The first season of Hulu’s Life & Beth followed the titular Beth (Amy Schumer) as she faced an existential crisis following the loss of her mother and the upheaval of her long-term relationship and her seemingly successful career. Her life took a turn when she met John (Michael Cera), a farmer and handyman whose life and personality couldn’t be any further than her own.
“It’s such a fun dynamic to bring to life with Amy because there’s a lot of freedom, while we’re shooting, to discover things. Really, some of my favorite moments came up in the moment during a take even without a discussion and make it into the show,” Cera said, also taking care to praise the series’ writing. “Amy and everybody on the team have created a space for that kind of work to happen. That’s an exciting kind of work to get to do as an actor.”
Amy Schumer - Slate
Director of Photography - Johnathan Furmanski and Dolly Grip
Setting up a Shot
DP
Life & Beth was a fantastic show to work on with an amazing cast and crew. The Camera Department, in particularly, has worked on multiple projects together and we developed a cadence around one another over the years. This really allows for us to be efficient on set.
For my role as A Camera 2nd AC, which means I would be tasked with handling equipment logistics, marking actors’ positions, ensuring day-to-day operation during shoots by organizing and preparing camera gear, assisting with lens changes, and collaborating closely with the production crew to achieve the director’s visual goals, this shoot would prove to be one of the most difficult projects with the scale and Murphys Law.
With the scale of budget and the vision to really get inside the head of the characters as they develop throughout the shoot, we had to come up with a lot of clever camera techniques and builds to get the camera in places that are rarely seen, such as glovebox of a car or have set walls move as the camera goes through the space.
Part of the Crew
Set up
Shooting in a hurricane
Process Car Rig
Even more was that this shoot took place all over NYC, Long Island, and even upstate NY. Having to collaborative with production, Amy, my DP and Producers and other Department Heads, we had to have multiple back up plans. If we had a lightning delay, we would need to go to cover set which means we had to have the proper equipment to achieve that days change.
The comprehensive breakdowns of project scheduling, calendars, specialty equipment, contracts, and resource materials we were able to execute logistical plans to accomplish each shooting days goals.
Overall, we delivered an exceptional show for Hulu that Amy and the rest of the cast and crew can be very proud of!