Steve Cuden: On today’s StoryBeat:

Laura Pliskin: People think that this industry is very large, and it is, but it’s also very small, and a lot of people know a lot of people. So the best thing you can do is meet and talk to as many people as you can. I hire production assistants who don’t necessarily want to work in the art department, but it’s their foot in the door. Guess what? I know people in the sound department, and I know people in the camera department, so I’ll talk to them. And if you do a good job for me, I will be very happy to recommend you if they’re looking for someone. So just talk to everyone, because everyone knows everyone.

Announcer: This is story with Steve Cuden, a podcast, for the creative mind. Story Beat explores how masters of creativity. Develop and produce brilliant works that people everywhere love and admire. So join us as we discover how. Talented creators find success in the worlds of imagination and Entertainment. Here now is your host, Steve Cuden.

Steve Cuden: Thanks for joining us on StoryBeat. We’re coming to you from the Steel City, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My guest today, Laura Pliskin is a talented art department coordinator who has contributed to some of the most visually stunning sets in film and television history. Laura has worked on projects like Twisters, Drive Away dolls, and out of the furnace. She’s also been part of blockbuster hits like the Dark Knight Rises and the critically acclaimed tv series Mindhunter. Laura’s role involves managing logistics, coordinating art department schedules, including between various departments, and ensuring that every detail aligns with the production designer’s vision. Her meticulous attention to detail and ability to juggle multiple tasks make her an essential part of any production team. Beyond her on set responsibilities, Laura brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to her role. She studied video game art at Carnegie Mellon University and used to co own an event planning company, adding a diverse range of skills to her impressive portfolio. So, for me, it’s a great privilege to have the multitalented motion picture art department coordinator, Laura Pliskin as my guest on StoryBeat today. Laura, welcome to the show.

Laura Pliskin: Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here.

Steve Cuden: Well, it’s a great pleasure to have you here. So let’s go back in time just a little bit. How old were you when you first started paying attention to the fact that movies were something that or tv shows were something that would interest you, that you liked them?

Laura Pliskin: Oh, well, I mean, as far back as I could remember, I mean, from Sesame Street, I, think we all, at some level are like, boy, that would be a fun industry to work in. I don’t know if I ever saw myself in that industry. I thought it was unobtainable.

Steve Cuden: Why did you think it was unobtainable? Because it was so far out there.

Laura Pliskin: You know, both my parents are very reasonable people. My dad was a doctor. so they were both like, you have to go to college. You have to pick a very reasonable major and then get a job that makes you money, which, you know, that’s a pretty safe bet. So, to me, I was like, I’m going to go get an MBA from, you know, from, like, a young age. I was like, that’s what I’m going to do. And then I did nothing like that. But just thinking about that, I was like, well, television and Film, that’s just. That’s unreachable to me. That’s, you know, fancy people in LA.

Steve Cuden: How did you then get involved in production in the first place? How did that happen?

Laura Pliskin: It’s such a funny story. Okay, so my, high school college boyfriend introduced me to video games, sort of next gen, and I was like, is this what video games are like now? Because I grew up with Super Mario brothers, you know, eight bit whatever. And then he showed me Final Fantasy, and I was like, wow, that’s crazy. And then I saw that that was a whole new mechanism for storytelling, which is always what enthralled me with good television and I Film. So then I was like, well, now I think I want to do art for video, games, because I was always interested in art. So I changed my major, in undergrad, from business to art to, the great chagrin to my mother. But she was like, go ahead. I kind of knew this was coming, so, I did that. And then about a year and a half after I graduated, I went to Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment technology center, which is like, if you want to get a job in video games, that’s the place to go.

Steve Cuden: Was Don Marinelli there at the time?

Laura Pliskin: He was. Yeah, yeah, he and I got along very well. He actually took me on a trip to Japan, because they were contemplating opening a campus in Japan. So they were like, come tell everyone how much you enjoy our school. And I was like, you got it.

Steve Cuden: And did that introduce you to production in a way?

Laura Pliskin: No, not at all. None of this. It introduced me to working under intense pressure with teams. Like, I would say, aside from video game skills, the greatest thing I got out of that program is learning how to work with a variety of personalities in a team. I think that was very beneficial.

Steve Cuden: Critical stuff, huh?

Laura Pliskin: Absolutely. Regardless of whatever industry that you work in. But I had the unfortunate luck of graduating in 2008, which, if you remember, was kind of, kind of a big recession at that time. So I was interviewing for video game jobs, at the same time as industry veterans, who suddenly found themselves laid off. So I was having a hard time, like, even getting an interview, let alone a job. And, I found myself volunteering for free at a friend’s startup doing educational video games. And while I was there, I got an email from one of my advisors, from grad school, that said, a friend of mine is looking for someone to do temporary data entry work. Are you interested? And I said, does it pay money? And he said, yes. And I said that I’m interested. So I went for an interview, and it turned out the data entry he was talking about was they needed someone to watermark and distribute scripts for a Film that was in town. And, they hired me because I had a master’s degree. And you kind of don’t need that to watermark and distribute scripts.

Steve Cuden: No.

Laura Pliskin: So that was my first Film job, just watermarking and distributing scripts. And I was like, this is crazy. I didn’t even know there was a Film industry in Pittsburgh. And I just started meeting people and talking to people and saying, you know, I’m actually very interested in art. And, from there, just like, sending my resume out to other productions in town. And that just segued into, I got a job in an arts apartment on another movie that was in town. And then from there, it just kept going and going and going.

Steve Cuden: So it was when you started, you started really at the bottom, 100% watermarking scripts. And for those that don’t know what watermarking is, you’re putting a, sort of, almost invisible, not quite invisible, some kind of a bug on each of the pages so that if they disappear, they can trace them back somehow.

Laura Pliskin: Right, exactly. Yes. Each crew member’s name goes on every single page of their script. So if it goes missing, they know who it, belongs to, who they can yell at.

Steve Cuden: Yeah, they’re trying to keep it under wraps and secret until it’s released. The movie’s released.

Laura Pliskin: Exactly.

Steve Cuden: All right, so how did you then work your way up to becoming a coordinator?

Laura Pliskin: So, I had gotten, I don’t want to say a reputation, but most production assistants, which is the very, very bottom. Right. They want to be a director or a producer or a writer. That’s the track that they always want to go to. I was literally the only one that was like, I want to be in the arts department. That’s. That’s where I want to live. So I kept getting all these art department pa jobs, and then this one pilot came to town, and they hired me as their pa, and they could not find any coordinators. Everyone was working, everyone was busy, and they said, laura, how about you do it? And I was like, I can try. And, boy, did I try. That was a tough job.

Steve Cuden: But that was baptism by fire, 100%.

Laura Pliskin: Cause there was, like, no one there to hold my hand. I had to just figure it out.

Steve Cuden: But haven’t you found that many jobs in Hollywood, as they float through, you don’t know what you’re doing. Every time out, there’s something unique or new about it.

Laura Pliskin: Sure. There’s always something different, whether it be, you know, you need to find some. A vendor to, like, make something weird that you’ve never had to do before. Right. Or, you know, you’re working with a new department you’ve never had to work with before. but I will say, at this point, running a department is pretty standard, and you kind of know what you’re getting into.

Steve Cuden: You know what you’re doing at this point.

Laura Pliskin: I hope so.

Steve Cuden: So, all right, let’s tell the listeners who don’t know, and many won’t. What does the art department do on a movie or a tv show? What is the purpose of having an art department?

Laura Pliskin: So every single set that you see on your screen, whether it’s, someone’s bedroom, a hospital room, even if it’s outside on the Street, someone needs to design what that looks like. And the production designer is the one that works with the director to figure out the overall look of the movie. So every little detail, down to, like, what tchotchkes you see on a shelf that was thought of and decided on and maybe had meetings about.

Steve Cuden: That’s an official film term, isn’t it? Tchotchkes.

Laura Pliskin: Actually, if you want to know the official Film turn, it’s smalls.

Steve Cuden: Smalls, Yeah, smalls.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah. But, Yeah. So everything is designed, and, then there’s art directors who help make that vision a reality, and then there’s set designers who draw up the blueprints on how to make it. And then under that is me, where I help distribute everything to who it needs to get to. So everyone is on the same page about what the sets are going to look like, who needs to do it, who’s going to pay for it, where it’s going to come from etcetera, etcetera.

Steve Cuden: Are you over props as well?

Laura Pliskin: Is that Smalls props falls under the umbrella of art department, but they’re sort of like their own sub department, so they’re pretty self contained. But I’m available to help if they need help.

Steve Cuden: And when you’re dealing with this, the overall person over the visual part of it, aside from the director, obviously, is the production designer, correct?

Laura Pliskin: That is correct, yeah. It’s always their vision.

Steve Cuden: And under the production designer is the art director, then there’s also the what, I guess props would be part of that and so on. There’s anything under the overall visual would be under the production designer.

Laura Pliskin: That is correct, yeah. They have the final say.

Steve Cuden: Yeah, they call them set decorators these days.

Laura Pliskin: So set decorators also fall under the umbrella of the arts apartment, but that’s a different department. So to really break it down, the art department is responsible for the four walls and the floor. And then the set decoration department would be the furniture, the carpet, the drapes, the lamps. And then props would be anything that an actor holds in his or her hand.

Steve Cuden: So if they pick up a cigarette lighter or a, gun or something like that, that would be under props, or then that would also be under an armor, or a gun would be under a separate specialist as well.

Laura Pliskin: Yes, yes, for sure. But if that gun or cigarette lighter were just sitting on a table and no one touches it, that would be under set decoration.

Steve Cuden: And you’re responsible for coordinating all that, or the other departments? You don’t really coordinate. It’s just the art department part.

Laura Pliskin: It really depends. So art department coordinator used to coordinate both the arts department and, ah, set decoration recently, which is great, set decoration has now gotten their own coordinator. So I’ve actually done both arts apartment and set decoration. sometimes the smaller budget films or tv shows still just have the art department coordinator do both. So that kind of like, I would oversee all of it. If not, then I would work closely with the set decoration coordinator to make sure everybody is on the same page. Props, again, kind of is their own separate little pod, as it were, where they’re kind of not on their own, but they’re really self sufficient.

Steve Cuden: And you’re not helping out when they’re using computer graphics. Cg, are you? Or are you?

Laura Pliskin: Oh, no. Cg. No, no. And they don’t want me to. We usually have a graphic designer on staff, so all graphics would go through them. If there’s a last minute emergency, that needs to be like, you know, we need a sign that’s printed on paper that’s in the background that no one’s going to see, but we need it to take up space. Because I have an art, background, I’m able to, like, do that really quickly. But if someone were to come to me and be like, hey, can you make this giant sign? I’d be like, no, that’s out of my purview.

Steve Cuden: So one of the big things that’s happening now, and I’m sure you know about this, is that there are these big, huge led screens that are making visual reality as they’re looking at it, as opposed to after the fact. And so the Mandalorian uses it, and lots of different productions use it, but they’re part of that is they have some form of set, usually in front of the screen. So if they’ve got big boulders or rocks, they might have actual three dimensional pieces of property there. Would you coordinate that as well?

Laura Pliskin: Yeah. So that would fall under set decoration. Yeah. Or I. If the boulders need to be built by scenic artists, then that would fall under the art department, and that each boulder would be designed by a set designer approved by the art director and the production designer, and then put on a blueprint to show where on the stage that Boulder would sit, and then given to the director and the assistant director so that their camera crew can work around that. So, yeah. Like, even random boulders are not random.

Steve Cuden: No, nothing’s random. in fact, one of the beauty parts about movie making is that once you finish, no matter how many mistakes happen during production, those mistakes are no longer mistakes. They’re part of the production.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah, absolutely.

Steve Cuden: There’s the famous one in Game of Thrones where there was a Starbucks cup.

Laura Pliskin: A coffee cup. Yeah.

Steve Cuden: Do you also, help build things in others? I don’t mean physically help build them. Do you coordinate the building of structure?

Laura Pliskin: Not so much as I’m just responsible for delivering blueprints to the people that do the actual building. But then, okay, so under the arts department umbrella, so you got the arts department set decoration, props, and then you also have construction, which is usually a whole huge, separate department that has their own foreman, buyer, construction guys, painters. so that’s a huge department. So it would be too much just for one person to coordinate all of that.

Steve Cuden: Do you wind up interacting with all these different people?

Laura Pliskin: Oh, 100%, yeah. Usually I send the production assistant to drop off blueprints, but if they’re busy or if I just want to get away from my desk, then sometimes I’ll take it over myself and just say hi and see what’s going on.

Steve Cuden: So what do you find fascinating about this job that you do?

Laura Pliskin: I have always been a, pretty meticulous planner, so this is not going to be popular. I just really like logistics and, like, as fond as I am of art, and I enjoy having art as a hobby, like, I paint in my free time, I found that I’m best at, like, spreadsheets and task Lists and just follow up. So what I find fascinating is just making sure it all works together and everyone is doing their part. And, like, when you have a good crew where everyone is, like, working together, it really is like magic. It really is just something else. Where you, like, come to work every day and you’re like, yeah, we’re doing it. We’re making a movie.

Steve Cuden: And do you have the ability to hide your staff?

Laura Pliskin: I have the ability to hire the department assistants. Usually every, like, I’m pretty low on the totem pole. There’s, there’s everyone else and then me and the assistants. So I can hire the assistants because, again, with logistics, it’s up to me to tell them what to do and how to do it and when to do it.

Steve Cuden: So one of the things the listeners should understand, you didn’t go to school to learn this. You learned it on the job.

Laura Pliskin: 100%. 100%. And I did not learn it on my first job. I didn’t learn it on my second job. It took me a good minute to, like, understand because, like you said earlier, every job is different. So it took me a while to figure out, like, these are the things that are the same that I’m responsible for.

Steve Cuden: So the process of making movies and tv shows are fairly similar, show to show to show. But each show, each scene, each day is a little bit different. It’s not. You’re not reproducing a product over and over and over again. But the process is similar.

Laura Pliskin: Yes, yes. And that’s, that’s kind of what’s exciting to me about my job is, like, I have an office job, but the things that are within, like, the office job are different and weird and cool and random, and that’s what I like about it.

Steve Cuden: And how fulfilling is it at the end of the day when you go to a screening of the movie, finally, to finally see what you did?

Laura Pliskin: Well, it depends on the project, but I will say the projects that I am, most proud of, absolutely. Seeing it on the screen, and you just see all your hard work on that screen, and you’re like, oh, I remember. This is the day we had to run to the sign shop last minute, or this is the day, you know, I had to send, my assistant to LaGuardia airport customs to pick up our vinyl because it wouldn’t get here in time. Like, it’s just really exciting to see your hard work on the screen.

Steve Cuden: Well, obviously, you’ve had some contribution to some really big projects. Did you do dark Knight rises when it was in town in Pittsburgh, or did you do it through the whole shoot?

Laura Pliskin: I did it in Pittsburgh and New York, so they.

Steve Cuden: Pittsburgh in New York?

Laura Pliskin: Yeah. So I had worked with the art director once before when he was in Pittsburgh. So as soon as they came back to Pittsburgh, he gave me a call. And then, I was born and raised in New York, so they were like, hey, why don’t you come with us for the New York portion? And I was like, yeah, sure. My mom would love that.

Steve Cuden: So you said it took about a minute for you to figure this out, which means it was a while.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah.

Steve Cuden: How long were you athenae the job of being an art department coordinator before you felt like, yeah, I really do know what I’m doing.

Laura Pliskin: so I’m going to say. So my first coordinator job was in 2009, and then the job where I really felt like, I was like, okay, yes, this is it. I’m good at this was, I want to say, 2018.

Steve Cuden: So nine years.

Laura Pliskin: Nine years. And I will say that I think a lot of that was probably imposter syndrome, where I just felt like, you know, all these people have so much more experience than me, and they’re coming here and relying on me, and I’m like, yeah, I can do it, and, like, I do it, but probably not the best way possible.

Steve Cuden: Have you figured out yet that all those people also have imposter syndrome?

Laura Pliskin: I think it’s more that I figured out I should not have imposter syndrome, that, like, they, like, I work with a lot of the same people over and over, and. And it’s because they like me and they like what I do, and I know how to do it. So, yeah, it took me about nine years to be like, okay, no, I got this. I get it. Now.

Steve Cuden: You understand how the job works. They’re going to give you a task. You’re going to get it done. If you screwed up a little bit, you know how to fix the screw up. All those things happen 100%.

Laura Pliskin: And I think before it was just like, oh, no, I screwed up. What do I do? And it’s like, I can’t screw up. How can I screw up, and it’s like, no, no, it’s okay. Everyone screws up. It really just matters on how you fix the screw up.

Steve Cuden: there would be no such thing as a production without a few screw ups.

Laura Pliskin: Oh, I know that now.

Steve Cuden: And by the way, sometimes the screw ups are what make the movies great.

Laura Pliskin: Not on my end.

Steve Cuden: Not on your end. I’d be willing to bet if you look deep enough, there were some things that didn’t happen quite the way they wanted it, and it turned out to be the best thing that happened.

Laura Pliskin: I’m. I’m going to take that and put it in my heart and hold on to that.

Steve Cuden: It’s been on every production I’ve ever worked on where something was not right, but that turned out to be the neat thing.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah.

Steve Cuden: So, all right, let’s talk about the process of what happens. Are you given a script, or are you given a breakdown of what the needs are? Where does it start for you?

Laura Pliskin: I’m given everything. So, yes, it starts with a script. Usually the day that I’m hired, I fill out my paperwork, which includes, an NDA or non disclosure agreement. And then as soon as I submit that, they send me a script, like, right away before I’m even in the office, like, it’ll be 11:00 p.m. and they send it to me.

Steve Cuden: Right.

Laura Pliskin: So I’ll read the script so that I’m familiar with it. And then I get set Lists, breakdowns, graphic Lists, schedules for not just, like, when we’re shooting and where, but, like, what actors are going to appear when, what cars are going to appear when, just if there is any. If it shows up on screen, I get a breakdown of when it appears on screen.

Steve Cuden: M. And so when you say you get it immediately after signing the NDA, I’m going to guess that a few times. There’s a last minute we need you now. You’re just shot out of a cannon, right?

Laura Pliskin: Oh, I. Very often, not so much now. It’s gotten better, I think, in the industry as a whole. But very often, I would get phone calls that are like, are you available? I say, yes, I am. And they’re like, can you start tomorrow? Sure. There was one time I went in for an interview, and he was like, okay, I’d like to offer you the job. And I’m like, great. And he’s like, can you start right now? So that was. That was, you know, hit the ground running.

Steve Cuden: But, welcome to Hollywood.

Laura Pliskin: Exactly. But again, like, I’m so low on the. Totem pole that when I’m hired to everyone else has already been working for a while.

Laura Pliskin: So that there’s, like, a packet of stuff to give me.

Steve Cuden: So does that mean you’re jumping on a moving train?

Laura Pliskin: I would say the train is pulling out of the station. So I’m getting on at a brisk walk.

Steve Cuden: You’re not starting from literally ground zero. You’re already. The production’s in motion somewhat already.

Laura Pliskin: Yes, yes. 100%. Mm.

Steve Cuden: And all right, so now you get all this packet of information, script and material, and this is then what do you do? Do you sit down and start to break it all down as to what the needs will be? big question.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah. So it’s weird because, like, yes and no. Like, a lot of the breakdowns are done by the person that’s responsible. So, like, the graphics breakdown comes to me from the graphic designer.

Steve Cuden: Right.

Laura Pliskin: Or sometimes the art director. Car, breakdown will come to me from, the picture card coordinator. It’s more like my breakdown is what furniture is our office going to require? And then I need to work with the production office to get it. What equipment do we need? I need to rent a large format printer. I need to get a color copier. So that’s my next step, like, setting up an actual office, like a working professional office. And I need to do that, like, within the week that I’m hired. Like, yeah.

Steve Cuden: And part of why they’re hiring you is because you know where to get all this stuff.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah, yeah. I have relationships with vendors. All I have to do is call up and say, hey, it’s Laura from the movies. And they’re like, what do you need and when do you need it?

Steve Cuden: Because they know there’s a lot of money being invested in that movie, and they’re going to get paid, probably.

Laura Pliskin: yes. Yeah, they will get paid, but also, like, it behooves them to have a good relationship with me because I’ll call them on the next job and be like, of course. Hey, I’m back. I need another copier.

Steve Cuden: So who then is your exact boss? It’s the production designer. But is there someone like, are you dealing with the UPM, the unit production manager? Are you dealing with the line producers, who’s giving you your budget and all the rest of it? Is it coming right from the production designer?

Laura Pliskin: So. Oh, so that’s. It’s like, spread out. The production designer is obviously my direct boss. I mean, including the art directors. Like, all the art directors are my bosses, too. I work with the UPM, whenever they have questions regarding budget or schedule that I always confirm with, the art director because they’re the ones that are really in charge of that. But they’ll use me as a middleman because the art director is busy focusing on know, art directing. so I’ll work with them in that respect. The accountants, I actually work really closely with the production accountants. I usually submit a cost report every week. I’m usually responsible for creating an art department budget. Like, being like, here’s what. And when I say arts apartment, I mean the office, like, machine rentals, paper, ink, pencils, that type of stuff.

Steve Cuden: Stuff.

Laura Pliskin: I’m responsible for generating that and working with the, accounting department with that. If I’m also coordinating set decoration, then I keep track of everything that’s purchased per set for set decoration, and I hand in a cost report every Friday to the accounting department. if there’s a question on that, then maybe I’ll talk to a line producer or a UPM. So, yeah, it’s weird. I wouldn’t call them my bosses, but they are definitely above me on the hierarchy.

Steve Cuden: Well, let’s call them either your superiors, your supervisors, whatever they are, but they’re not actually dictating terms to you of some sort that’s coming from somewhere else, that’s coming from the studio or whoever is hiring you, I guess.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah, I would say my direct boss is the art director or supervising art director, if there are multiple. Yeah.

Steve Cuden: Mm Are you also dealing with locations and location managers and that kind of thing?

Laura Pliskin: Yeah, occasionally, in that I would give, them whatever information they need. Yes. So, like, if our painters or construction guys need to get to a certain location on a certain day to prep or strike, then I need to coordinate with the location department to make sure that they are able to access the location.

Steve Cuden: So you said earlier that people wouldn’t like the notion that you’re into logistics, and I love logistics. I think that’s part of the cool part of it is the logistics of, making it all work like a swiss watch. Are you also involved in any way, shape, or form in the creative decision making? Like, we’re going to choose this piece of furniture versus that piece of furniture? Or are you just given a marching order? Go get me that.

Laura Pliskin: It’s usually the latter if I have, if I’m working with someone that likes my taste in whatever they might ask me. Like, what do you like? For instance, I work with this one, set decorator, occasionally as her coordinator, and she really trusts my opinion. So she’ll come to me and be like, what fabric do you like? Or, you know, what desk blotter do you like? Which, you know, I don’t make those decisions, but she takes my opinion under consideration because she likes me.

Steve Cuden: She knows you also have a background in art as well.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah. And she understands that. I understand that the opinions that I’m giving aren’t necessarily because I like them, but because I think they would be appropriate for the set.

Steve Cuden: I imagine, one of the biggest parts of your job is once you know what it is that you need to obtain and to manage and so on, that then part of that is in the order that it’s going to be utilized because productions are shot out of sequence, not in sequences, according to the script. So you then need to know when something is going to be needed, is that right?

Laura Pliskin: Yes. So a big part of my job in the arts department is when a graphic designer creates, like, let’s say, a sign or a banner or something, they give it to me and then I’ll send it to the sign shop and I’ll dictate, we need it by this day because it gets installed on this day and then it works on this day.

Steve Cuden: And that’s, I mean, that’s a huge part of any production, is knowing when actors need to appear, where, when, what set’s going to be tomorrow, whether you have the ability to make a move in the event of bad weather or something like that. You have to be prepared for all of that.

Laura Pliskin: Yes. Yeah, yeah. It’s a lot. It’s a lot.

Steve Cuden: Well, it’s a lot. And your job is, intense. I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff floating at you every single day. And every single day is probably a little bit of a race to get through the day.

Laura Pliskin: Absolutely. But I’ll tell you what. And this actually got me, one of my jobs. I have so many spreadsheets. I have like two big monitors on my desk and just spreadsheets over all of them, and they’re just tracking everything. And the reason I got this job is because that set, decorator that I spoke about previously, she’s like, tell me about yourself, your hobbies, whatever. And I, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said, I also make spreadsheets for fun, which I, which I do. I do also in my personal Life, plenty of spreadsheets. And she said that was like, that was what I said, that she was.

Steve Cuden: Like, you’re hired because that your job, as we’ve already said, is so heavily detail oriented, you probably can’t contain it in your head. You’ve got to have some kind of tool to use.

Laura Pliskin: Absolutely, absolutely. Like the last job I worked on, we had, a rodeo scene, and we built it from nothing. It was a field, there was nothing there. And we built everything. Like, we hired a company to come make a. A grandstand. And then we had to put signs up everywhere. And there was a vendor market, and each booth had to have a sign. It was dozens and dozens of signs, maybe hundreds, I don’t know. But there was absolutely no humanly way anyone could keep track of that. So I just had a giant spreadsheet.

Steve Cuden: That wasn’t twisters, was it?

Laura Pliskin: It was twisters.

Steve Cuden: Because I know Glenn Powell plays he’s in a rodeo somehow. Yeah.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah, that was it. Yeah. That rodeo came from nowhere.

Steve Cuden: The rodeo from nowhere. That’s the brilliant part about movies and tv, is that they make something out of nothing.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah.

Steve Cuden: And frequently what’s behind what you’re looking at? There’s nothing there. And, I worked for a long time in Hollywood, and anytime I was on a back lot, it was always somehow a thrill for me to see how facades were up and just the fronts of these buildings. And then people would step through doors, wind up in a set somewhere else. How close to the sets do you ever get? Are you always in the office?

Laura Pliskin: I personally, I go to set occasionally. I especially don’t like going to set on days that they’re filming. I get too anxious. I’m afraid I’m going to mess something up. And I think this is because on one of my very first movies that I worked on ever, I was on set and my phone range. And not only that, like an idiot, I answered it and I, like, didn’t even think about it. Someone came up to me and they were like, are you seriously talking on your phone right now? And I just like, ran. I ran away. Like, I turned around and I ran, and then I just got my car and I was like, oh, you idiot, what did you do? So I think, I think that was the point where I was like, all right, that’s it. I’m just not gonna go to set.

Steve Cuden: It’s not fun for you to go to set.

Laura Pliskin: Then it’s one of those things where like, if someone says, laura, you should go to set, I’ll be like, nah, I’m cool. I’m gonna hang out here. But if someone drags me there, then I’m like, oh man, this is so cool. I should come to set more often.

Steve Cuden: If I were in your job, I would try to get to set as much as I could, but that’s me, because I’m fascinated by all that, and I know what to do. I wouldn’t have my phone ring.

Laura Pliskin: You better believe that is the first thing I do know. Now when I go to set, turn it off first thing.

Steve Cuden: Well, that’s how you learn, you know, you make these little mistakes. Do you get to interact with the, directors ever again?

Laura Pliskin: I try not to, unless they come to me and approach me, and they’re like, hey, you know, who are you? What are you doing? Then, of course, you know, I’ll have a conversation, but I’m so low on the totem pole. You can make that the subheading of your episode this weekend. Loreplis, get low on the totem pole.

Steve Cuden: On the totem pole. We’ll have that graphic made up immediately. No, actually, we’ll hire you to have the graphic made up, and it’ll be in the background.

Laura Pliskin: You’ll have it tomorrow, no doubt.

Steve Cuden: I’ll have it exactly when I need it. There’s no doubt about it. So what are the things that most commonly are the big challenges? Is it just the coordination of all these elements, or is it interacting with the vendors? What are the things that are, the regular big challenges?

Laura Pliskin: Big challenges. I would say finding what we need in the time period that we need it. That is the big one, because everyone’s like, oh, you have six months to make a movie, so you have time, but that’s not the way it works. We’re always working to whatever shooting first. So that could be like six weeks away. That could be two weeks away. That could be two days away. So it’s always like, I need this, and I needed ASAP. So that is the biggest challenge for me, always just finding what we need and when we need it and then finding it in the most cost efficient way possible, just not spending a fortune on it.

Steve Cuden: Are you good at that? Are you good at working budgets?

Laura Pliskin: yeah. Yeah. My husband jokes a lot about how good I am with a budget.

Steve Cuden: You save people money.

Laura Pliskin: I try to. I like to, yeah.

Steve Cuden: That’s another reason why they like you is because you’re not profligate with the money.

Laura Pliskin: No doubt.

Steve Cuden: Do you find that the people that you’re working with are endlessly fascinating because they’re into this art form?

Laura Pliskin: I find more fascinating about them is just their own personal history, because it’s always fascinating about how they got to where they are. I mean, everyone is talented. everyone I work with deserves to be where they are, and they’re super talented. It’s more like where they came from and how they got to where they are. Like on twisters. I worked with a woman who came from Brazil. She was brazilian, and now she does all these big budget features, and I thought she was just absolutely fascinating.

Steve Cuden: And like you say, if you’re in the business and you have any career at all, more than, you know, one project, the chances are you are, in fact, truly talented in some way. they just don’t bring you back. You don’t get to work over and over again if you have no talent at all or you’re a big, clumsy oaf on set, you know, or something like that. You just don’t. You have to be somewhat understanding of how it works. What is it that you think that UPMs or your coordinators or your production designer, what is it that they could give you that would help your life better if they just gave it to you more regularly? More advanced notice, perhaps? I don’t know.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah, information. Just information in general. Just. I always love it when someone’s walking out the door like they’re going to go visit a set or whatever, and they’re just like, hey, Laura, I’m going here. I’m going to go visit this set. I’ll be back at this time. Just having that information is so invaluable because a lot of people from other departments will come up to me and be like, hey, where’s the production designer? And then I can be like, well, they’re here right now. They’ll be back at this time.

Steve Cuden: Right.

Laura Pliskin: So just any type of information, just having it is just makes my life so much easier.

Steve Cuden: So information is king on a movie set, isn’t it?

Laura Pliskin: Yes.

Steve Cuden: And knowing when and where things are going to happen, timing, et cetera, et cetera, where are the breaks, etcetera, those are all things you need to know.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah. Communication is number one on any jump.

Steve Cuden: So I want to go back to the setup of all this. You probably don’t have any input whatsoever in the storytelling or the. Well, you do in a way, because you’re contributing to the way the story is told, but you’re not contributing to the script. You’re not rewriting anything, and that’s not part of your job. But is there anything that you notice in show after show in which you wish screenwriters would do differently that would make the productions easier to handle? Anything? Screenwriters, in other words, there’s something in scripts that they don’t do, that you wish they did, or is there something they do that you wish they didn’t? I didn’t mean to stump you.

Laura Pliskin: I would say the only, the only thing is if there is a rewrite which happens constantly on any job, and that’s just part of it, that’s, you know, got a roll with it, that’s fine. If they’re like, okay, in this rewrite we added three new giant sets and it plays next week. That’s kind of a bummer because now we have to scramble. I would just hope that they would consider, well, if they’re adding these sets, someone has to build these sets, and that means overtime for a lot of people.

Steve Cuden: One of the things that I used to pride myself on as I wrote screenplays out there is I would try to think about the production and whether I needed to have a different set or could I do something on the same set in some way to make life easier on the production. I would think that. I wasn’t, nobody was telling me to think that, but that’s what I was thinking.

Laura Pliskin: You’d be surprised how many screenwriters don’t think about that.

Steve Cuden: Well, I’m certain of that. Well, there’s the famous line you could write in one 8th of a page in one line, you could write, the largest armada in the history of the world comes over the horizon on the ocean, and you just wrote that in one sentence. There’s nothing to it. Except now somebody has to actually go out and put that thing together.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah. Yeah. You’d be surprised how often that happens.

Steve Cuden: I wouldn’t be surprised, actually. I really wouldn’t. So what is it that you have to have a around you to make your job work? Aside from your computer and your spreadsheets, what is it that you need? Is it a certain kind of music, or comfort or food or. What do you need to make your life better?

Laura Pliskin: So what I absolutely need is, aside from my plethora of spreadsheets, I actually just have a, writing tablet, just like, you know, a pad of paper and a pen. And anytime anyone tells me anything, I write it down. And then when I do that task, I cross it off. And because it’s right next to my hand on my desk, I look at it a thousand times a day. So that definitely helps me keep things, like, in the front of my mind that, Candy, lots of candy. just so much candy. And then what else? I like a standing desk. So I feel like I just work better when I’m standing up.

Steve Cuden: You stand all day long?

Laura Pliskin: Yes. Yes, I do.

Steve Cuden: And does that do anything physically to you by the end of the day?

Laura Pliskin: Yeah, my back hurts.

Steve Cuden: Your back hurts?

Laura Pliskin: But, no, I think, there was my first job back from COVID when no one worked for pretty much most of 2020. And then November of 2020, I got a call that said, we’re starting up next month. Came back to work, and I just had, like, a folding. A folding table, and they’re like, that’s all you’re getting. Make it work. So I. For, like, the first week or so, I sat at this desk, and I was like, why am I having such a hard time getting back into it? It must be because I just, like, haven’t worked for a while. I haven’t been in that mindset. I need to get back into it. And then I just bought these, like, furniture risers on Amazon that you usually just stick under furniture to make it taller. So I put it under this folding desk to turn it into a standing desk. And that day I stood up and I was like, oh, oh, I feel good. Okay. Now I can be more productive, and I can think about things, and I can work. So it really was weird how that, like, flipped a switch in my brain. I was like, all right, and you.

Steve Cuden: Don’T have to jump up and down to get things done. You can just turn and move, right?

Laura Pliskin: Exactly. Exactly. You just turn and walk to where you need to go.

Steve Cuden: How fast on your feet do you have to be? How fast to do your job? Do you have to be able to think and react and do so?

Laura Pliskin: I mean, of course I want to say you have to be, like, super fast. But it’s really because I’d like to think I’m good at my job. I’m, like, prepared. I’m thinking already thinking about what’s coming up and what needs to be done. And I have my spreadsheets. it’s really, if there’s something that we call a fire drill, where, like, last minute emergency director decided he wants this on the set right now, then that’s when it’s like, okay, everybody get up. This is what we’re doing right now, and we’re going to do it right now. So it’s more. I wouldn’t say you have to be, like, so fast all the time to think on your feet, but when you have to be. You have to be ready. You have to be able to, like, transition immediately.

Steve Cuden: And you’re pretty fast, I would assume.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah, I’d like to think so.

Steve Cuden: You were talking about your spreadsheets. We’ve talked about those several times. What software do you use?

Laura Pliskin: Oh, excel. If there’s something that requires input from other co workers, then I’ll use Google sheets. That way everyone has access to it. But if it’s just me, for my tracking purposes, I’m a big excel fan.

Steve Cuden: So you’re not using movie magic or anything like that?

Laura Pliskin: No. What is that?

Steve Cuden: I’m pretty sure that’s a production, software package that does breakdowns and all that kind of stuff.

Laura Pliskin: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, none of that.

Steve Cuden: okay, so you were also talking about the fire drill, which is heavy pressure. Your job is a pressure job to begin with, but then you can have amped up pressure. It can get even more pressure packed. What do you do under those pressure circumstances to allay yourself of the pressure? Is there anything that you do? Is there any kind of technique that you use or any kind of thing that you use, aside from candy, which I’m sure there’s lots of?

Laura Pliskin: yeah, have. Have a cookie. no, I just, I think it’s more. I just kind of trained myself. I remember the first time I had a fire drill, and I actually walked into an empty office, closed the door, and had a mini breakdown, and I started hyperventilating, and I started freaking out. And then I was like, okay, count to ten, and then go back to work. And I remember that being the first time that I was like, oh, my God. But now it’s just like, it happens on every production multiple times. So now it’s just like, okay, we’re doing this now. So I kind of don’t even give myself time to think. Oh, my God, if we don’t get this done, it’s a disaster. Now it’s just like, okay, what are we doing? How are we solving this? What do we do to make this better?

Steve Cuden: And this was part of the nine year process till you felt like you knew what you were doing.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah, I think I just got experience with it. Like, knowing, like, having that breakdown was helpful for me at the time, but now it’s like, that’s not helpful to solving the situation. What can I do to help solve the situation?

Steve Cuden: It sounds like you have figured out how to embrace it in some way.

Laura Pliskin: Oh, for sure. Yeah, I think that’s a good way to put it.

Steve Cuden: All right, so I have to ask you about the Dark Knight rises.

Laura Pliskin: Okay.

Steve Cuden: Which I find really fascinating to watch, because the first time I saw it, I saw it at the Biome theater here in Pittsburgh.

Laura Pliskin: Oh, yeah, me too. Yeah.

Steve Cuden: Okay. I was there for that premiere, and I’m watching that movie. And I know you didn’t have anything to do with the streets and the chases or anything like that, though you probably had something to do with maybe some of the set deck for that. I don’t know. But it drove me Crazy that they kept driving down Smithfield Street over and over and over again in different directions.

Laura Pliskin: Uh-huh.

Steve Cuden: And then turned it endlessly into one long Street.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah.

Steve Cuden: And now most of the listeners around the world that are listening to this because there are people going, what the heck is he talking about, Smithfield Street? Well, Laura will know because that’s here in Pittsburgh, and it’s in the dark Knight rises, in the big chase at the end. And so were you at all involved in stuff that went out there? Because there were different looks all the time.

Laura Pliskin: So I was involved in covering up any signage on Smithfield Street that made it specifically point, out that it was in Pittsburgh. So anything that was like AAA Pittsburgh, that would have to be covered up. I was involved with helping work, with our graphic designer to create signage to cover that up. That’s as far as my responsibility for that. I don’t want to take responsibility for going down the same Street over and over. No, no.

Steve Cuden: That would have been Chris Nolan’s responsibility, and they did a good job of it if you didn’t know what you were looking at.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah. And I think that’s the most important part. Like, people in Pittsburgh will understand, but how many people outside of Pittsburgh won’t understand?

Steve Cuden: Well, exactly. I will say that the Dark Knight rises. I have been around a lot of movie sets. I’ve not worked in a lot of movie sets, but I’ve worked, been around them and I’ve driven by them and I visited them. I have never seen so many production trucks on a single chute ever before or since. That was a massive number of trucks that supplied that chute. I assume that that had to have been one of the biggest things you’ve ever worked on.

Laura Pliskin: It definitely was. It was so monumental that. Let me put it this way. I was not the only art department coordinator on that job. And I don’t mean like, you know, because they had one in LA, they had one wherever else that they filmed. India, like I did, New York and Pittsburgh. But then there was also another art department coordinator at their home base in LA that I worked with very closely because it was so huge that they needed to split it up over two people.

Steve Cuden: And have you worked on other productions.

Laura Pliskin: That are that huge, twisters.

Steve Cuden: Twisters was that huge?

Laura Pliskin: Yeah, twisters was. That may have been the biggest arts apartment I’ve ever coordinated. I had three production assistants on that one when normally I get one, two, if I’m lucky.

Steve Cuden: Were you on location for that or were you here in Pittsburgh?

Laura Pliskin: No, I went to Oklahoma. I went to Oklahoma for that. Yeah.

Steve Cuden: Is that normal for you to travel out of town?

Laura Pliskin: I do occasionally if there’s not much going on here, or if I just really like the person who’s calling me. Like, I did, emancipation, the Will Smith movie. And that was filmed in New Orleans. And my boss, who I previously worked for here in Pittsburgh, called me up and was like, will you come? And I was like, sure, why not? And that was woof. We could do a whole episode on that. I signed up for five months, and it ended up being ten months.

Steve Cuden: Wow.

Laura Pliskin: I was in New Orleans for almost a year.

Steve Cuden: Wow.

Laura Pliskin: Yeah.

Steve Cuden: You got to know New Orleans really well.

Laura Pliskin: I had opinions on local government. That’s how long I was there.

Steve Cuden: All right, so show is over. It’s wrapped. They’ve wrapped production? What’s your job? After production has wrapped, what do you do?

Laura Pliskin: So all of the things that I rented for the office and all the things that I bought for the office, it now has to get out of the office. So I have to coordinate sending back the copier, sending back the large format printer. I have to pack up all the office supplies. We usually. Every. All of our information I have to make sure is on our shared server, and then I have to make sure all of that is uploaded to the studio so that the studio has everything that the arts department has generated since day one. That is a massive job in itself.

Steve Cuden: And about how much time does that usually take? Typically.

Laura Pliskin: Generally I get two weeks. If it’s a low budget feature or tv show, then they give me one week, and then I just try and cram it all in. But two weeks, generally, I like to.

Steve Cuden: Have after shooting two weeks. So I like to ask this question of a lot of guests. You’ve already told us about a couple of things, but I’m wondering, what is the biggest disaster that you went through and how did you resolve it? I don’t mean having your phone ring on set. I mean something that just, like, things are just a mess. How did you handle it?

Laura Pliskin: Ah, okay. Yes. So, on Dark Knight rises, Wayne Enterprises, we, filmed that in Trump Tower.

Steve Cuden: Oh, really?

Laura Pliskin: So Trump Tower played as Wayne Enterprises, but the director thought it was too gold. So what we had to do is we had to tone it down a bit. And the only way that we could do that is we could. We would find, removable adhesive vinyl to cover the gold. And the one that everyone liked the best was this beautiful brushed brass. It was like a red. A red brushed brass. So if, you know, you peel it, you stick it, and it looks like metal. This one that everyone liked could only be found in Japan, so we had to special order it. Expedited delivery from Japan. And this is one of those things that, like, they told me to order it, but it shoots next week, and then the painters need time to apply it to cover up all this gold. So I ordered it. I expedited delivery. I impressed upon them how urgent it was to get it in time. This is the thing that showed up LaGuardia airport customs, and I was like, well, how long do I get it delivered to me in Manhattan? They were like, oh, a couple days. And I’m like, I do not have a couple days. And they’re like, well, you can come pick it up at customs right now. So I’m like, assistant Armon, go. And I need you to take it straight to set to the painters because they are, like, tapping their foot waiting. So he did it. He went to LaGuardia. 2 hours later, he’s in Manhattan giving them the vinyl. They put it all up, and I was at my desk just like, phew. Like, oh, my God, we did it. We saved the movie. We did it. And then wouldn’t you know, that whole thing got cut, and it never made it on screen.

Steve Cuden: That’s exactly the way it goes, by the way. I was always very, curious why they didn’t use PPG place. People will not know if they’re not from here, what that is. But that’s a series of glass buildings that Pittsburgh plate glass built, you know, 50, 60 years ago, and they have little extensions on the top of their roofs that look like a, cowling. Like, it could be Wayne Enterprises, and it would be like the bat cowl. And I didn’t understand why they didn’t use that.

Laura Pliskin: You know what? I never thought of it until you said it, but you’re right. That would have been Perfect.

Steve Cuden: Oh, I look at it all the time when I go into town. I go, well, there’s Wayne Enterprises. It looks like the bat cow. It’s like. It’s like, I don’t understand. But that’s me.

Laura Pliskin: No, that’s a really good idea.

Steve Cuden: All right, so I’ve been having this really fun conversation with, Laura Plisskin for almost an hour now. We’re going to wind the show down a little bit, and I’m just wondering. You’ve already told us some incredibly funny stories, including this last one, but I’m wondering if you have any other stories that you could share with us that are either weird, quirky, offbeat, strange, or just plain funny.

Laura Pliskin: So I’m going to tell you the story that I have been telling my friends non stop because I think it’s hilarious. And this happened to me in Oklahoma on twisters. And this goes back to. Okay, so my boss on twisters, who I had worked with previously on Mindhunter. She knows that I like to stay at my desk. She knows that I don’t like to leave the office. So she’s like, you should really come check out the rodeo. And I’m like, no, that’s okay. Like, I’m good. And she’s like, no, no, you should come. And she’s like, I know that there’s a sign pickup that needs to be delivered to the rodeo, so you should just bring the sign. Like, you should bring it. And I was like, all right, I’ll do it. So I went with our assistant. We picked up the sign. We get to the rodeo. And then again, we built this from nothing. It was just a field, and it had been raining. And it didn’t occur to me, because I don’t visit set, that the field was very muddy. So I was walking across this field with a big sign in my arms, and I see my boss, and I start walking towards her, and I’m not really paying attention. I’m just walking. And then all of a sudden, I hear someone behind me. I don’t know how far behind. I heard someone go, no, no, no, no, no. And I’m not listening. I’m just walking. And I walked straight into. I don’t know how many inches of mud. And you would think, oh, no, she got dirty. Nope. It suctioned my feet, and I got stuck. Like, I physically could not move out of this mud.

Steve Cuden: Oh, my God.

Laura Pliskin: And I’m standing there with a sign, and my boss sees me, and she comes over, and I turn to her, and I go, this is why I don’t come to set. And she Just starts laughing. I give her the sign, and someone from locations had to come and literally, like, rescue me out of this mud. And I, like, I come out, and you just Hear, like. Like, my feet coming out of the mudd and just so much mud. Thank goodness I was wearing boots, like, I wear boots every day, so. But, oh, my goodness, it was so embarrassing.

Steve Cuden: Didn’t pull the boots off your feet?

Laura Pliskin: No, thank goodness. But I pulled a lot of mud out of that, out of that little pit.

Steve Cuden: Oh, that must have been, very uncomfortable the rest of that day.

Laura Pliskin: It was. It was awful, but it was so. It was like July in Oklahoma, so it, like, dried and caked on my boots pretty quickly, started stomping around, and it was coming off, but when I got back to the office, I had to take them off and wash them.

Steve Cuden: Did, the production crew get a good laugh?

Laura Pliskin: Oh, yeah, absolutely. They were all looking at me, laughing. I’m like, you should. You should be laughing. This is stupid. I’m stupid.

Steve Cuden: All right, so last question for you today, Laura, you’ve given us a huge amount of really great advice to think about and chew on throughout this whole show, but I’m wondering if you have a single solid piece of advice that you like to give to those who are just starting out, or maybe they’re in a little bit and trying to get to that, you know, next level.

Laura Pliskin: So the best thing that you can do if you’re starting out or anything, is people think that this industry is very large, and it is. There are a lot of people that work in this industry, but it’s also very small, and a lot of people know a lot of people. So the best thing you can do is meet and talk to as many people as you can. Because I hire production assistants who don’t necessarily want to work in the art department, but it’s their foot in the door. They’ll tell me, oh, I really want to work in the sound department, or I really want to work in the camera department. Guess what? I know people in the sound department, and I know people in the camera department, so I’ll talk to them. And if you do a good job for me, I will be very happy to recommend you. Like, if they’re looking for someone and be like, oh, I had a, pa who’s interested in getting in that department. So just talk to everyone because everyone knows everyone. That, I think is my main piece of advice.

Steve Cuden: That is one of the greatest pieces of advice ever and something that I also tell a lot of people. I think it’s one of the wisest things. It’s treat everyone well.

Steve Cuden: Don’t treat anyone poorly.

Steve Cuden: Talk to everyone because you don’t know who’s going to become your friend or your ally or help you down the road. Because every production ends at some point, and you’re going to need to look for another production. So making friends in the industry is one of the most important things you can do. So that’s a, just a terrific, terrific piece of advice. Laura Pliskin this has been so much fun, and I am so grateful to you for your time, your energy, your wisdom, and just for being out there and making these great things for us. So I appreciate it much for you being on the show today.

Laura Pliskin: Thank you so much. I had a blast.

Steve Cuden: And so we’ve come to the end of today’s StoryBeat If you liked this episode, won’t you please take a moment to give us a comment, rating, or review on whatever app or platform you’re listening to? Your support helps us bring more great StoryBeat episodes to you. Story beat is available on all major podcast apps and platforms, including Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Tunein, and many others. Until next time, I’m Steve Cuden, and may all your stories be, unforgettable.