with us since the pilot. It’s a close-knit crew who hang onto each other. Creative endeavors are wonderful for your wallet, resume and career. They can also save you from going insane during insane times. Being with like-minded people who care as much as you do, to be able to hold onto each other, is one of the best case scenarios you can have for a job. We’ll love these people forever.”
And there’s one more season of that esprit de corps to come. Palladino said that the final go-around for Mrs. Maisel, season 5, will be “a big one.”
Ryan Murphy
Like Sherman-Palladino, Ryan Murphy earned distinction from the Producers Guild with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Television; his came in 2018, a year before Sherman-Palladino received hers. Murphy has 11 PGA Award nominations, winning for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2017 and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story in ‘19, and earning the Stanley Kramer Award for the telefilm The Normal Heart in 2016.
Murphy is a four-time DGA Award nominee–twice for Glee, and one apiece for The Normal Heart and The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story–as well as the recipient of 10 Writers Guild Award nominations.
Murphy is again in the guild awards season conversation for Dahmer–Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story which in November became at the time only the third Netflix series ever to register more than 1 billion hours of viewing in its first 60 days–the others being Squid Game in 2021 and season 4 of Stranger Things in 2022. Squid Game and Stranger Things, season 4, reached that milestone in the first 30 days as did most recently Wednesday, Tim Burton’s Addams Family spinoff. This means Wednesday also passed Dahmer to become Netflix’s second most popular English-language series of all time.
Evan Peters portrays real-life serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer in the limited series which tells a story of a case fraught with racism and homophobia–seemingly making it less of a priority for police to solve as law enforcement repeatedly ignored warnings from the public as to what was happening. Episode 7, the Jennifer Lynch-directed “Cassandra,” for example, chronicles an apartment complex neighbor of Dahmer, Glenda Cleveland (played by Niecy Nash-Betts) who repeatedly called police about suspicious activity going on next door but to no avail. A Black woman, Cleveland was given no heed in a murder spree (which stretched from 1978-’91) claiming the lives of 17 people, 15 of whom were Black, Indigenous, Asian or Latino men and boys, mostly in a predominantly Black Northside neighborhood in Wisconsin. Dahmer met a number of his victims in gay bars and LGBTQ community locales.
Last month, Murphy moderated a Netflix panel discussion in Los Angeles on Dahmer–Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story featuring Peters, Nash-Betts and Richard Jenkins (who played Dahmer’s father, Lionel). During the session which took place right after a screening of “Cassandra,” the participants shed light on the series.
Murphy said he’s had long professional relationships with the three lead actors and has a deep trust in each–though he wasn’t sure he could get Peters and Jenkins to take on the project. Murphy asked Peters to have an open mind and to at least read the script available at that time. Peters said he found the role “terrifying” but also felt himself being drawn to the challenge “to push myself and see if I could do it.”
Murphy sent scripts of the first three episodes to Jenkins who loved the writing, describing it as “so human” and connecting with the feeling that a father cannot help but to blame himself to some extent for what his son did in this case.
Jenkins also read “A Father’s Story” written by Lionel Dahmer. The book, related Jenkins, was “a cautionary tale” as the father acknowledged that he didn’t want to hear that his son was gay. Lionel Dahmer lamented that perhaps this denial and ignorance of who his son was somehow contributed to the young man’s psychological problems which in turn led to heinous crimes.
Nash-Betts meanwhile was best known for her comedic work but Murphy could see she had dramatic chops and was just lacking the opportunity to show them. He was confident in her ability to take on the role of Cleveland and she was eager to oblige. Nash-Betts observed that she was unfortunately all too familiar with the story which is “still playing out today–marginalized people being over-policed, themes of homophobia and white privilege in the world. The story is not new. It also is not old and that is the problem.” Nash-Betts said she could relate to the role of a Black woman who is not heard. “I have been a Glenda Cleveland all my life–not being believed. To not be heard is painful. I wept for this woman, for all the times I wasn’t heard.”
Nash-Betts added that she wasn’t all that enamored with Peters personally at first. But later she discovered that his seemingly detached, aloof, unfriendly behavior was rooted in his acting method which had him immersed in the Jeffrey Dahmer role. His process did not allow him to be engaging. “I wondered why is he being mean to me?” smiled Nash-Betts. Peters wanted and needed to keep that tension going. That tension on camera played well–particularly in a scene from Cassandra in which Jeffrey Dahmer visits Cleveland in her apartment, trying to convince her to retract her complaint to the landlord which has resulted in an eviction notice for Dahmer. He presents her with a home-made sandwich as a peace offering. Murphy said he loved the scene which afforded the two actors in character to “go at each other.”
Nash-Betts relished the scene as an opportunity for Cleveland to finally “confront him properly,” ultimately scoring a checkmate on Dahmer. Cleveland held her ground throughout the encounter despite how scared she really was.
When not on camera, Nash-Betts and Peters talked to each other sparingly, if not barely. It was only after shooting was wrapped that Nash-Betts got to know Peters and came to like him on a personal level.
Murphy’s alluded to history with each panelist included casting Peters in American Horror Story and Pose, working with Jenkins on the feature Eat Pray Love (directed by Murphy and starring Julia Roberts), and bringing Nash-Betts aboard for a bit part on what was Murphy’s first TV show, Popular. Nash-Betts later starred in Murphy’s Scream Queens.
Jamie Babbit
Jamie Babbit, a Producers Guild Award nominee in 2018 for Silicon Valley for which she served as an exec producer and director, is now once again up for PGA and DGA consideration on the basis of her work on A League of Their Own (Prime Video).
A drama series inspired by the beloved 1992 feature film of the same title directed by Penny Marshall, A League of Their Own takes us back to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and its women ballplayers of the 1940s. The series, though, is an opportunity to play extra innings and delve more deeply into other aspects such as queer players, segregation and the marginalization of African-American talent, realities of urban life–all while keeping the humor and heartwarming spirit of the original feature.
Babbit was immediately drawn to the prospects of such a show, finding herself simpatico with the show’s co-creators, Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson. Babbit loved the script, was a fan of the movie and had an affinity for Marshall’s work. In fact, Babbit wrote her first paper in college about Marshall as a filmmaker, analyzing her work. Now she could pay homage to one of her films in this series while taking it into new territory. But the exploration of sexual orientation and discrimination couldn’t be taken down a political path; it still had to be entertaining, funny, and carry an emotional resonance.
Babbit’s storytelling as well as comedic acumen are evident in a body of work which includes But I’m a Cheerleader, a romantic comedy starring Natasha Lyonne and Michelle Williams which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival; Itty Bitty Titty Committee which took Best Feature Film honors at the South by Southwest Film festival; a return to SXSW with her Addicted to Fresno; episodic directing for the likes of Gilmore Girls, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Russian Doll, United States of Tara, Girls, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens; and Emmy-nominated turns for comedy series directing on Silicon Valley and Only Murders in the Building.
As for getting to the truth of the characters in A League of Their Own, Babbit was excited over the prospects, sharing that “as a gay woman who has directed a lot of queer content, this was a good match for what I do.”
Babbit said she was blessed with a stellar ensemble cast which includes new aspiring players Carson Haw (portrayed by Jacobson), a married catcher from Idaho, Lupe Garcia, the team’s star pitcher, and Joe Deluca (Melanie Field) and Greta Gill (D’Arcy Carden), best friends from NYC.
An example of the new ground traversed by the series is Maxine “Max” Chapman (Chanté Adams) who wows everyone at an open tryout with her pitching arm. But because Chapman is Black, she’s not allowed to compete. The series follows her over the course of the season as she strives to play the sport she loves. This expands greatly upon Marshall’s feature film in which an unnamed Black woman with a once-in-a-lifetime arm is seen briefly but not heard from again.
Among the biggest challenges was assembling the overall cast. The search was on for not only diversity but comedic energy and acting talent. Babbit said “a very big net” was cast to find talented comedians and actors. Then there was the inherent difficulty of scenes with 30 or so people, the amount of coverage and planning that takes. Babbit tapped into her experience that entailed years on Gilmore Girls and then The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. “I had to implement my knowledge of constructing one shot with 15 to 30 people in it. They are some of my favorite shots in the show [A League of Their Own].”
Another prime challenge was the pandemic. Babbit wrapped directing the pilot for A League of Their Own just a day before production, and the world in general, was shut down to COVID. Post was done remotely to finish the episode. When the pandemic lockdown was eventually lifted, Babbit took on the pilot for Only Murders in the Building, which ended up debuting before A League of Their Own. She then resumed her duties on A League of Their Own as a director and EP.
Babbit also incorporated adroit usage of visual effects into the show. For one, they were deployed to help make an old-fashioned circa 1940s baseball field in L.A. look like the multi-level Wrigley Field stadium in Chicago. Furthermore shooting in modern-day downtown L.A. to create 1940s’ Chicago, VFX also had to be put to work to give buildings the verticalness and scope of the Chicago skyline of the ‘40s. Babbit noted that she opted for location filming in that shooting on a backlot doesn’t feel lived in–”it just feels like a backlot.” For Babbit it was important that A League of Their Own show “real people with all their flaws, their queerness and things the original movie didn’t get into”–all within authentic spaces, in grimy and real lived-in city streets.
For the pilot episode, Babbit once again collaborated with cinematographer Jeffrey Waldron who had shot two features for her–Addicted To Fresno and Breaking the Girls. Babbit cited various factors, including Waldron’s talent with colors to support characters and story, as well as sophisticated cinema-style lighting, as drawing her to him for A League of Their Own.
For the next two episodes she directed–which entailed shooting in Pittsburgh where steel and glass factories circa the 1940s proved to be valuable settings–Babbit turned for the first time to cinematographer Dagmar Weaver-Madsen. Babbit said of the DP, “She brought a lot of the same things that were working in the pilot with Jeff [Waldron] while adding some of her own flair.”
Babbit was initially attracted to Weaver-Madsen’s work on High Maintenance. “It was a well-done show, very well lit, had a real energy and grittiness to it yet still beautiful.” Those qualities were important to A League of Their Own, continued Babbit, explaining that she wanted to depict the characters as “real women who got dirty, had pit stains and were not perfect Barbie dolls.” Weaver-Madsen made sure “things looked a little bit more lived in,” assessed Babbit.
Babbitt said she learned much from A League of Their Own, particularly since she had never done a sports show before. She confessed to being intimidated by and not familiar with the rules of baseball going in. Babbit discovered, though, that “even if you’re not an expert in a certain aspect of the show you’re directing, if you come to it with an appreciation and a desire to learn, you can explore it in a very informed way. You approach it kind of like the audience does.” This in turn helps in the creation of a series that can connect with baseball and non-baseball fans alike, doing justice to the human stories and inherent drama of the sports genre.
Meanwhile Babbit continues to be represented in the short-form arena, directing commercials and branded content via production house Independent Media. She made her spot directorial debut with a Super Bowl spot in 2020 for P&G’s Olay out of agency Badger & Winters. The appeal of such work, said Babbit, is simply that she loves “different ways of telling stories.”
