Meet Me at Crafty

Welcome to the wild and wonderful era of Emmy Awards: Phase 1, a time before nomination voting when the arbitrary rules governing what is timely are set aside, and we can discuss projects that were released weeks or months earlier and deserve to be top of mind again. A Man on the Inside premiered on Netflix November 21, 2024.

Funny and charming are not typically words used to describe senior living facilities—which meant that A Man on the Inside production designer Ian Phillips had his work cut out for him. Mike Schur’s Netflix series stars Ted Danson as a widower at loose ends who takes an undercover job for a P.I. to investigate a series of thefts at a San Francisco retirement community—but to err too closely on the side of authenticity might make for dreary viewing.

 “One of the key phrases that we lived by in the art department, and the show in general, was that this was a place that older people were going to live and not to die,” Phillips says. “This was the place to just keep living and to enjoy the rest of your life.”

That life involves scandals, gossip, booze, and pot—not to mention backgammon and love affairs. The joke, of course, is that Danson’s Charles lives a far lonelier life outside than any of his new neighbors at Pacific View, most of whom act like first years in a college dorm. Albeit with much nicer belongings.

 “We wanted to really flesh out their lives with the belongings that you take at the end of your life,” Phillips said. “The things that are important enough to you to bring to a one-bedroom apartment after living in, who knows, a 3,000-square-foot house for most of your life.”

Working closely with Schur, Phillips and his team set out to cram as much character-specific life into each apartment as possible, with later adds and elaborations from the actors. And, of course, Easter eggs.

 “Because I’ve had the fortune of working with Mike and Morgan [Sackett, the director] for so long, we can always throw in a few little Easter eggs from [our previous] shows. And Season 2, we tried to do more of that as well. Just little bits and pieces that the fans can really hit pause and explore.”

Elsewhere, Phillips tried to keep the facilities a little livelier and brighter than what one might be more likely to encounter. Part of that stems from the characters’ youthful attitudes; part of it is just good TV.  “We chose a brighter palette in general to really heighten it so that it felt like it was a happy place to be versus most corporations that build things like this,” Phillips said. “They choose very neutral colors. And of course, a lot of these places change things out frequently because things are constantly being banged into, and carpet gets worn out from wheelchairs and walkers. So we tried to stay somewhat true to the idea of the facility, but heighten that to make it feel like it was lively and a place that anybody would wanna move into.”

Only a lucky few would get to live in Phillips’ facility, though. Despite seeing seven fully dressed apartments, the team only built three and constantly rearranged the layouts and set decoration. That’s where Phillips’ background as an art director came in handy.

Part of solving the puzzle of the sets for A Man on the Inside came down to wallpaper and carpets. “A lot of times I would pick wallpapers and I would pick carpets and then find out they only had four rolls and we needed them in a week, but we could get them in six months,” Phillips says. “So in the real world, of course, you order that stuff long in advance, and we are not fortunate enough to have that availability. So, OK: ‘I can get this wallpaper and I can’t get this carpet, so let’s try a different combination. Let’s take this wallpaper and we’ll move it into this apartment and we’ll use this one in the lounge because we know that we can get enough of that. Now, when you look through the lobby into the lounge, does this wallpaper work with that wallpaper?’ It was a lot of juggling.”

Ian Phillips is a production designer whose credits include The Good Place, Parks and Rec, and A Single Man. His go-to at craft services is a Spindrift.  “You gotta stay hydrated, right? So might as well have something fun and flavorful. And let’s see, coffee in the morning and maybe a ham croissant to go along as a little snack. And then Tic-Tacs in the afternoon.”