Sherri finale

Friday the 13th was the Season Finale of Sherri Lifetime Network's 1st sitcom, starring Sherri Shepherd of The View. I worked on the show as a scenic artist, painting the sets and also as the camera scenic, standing by during filming. I thoroughly enjoyed this project because of the quality, professionalism and great personalities on the prep crew, camera crew and cast members! If you haven't seen it, you're missing a lot of laughs. It's a very funny show on Tuesdays at 10pm on Lifetime. 2 more left, but sure they'll be repeating some :D Hoping the show will be picked up for another season, think it will!! Here are some of the photos I took our last night...

I'm not sure where this guy above came from, but he hung out in our paint workroom.

Below is the last swing set they built, Bo's classroom (Bo is Sherri's son on the show). Swing sets are the ones built per episode, as opposed to the permanent sets. I missed working on this particular one, but I thought it looked great! Bo's image is 2nd from the right, lettin' his hair grow up & out ;) Rachel Dratch of SNL played the teacher in the final episode.

The 3 permanent sets were built last summer-- Law Office, Breakroom and Sherri's apartment below. Once the sets are built or in progress, which is usually the case, scenics come in to prep all the surfaces, paint, wallpaper and faux finish anything that needs it. For example, her floor is faux wood, painted directly on the concrete stage floor. We also age or distress anything that looks too fresh or new. The lighting really brings it all together in the end.

Her apartment hallway is attached to her office breakroom set as a way to save space. One of my jobs was to make sure the hall plug that covered the breakroom window looked as if it were flush to the wall. I used painted tape for this. *Camera scenics spend a great deal of time just painting artist tape to hide imperfections, cracks, etc. This is so changes can be made quickly in between shooting. The plug comes off each time they film in breakroom (on/off...on/off...)

Above is the breakroom and below is her law office set. Sherri, Elizabeth Regen, Kali Rocha and Tammy Townsend play paralegals in NYC.

This is Shawn Shea, the 1st Assistant Director. Shawn is great at her job and was so much fun to work with. I know it was sometimes hard for her to be here, because her home is in Los Angeles. Most importantly, that is where her beloved dog resides!

Above is our art director, Toni Barton. I love her! Here she is hugging the equally lovely, Kevin Walsh the lead person (head set dresser) for Sherri.

I adore this camera man, Alain Onesto!! He's filmed many shows including Kate & Allie and Hope & Faith. Alain also films performances of various operas at The Met in hi-definition. He is full of positive energy and very supportive in general. My postcard invite for my last exhibition hangs on his camera and he made sure to get excellent shots of my toddler tees that made it into a kids' store set on the show. Of course, they made it in thanks to Sharon White our wonderful set decorator!

I thought this shot above was interesting because of just how tight it was fitting in the cameras, another was inside a doorway to the left. We had a total of 4 cameras rolling for majority of time.

Here is Sherri in a scene with Elizabeth and below with Theo ;) I mean, Malcolm Jamal Warner!

Hot scene above!!

We filmed on Thursdays & Fridays. Friday nights were with a live audience, which was fantastic!! We had DJ Babaloo and a comedian to entertain the crowd between shots. The show often took on a party-like atmosphere. Above gaffer, Tigre McMullan and electric, Evin Lowe. These two were my regular dance partners when the music was good ;D Most of the crew stand-by in the background while filming occurs.

Above is key grip extraordinaire, Dave Bowers!

Alain Onesto again :)

Kali Rocha plays Summer. Here, she gazes at the shellac-glazed licorice jewelry created by Donna, played by Cindy Caponera. Cindy is hysterical as Donna and is also a writer and producer of the show!

This was the last night and Sherri was very gracious and thoughtful in her speech and thank yous :)

I cannot say enough about Sherri and her cast. They are all so talented and extremely funny! The 4 women have terrific chemistry and each character has their own individual style, charm & humor. They cracked up the crew over & over despite the number of times we watched the same scenes again & again. I appreciate just how nice and down to earth they all are as well! It really set the tone for the entire crew and feel of the show.

Striking their poses... Karen Wald, far right, an amazing script supervisor and actor/stand-ins. Deborah is a dancer and trainer. I often asked her for tips on diet & work outs ;)

Holly Moore, charge scenic, packing up and pouring excess paints out in eco friendly canisters to be picked up by city :)

Below are some of my baby & toddler tees appearing in the Halloween episode...

I took these with my cell phone. They came out somewhat readable I think?! I was thrilled when I saw that they used the take where Sherri hands the other actress my Space Mouse onesie!

Below, are most of the scenics I worked with on the show when we were at Pasita eating, drinking & looking at David's mural/scenic work here *(original blog post in September archive).

**A final goodbye from the cast! I'm so happy I was part of the show and wish it many many years to come!!!** Thank You :D

Pasita nyc & David Moriarty

So far, the best thing about working on "Sherri" Lifetime's NEW sitcom starring Sherri Shepherd from "The View" & "30 Rock" is the Scenic Art Dept. I have the pleasure of working with talented, interesting and fun people on sets for the show, which begins airing Oct 5.

Last night we went down to Pasita Salon de Vino y Pizza, after work. I have walked by this little restaurant countless times and noticed how cute it looked. It's located on 8th Ave. @W 4th St. Fellow scenic and NY artist, David Moriarty painted this window below and several murals inside.

The concept was to create murals/signage that looked as if they had been here for many years, paint peeling away & fading in a strategic, yet believable way. This is just one of the things scenic artists are asked to do on sets, make something look older than it is. I think David did a terrific job on these wall murals, plus I learned his top secret tricks to get such a nice look ;)

Here is David above, enjoying wine and graciously posing in front of this fun back wall he painted by the kitchen. David has been exhibiting work since the mid 1980s in solo and group shows and his work is included in numerous private and public collections. I've included some of his paintings below, but you should visit his website to see a full array of his very beautiful work!

Here we are from left, Martha Allen, Holly Moore (charge scenic), Jess Nissen, moi, John Stachowicz and David. We were missing a few, like Denise, Yan & Millree (moved onto another project). Somehow we managed to enjoy the night without them ;D

Loved the way the light looked here.

Now, more about Pasita... This place serves up some of the very best wine and pizza I have ever had and I've tried A Lot!! We shared three pizzas-- the Champinon, roasted mushroom, artichoke hearts, caramelized onion, mozzarella, ricotta salata & evo oil --my personal fave :) also savored La Joya w-prosciutto and a Chorizo/arugula pizza. The plantains were fab and the bottles of vino we shared were all wonderful. I jotted down the group's favorite which was a red-- Bodegas Carrau/Tannat de Reserva 2006 from Uruguay-- Deeeeee-licious!

Pasita is named for a fortified banana wine "Alegria en Botella" (Happiness in a Bottle) The owner's grandfather, David Katz developed it for his business in Caracas. He had escaped occupied France, hiked over the Pyrenees to Spain & boarded a ship for Venezuela in the early 1940s.

Liked the variety of old posters throughout Pasita, even the pics in the bathroom below were charming :)

Did a little bit of wine tasting at bar, too. I particularly liked this white above :D Pasita offers wine tastings every Monday night and they have a refreshingly down to earth, yet very well informed expert serving up the picks.

Pasita is located at 47 Eigth Avenue @ 4th Street NYC 10014