iDesign Lab
Welcome to the iDesign Lab a Podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design hosted by Tiffany Woolley an Interior Designer, a style enthusiast along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott. A place where they explore the rich and vibrant world of interior design and it’s constant evolution in style. iDesign Lab is your ultimate Interior design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and it’s constant evolution in style and trends. iDesign lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles and everything in between to better help you style your life through advice from trend setters, designers, influences, fabricators and manufacturers as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite. Join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things Design. For more information about iDesign Lab and Tiffany & Scott Woolley visit the website at www.twinteriors.com/podcast.
iDesign Lab
Michael Manasseri: Designing Reality for Film and TV
When an actor, producer, and director walks into a design studio, fascinating conversations emerge about how our on-screen and real-world environments come to life. Michael Manasseri, best known for his role as Wyatt Donnelly in "Weird Science" and now an award-winning filmmaker, joins us to reveal the surprising connections between film production design and interior design.
"It's all design," Michael explains, describing how production designers ask many of the same questions interior designers pose to homeowners. From creating mood boards and lookbooks to selecting the perfect accessories that reflect character personality, the processes mirror each other in remarkable ways. We explore how movies and TV shows craft their visual worlds, revealing that even something as seemingly insignificant as silverware receives careful consideration – would an 80-year-old character really use modern IKEA flatware?
The conversation takes entertaining turns through Michael's career, from Broadway performances with Yul Brynner to directing award-winning independent films. He shares a particularly memorable production crisis involving 20 pounds of stolen chicken props, demonstrating how even small design elements can impact an entire production. We also discuss the temporary nature of set design compared to home design, the challenges of working within budget constraints, and how relationships form intensely during creative projects.
For anyone who's ever wondered about the famous "Friends" couch (now mass-produced as part of a furniture collection) or how movie houses look realistic despite being just façades, this episode pulls back the curtain on the detailed design work that creates the worlds we see on screen. Whether you're a film buff, design enthusiast, or simply curious about how visual storytelling works, you'll gain new appreciation for the intentional design choices that shape both our favorite stories and our own living spaces.
Curious about Michael's recent work? Check out his award-winning film "Give Me Liberty" on streaming platforms – a feel-good comedy that won the Independent Spirit Award for best feature film made under $500,000.
Learn more at:
https://twinteriors.com/podcast/
https://scottwoolley.com
This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott, idesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends. Idesign Lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles and everything in between to better help you style your life, through advice from trendsetters, designers, influencers, innovators, fabricators and manufacturers, as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite.
TIffany Woolley:Welcome to the iDesign Lab podcast. My co-host today, my darling husband Scott Woolley, is going to introduce our special guest.
Scott Woolley:Our special guest today isn't a designer or an interior designer, but many of our listeners have seen his work. His name is Michael Mandessari. Michael's an actor, a producer, a director. He began his acting career in community theater at the age of 10. Within a few years, michael made his Broadway debut in Oliver and later toured with the late Yul Brynner in the King and I. Michael made his first big screen appearance as Charles in A License to Drive, which starred Heather Graham, corey Feldman and Corey Hamm. After a number of sitcoms and guest appearances on shows such as the Wonder Years, charles in Charge, wings, quantum Leap and Eeyore, michael took on the role which he is best known for today, that of Wyatt Donnelly in the television series Weird Science.
Scott Woolley:By 2005, michael had jumped from in front of the camera to behind the camera as a producer and a director. As a producer and a director, michael has been pumping out one or two documentary projects and films each year. Many of them have received greater critical acclaim at film festivals around the planet. Michael, as a producer, and especially as a director of a movie, is very involved in the overall design of the film, from the sets the film is shot on to how they are decorated, to how they will be lit, to the costumes that the actors will wear. All of which leads us to why Michael is sitting in our studio today. We wanted to spend some time exploring the design process that a film or television show goes through Really not that much different than what a homeowner goes through in designing and decorating a home.
TIffany Woolley:The attachment, the curation.
Michael Manasseri:Yes, that is all correct. Wonderful introduction there, Scott. Thank you very much.
TIffany Woolley:I know, and then I want to go back to a question that we saved from before. But I wanted to know has Michael done a podcast yet?
Scott Woolley:I have done yes, I've done a couple of podcasts, yes, well he's probably done a few, because he just recently won the 2020 Independent Spirit Award for a film that's out there right now. I think Netflix has it and Amazon.
Michael Manasseri:It's on iTunes and Amazon, but it came out theatrically last year. It's called Give Me Liberty, yep, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019, and then we went to Cannes and then, fortunately, this year, we won it's called the John Cassavetes Award, which was the best feature film made for under $500,000.
Scott Woolley:So director or producer?
Michael Manasseri:on that Producer, I was one of the producers on that, yes, but back to what you were saying yes, absolutely, Producing, directing, it's all about. It really is. It's all about design. It's the designing of what an audience is going to see and take in on the screen, and all of the elements, all of the questions. They're really similar to what a designer would need to ask from a homeowner or a client.
TIffany Woolley:So what part do you bring in? Your set designer, like we would be brought in when a client decides what plot of land they're going to build, they've selected an architect, a builder. Like that whole team comes together at the very beginning Wondering when does your set design, or is that part of? I know when you read scripts they'll say oh, in a warm cozy by the fire.
Michael Manasseri:I mean part of it is indicated in the script, usually in the scene directions or the action elements. Yes, of course they talk about, they'll talk about the environment. They won't talk too much about the environment there. But then once you have a director on board and then you start in pre-production to bring your team together, one of the first people you will bring on is a production designer and that person is responsible for everything that you see on. You know whether it's the walls or in the rooms or in everything in that scene, whether it's the walls or in the rooms or in everything in that scene, not the costumes, et cetera.
Michael Manasseri:But it's a collaboration between director, producer, production designer and those key department heads who are going to start asking all of those questions.
Scott Woolley:So it's similar to what an interior designer would be. When it comes to the set design, yeah, they're picking out.
TIffany Woolley:Well, I feel like set design probably has so many different facets as well. It's like a condo versus a townhouse versus a host, you know, a single family home when it's a movie design versus like a sitcom. That's always been like something that's intrigued me in the background like a sitcom design I mean it's all going down.
Michael Manasseri:I mean you could have a production designer for a sitcom and a production designer for a film. I mean it's the same title and they'll have people under them, just like an interior designer will have people An assistant. Yes, we'll have people under them dealing with set dressing, dealing with construction, dealing with all those different elements of putting something together. The production designer, with the director, is calling all the major shots and, yes, dealing with the details as well, but they'll delegate certain things.
TIffany Woolley:I mean, do they really get down to details as far as accessories or drapery colors, everything?
Michael Manasseri:I mean, look, it depends on, for example, if you have a homeowner.
Voice Over:Your budget, your budget.
Michael Manasseri:It absolutely depends on your budget and it also depends on, you know, is your directing producing team fastidious? Are they? You know how detail-oriented are they? There are some directors who just might be. I just want to. You know, we're here, the building's here, let's just shoot, let's go. It is what it is. You have people like that, but usually, Even at the smallest of budgets, you know if you care about the project, like a homeowner or someone will care about their house and what they're going to see every single day of their lives. You know what is lying on top of the couch in this scene, what is on the table, what kind of silverware are they using? Well, that silverware doesn't match the 80-year-old character that we're dealing with that.
Michael Manasseri:Silverware will be something that a 20-year-old will get at Ikea. We're not going to use that Right.
Scott Woolley:Yeah, so there's a fair amount of research that's needed to be done. I was just going to ask too like do?
TIffany Woolley:you have a. Does this set designer? Do they provide a presentation, a package to bring your plan? Do you give them like a really good synopsis of? You know I do mood images to try to you know get where the client's head's at.
Scott Woolley:Well, it's very much like when Michael came into the facility here today, passed one of your tables where you're preparing for one of your clients and you've got everything laid out Right. It's very similar.
Michael Manasseri:Yes, very much. So. It's like if you're going to sit there and you go, well, here are the seven materials I think are going to work out for the couch, or are going to work out for the curtains, and you're going to want to have this look and the room is going to. You know, we want the trim on the windows to match what's going on in the walls. All of that comes into play in a production designer. It's a.
Michael Manasseri:It's well, there's different phases of design, let's say, even for a movie, because in the beginning, your director, so I'm working on a film. Right now we're going to be shooting in in spain, hopefully sometime in the next four or five months, depending on what's going on in the world. When we're making this podcast, people can, you know, remember the pandemic of but those, so there's a co-directing team on this project and they're incredibly visual. And so when you're putting together a project, in the beginning and Scott knows about this, but you also know about this in terms of your particular work you know you put together a lookbook and that lookbook is basically to say this is the mood of the film, this is what, and it's everything.
Michael Manasseri:It's the vibe of the entire picture, it's the style we want to go for, and it also comes down to the lighting, to the styles, to the sets, to what we imagine. And then so, from there, you know, from that, with this script that will also go to the production design team and that enables them to start now bringing their points of view, their talent, their experience to the table. Because, as a good producer, a good director, you don't want to be the one who dictates everything. You want to come with your ideas, but you want to hire people who also have great ideas. Trust, yeah, trust the expert Exactly.
Michael Manasseri:Because otherwise you're a control freak and nobody wants to work with you, and because if you can't, trust people Agreed, you know what I mean and you actually miss out.
TIffany Woolley:I feel like on something.
Michael Manasseri:It's one of the things that person a designer, set designer, interior designer trust them Because otherwise, you're missing out on what you brought them to the table for Right, you're hiring them because of their past work and their years of experience. If I hire you, I want you to know a lot more than I know. Right you know, and so it's the same way on a movie, if you're going to hire and hopefully you can look when you start out in movies or start out in TV let's say movies because TV is a different world in terms of money and budgets that are usually always there. But for films or independent films, a lot of times, in the beginning especially, you do not have a lot of money. You also may not be able to work with the most experienced people because you don't have a lot of money, and so that might be….
TIffany Woolley:It's like using the best furniture manufacturers and the best fabrics, right?
Michael Manasseri:right. So that might be a learning experience where you know maybe you're actually working with an art student, maybe you're working with you know somebody who's never production designed but they've been an assistant on three other projects but you're giving them a shot and so maybe in that world, they kind of sometimes step up on that.
TIffany Woolley:Yeah, exactly, maybe in that world they kind of sometimes step up on that?
Scott Woolley:Yeah, exactly Tiffany. I think she forgets, but she's gone through a few of those types of projects. So I had a project it was actually with Don Mishner, who's done a lot of award shows and specials. He had a special that he needed done for Spike TV, the network, and they were bringing in a design team from LA, but the budget interfered with that. They couldn't do it. Last second they called because I was producing it and they said we need a house. I think it was about 14,000 square feet decorated. Within like three days I turned to Tiffany and I said you've got a quick project 14,000 feet of furniture into a house. Do you remember that?
TIffany Woolley:That's crazy.
Scott Woolley:Yeah, and that happened a lot, so that was a staging project really.
TIffany Woolley:Right staging versus.
Scott Woolley:But a lot different from the normal process that you go through, where it's pre-designed and time is being spent and it's being laid out.
TIffany Woolley:Yep, no, I was going to go back to the Spain movie set. So is it being shot in Spain because you're looking to enjoy Spain or take in some of that Money?
Michael Manasseri:budgets, film incentives, the production company that I'm working with and all of the. I mean this is maybe not a design part of the conversation, but it's basically all of the. I mean this is maybe not a design part of the conversation, but it's basically because of the production company that I'm working with on that that I'm partnering with.
Scott Woolley:So does the story set around Spain, or it could be anywhere it could be anywhere it could be anywhere.
TIffany Woolley:What a bummer.
Michael Manasseri:Can't you put a?
TIffany Woolley:twist in that.
Michael Manasseri:Well, we might listen, certain things might. Actually, you know what? Now there might actually be more of a Spanish angle coming to it whenever this thing gets done. But the point of mentioning that project was about that lookbook, and that really I mean to the co-directing team on it. They're so intensely visual, wow, and so when they put their lookbook together to show to whether we're showing it to other investors or we're actually showing it to actors, so you know, to bring our actors on, because I mean again an actor, not only do they have to look, so you're enticing people with your lookbook.
Michael Manasseri:You're enticing people, just like you're exactly Just like when you're going to somebody who owns a 50,000 square foot mansion and you're like this is why you should hire me to design this house.
TIffany Woolley:Evoking that feeling to draw you in Also. Going on to the design part, how is lighting design carried on through? Because obviously there's lighting everywhere for set design. I would think that has to be a huge thing incorporated into the I mean, it's really that scott mentioned in the beginning.
Michael Manasseri:It's all design. I mean you're, you're, really, really is, and it is lighting, that's what you call it.
Michael Manasseri:You call it lighting design and and so, in terms of, uh, the director of photography, that you, that comes on to the project, and again, the director. What kind of mood does the director want to set for the entire film, for certain sections of the film? I mean, you watch a movie and sometimes everything suddenly changes. They'll go from maybe warm colors to this intense cold blue light, depending on what's going on in the story. So all of those design factors, I mean it really is. It's a daily discussion of detail, of detail when you're in pre-production and when you're in production, it's it's a thousand questions being asked every day and answered when you're shooting.
TIffany Woolley:How closely does that look book generally reflect the finished product?
Michael Manasseri:I would. I would say usually it say usually it's really really close. I mean, usually, once you do those, the directors have done their research, they know where they're. Basically what could change? It would be Budget, budget. Like, let's say, we had a lot of money when we designed this and all of a sudden we only have a fifth of that now, and that changes your locations, that changes people that you hire, also as well in terms of skill.
Scott Woolley:Let's say, but the lookbook also helps guide you with the budget too. Correct, Correct. So if you follow that lookbook, it's going to hopefully follow your budget. Keep you on budget.
Michael Manasseri:Right, you don't want to make a lookbook for what you think is a $50 million movie when you know you only have $5 million.
TIffany Woolley:Right. Well, same goes for my part of the world too.
Voice Over:Yeah.
TIffany Woolley:Definitely want to stay on target.
Scott Woolley:Yeah, the difference that you have is that in a film or a television show, everything starts with the budget and most interior decorating that I've experienced with you.
TIffany Woolley:We don't like budget People don't.
Scott Woolley:Well, it's not that you don't like or we don't like. It's the fact that most people don't want to discuss or even mention what their budget is, for a number of reasons. One is they don't want to mention it because they think that's what you're going to spend, or try to spend a little bit more. Sure, they'd rather you spend a little bit less.
TIffany Woolley:When I'd rather know a budget myself up front so that I can finish a product and, you know, put it together as a cohesive plan.
Michael Manasseri:I'm much more like that too. I mean, I would rather have people. I mean, look, sometimes I'm actually responsible for going and finding the money or even investing the money. I'm on both sides a lot. Sometimes I'm the investor producer, sometimes I'm the hired producer who comes on. If I'm the hired producer coming on, I just want to go to the investors and say what do we have? Just tell me what we have, so I can actually do this correctly From the beginning. There's no reason that you need to keep this a secret from me. That's how I go at it, that's how I approach it, knowing, though, at times, like you said, they might not really be telling me everything.
Scott Woolley:The other aspect of budget I'll mention that I've noticed is that in the interior design side, because Scott is also crossing over. Sure sure.
TIffany Woolley:Scott has gone from major production background into really really helping drive my bus right now.
Scott Woolley:Right, but one of the things that I've noticed is and you'll get a kick out of this, mike is that there's a percentage of clients that don't want to discuss the budget because they want to project to you that they have endless deep pockets when they, quite frankly, have a very limited or a very finite amount of money. But they want to project to you that money is no object for me. I have whatever it takes. So there's an ego aspect Interesting. Which is very similar to us in doing projects and talking to investors.
Michael Manasseri:Talking to potential investors.
Scott Woolley:Yes, we get yes yes, we sit with an investor who really wants to get in it because of whatever the reason is.
TIffany Woolley:But at the end of the day they don't quite have the money they claim they have Correct.
Michael Manasseri:You know there will be a couple of nice lunches. Sometimes we will end up paying for those lunches. There will be a couple of nice lunches Sometimes we will end up paying for those lunches and then when it comes time for the pens and the paper, things like that, things suddenly change.
Scott Woolley:Which is a little of what Tiffany experiences with some clients and then she has to work through that to try to help them manage what they can spend and what their expectations are. So for her it's a little bit tougher. At the end of the day doing a movie or a film if you don't have it, you can't do it, right right.
TIffany Woolley:Have you ever personally worked with an interior designer?
Michael Manasseri:No, I have not. I have not.
TIffany Woolley:What about for a movie? Or has there ever been that part?
Michael Manasseri:I think that on some commercial work so I've done, I mean similar to Scott, you know I've produced numerous commercials, as well as films and TV.
Scott Woolley:Michael's also started quite a bit. He's been in a number of commercials himself McDonald's.
TIffany Woolley:I'm sure you could recognize your voice anyway, Wow you're taking it back to the beginning, man.
Michael Manasseri:Lots of commercials, yes, but as a producer on commercials I've worked with some interior designers for homes and things like that that we've had in commercials, but really everything else has been more of production designers. But again, you're designing a house. You're designing a house. You're going back to the sitcom to the house and the sitcom.
TIffany Woolley:I mean it's the same question what's the couch, what's the color? So the houses in the sitcoms, for example, when there's a stairs and they're going upstairs, are they really going upstairs?
Michael Manasseri:They're going upstairs, but they're not going anywhere. They're going to a landing. Unless it's a real house, well, but in a sitcom.
Scott Woolley:No.
TIffany Woolley:So sitcom is technically on a soundstage.
Michael Manasseri:Situation comedy. Well, I don't know, maybe now, but in the days when I was doing situation comedies, it was always live audience, live audience on the stage Like Schitt's Creek or something like that.
Scott Woolley:So you, didn't have four walls that you were dealing with to decorate as well.
Michael Manasseri:Right, you usually had three walls. It was more illusion, I guess.
Scott Woolley:Or sometimes two if the budget was less.
Michael Manasseri:So if you go to well, maybe a lot of people have now, but we so that TV show that I used to be on called Weird Science. So we shot that at Universal Studios Real fortunate. We were there for four years and almost everything was on a soundstage. Sometimes we'd go out into the world, but when we didn't go out into the world we would go to the back lot. Okay, okay, if you visited you know a lot of people have visited Universal Studios and gone to the back lot. So those houses you know. So my character lived in a neighborhood and we would, you know, get off the bus and we'd go to our house and then you'd enter the house and you'd shut the, you know, on the other side of the house there's nothing Right.
Michael Manasseri:You know it's just a facade.
TIffany Woolley:I know so that god, so that's uh, you know some movie magic that everybody kind of knows by now so how do they, kind of in the scope of the television world, decide what is going to be on a sound stage and what's going to be in a like? I know now, like the bachelor per se has a house, like it's now, like but for years for years.
Michael Manasseri:I mean, we, you know, before there were houses. No, it was just you would build your sets, right, but it all came down to the production designer. The production designer was in charge of all of that, and then they would delegate Again. There would be construction, there would be a lead man, there would be his crew, there would be set dressers, there would be plant people who would be in charge of the plants the fake plants the real plants. Wow, all of it.
Scott Woolley:It's staging the prop people with all the little accessories, right.
TIffany Woolley:Which staging became a big thing in our industry as well. I don't necessarily do staging, but it definitely is another part of interior design that crosses over into set design. Yep Especially in the work of staging.
Scott Woolley:Well, I consider staging to be temporary. Temporary it is Temporary interior decorating To sell a house is like the main reason somebody stages.
Michael Manasseri:Sure, I would say, on sound, so you never know how long the show's going to be on.
Scott Woolley:Well, it's pretty much the same Staging because of a stage. It's temporary, it's not there permanently and then.
TIffany Woolley:So like on shows, for example.
Voice Over:I never really watched Friends myself, but like I know people in the world did.
TIffany Woolley:And I think I had to go to bed that time. But how many sofas, for example, do you think really exist of the famous red?
Michael Manasseri:couch, I mean now. I mean, isn't there a whole line?
TIffany Woolley:Right, there is Like Pottery Barn or something, I don't know. It is. It absolutely is. It's the Friends Furniture Collection.
Michael Manasseri:Friends Furniture Collection yes yes, so I would think now there are a lot. Now they're mass produced in a factory somewhere, unbelievable.
Scott Woolley:Oh, unbelievable those are trends, but for the show itself in the beginning there was probably one, they probably had two, oh yeah, they probably beat it up and like once a year they'd bring in a new one, just to refresh.
Michael Manasseri:Or if they just like the beat up, look, because it was supposed to be an apartment forever.
Scott Woolley:So yeah, it's a lot like a movie and certain aspects of a movie, especially wardrobe. Depending upon the movie, they may have multiple jackets or multiple, whatever it is for that particular part.
TIffany Woolley:So, for example, like when you were on Weird Science for four years, did you have the same bedroom for four years? Pretty much, yeah, pretty much, I mean unless you made the same bedroom for four years? Pretty much, yeah, pretty much, I mean.
Michael Manasseri:Unless you made it an aspect in an episode of the show of I want a new bedroom Right, but otherwise no. I mean the living room, the kitchen, the fake stairs going up the stairs to nothing. You know that didn't change, that barely changed.
TIffany Woolley:So the set was always in place.
Michael Manasseri:It was always in place, but of course I mean, if a little bit of time went by, maybe the set dresser or production designer would say, hey, let's change up these flowers on top of the table, or something like that. I mean, if something was going to be intensely featured in an episode, then of course they would just make sure that whatever's being featured has to do with that period of time, that episode, et cetera.
Scott Woolley:Well, that's another difference of interior decorating for home. And then compared to the entertainment industry, because it's all temporary, right, I mean think of.
TIffany Woolley:you did a couple of sets for me, balancing Act you did when we first launched that, when you guys set them up and took them down quite a bit.
Scott Woolley:Right, you helped me. You put together a set for the CNBC show that I did with Jack Kemp. Yeah, okay, that was temporary. That lasted the same exact set for the four years the show was on the air.
TIffany Woolley:And we used the chairs for the foyer of the building.
Scott Woolley:Right, but once the show was over, everything either went into garbage or got donated or given away to someone.
Michael Manasseri:Repurposed.
Scott Woolley:In Los Angeles, depending upon the studio or the facility it goes into a warehouse to maybe be used later on, yes, in a warehouse with 2,000 other selfies.
TIffany Woolley:And typewriters. Whenever you see those pictures, it's like the old-fashioned typewriters.
Michael Manasseri:I mean, but there's also. So, for example, this movie that I did last year called Give Me Liberty, that was all real locations. In Milwaukee we had a production designer, because certainly in some of those real well, I would say real locations but for example, there would be a house that we would be shooting in that would end up being the house for a family in the movie obviously not the family who lived in that house. So of course things would have to be adjusted and redone pictures?
TIffany Woolley:do they do all that, all of? That, all that stuff so do they do pictures? This is total sidebar. When they're using pictures of a real person, which is actually an actor, do they put the old when you're like so you were on a show and in the picture frame is you as a toddler. Is that really? Like your mom giving them toddler pictures For those kinds of things. Sorry to interrupt. No, no, no, no, it's fine.
Michael Manasseri:For those kinds of things. They would certainly ask for old pictures and stuff like that if they wanted to be you, or they'll Photoshop stuff now.
TIffany Woolley:Oh, that's true. So give us a picture and we'll Photoshop your head into this other picture.
Michael Manasseri:But again that aspect of production design for a movie of the budget of Give Me Liberty, which was also everything about that movie was authentic. I mean, we had two real actors in the whole movie. Everybody else played basically a version of themselves, and the two real actors that we had, they were both from Russia. Wow, and if you see the movie by the way, please go see the movie it's called Give Me Liberty, or you can click on something now, where can?
Michael Manasseri:you find it. You can find it on iTunes, amazon, I mean, it's on almost every platform.
TIffany Woolley:And everybody's got a lot of sofa time right now, so no excuses, it's a feel-good comedy there, you go, no excuses. It's a feel-good comedy.
Michael Manasseri:New York Times loved it. La Times, a lot of people love this movie. But in terms of production design on that, that's a you know for what that movie is and the authenticity of the people and the characters in the film. You know our production designer on that one probably had to do a completely different style of research, of work, than what he could have done on the movie that he did just before. That, I mean, it's you know it's.
Michael Manasseri:Milwaukee 2018, blue-collar neighborhoods different cultures. You know there's a big Russian element in the film. You're also in the African-American community in the film. We are also in the African-American community in the film. Also, that film deals a lot. It has a lot to do with disabled adults and where they live and where they work, and so all of these different factors, you know, going to those real places. But even within those real places, what are the things the production designer has to change for the director's vision? You know just so many details. This is an aside from, let's say, interior design or production design, but chicken plays a very big part in that movie, literally the making of chicken. So there's a grandfather, a Russian grandfather character. Is it almond chicken or whatever.
Michael Manasseri:No, no, no, but he's Russian and it's very important that he makes his chicken. Like the whole movie, this guy's got this thing about making chicken. What do you mean? Making chicken? Cooking chicken?
Michael Manasseri:Cooking chicken a certain way Preparing the chicken and because so in the beginning of the movie he should not be cooking and he is making chicken and he's in his 80s and a little forgetful, and let me just say the dynamics of the entire film shift because of chicken. But the point of this story and this might just be an aside, but I think this is funny and it's about independent filmmaking it's about small budgets, it's about independent filmmaking, it's about small budgets, it's about design. So we are on maybe our second or third day of shooting and we are working in this apartment building where a lot of the film was based in Milwaukee, where a lot of Russian immigrants have come over.
TIffany Woolley:I had no idea to Milwaukee.
Michael Manasseri:Yes, there's a Russian-American or Russian, basically community in Milwaukee. I didn't know this until I signed on to the film, and so, anyway, we were in this building and we were in the social room. That's where we were basically had our base camp, where we all would meet and talk, have our meetings, have our lunches, etc. And so I walked in this morning. It's really early, everyone's tired and, and I see the production designer talking to his assistant and the look on her face, I knew something was wrong. She just it was just. I mean just, you know, it's a podcast, nobody can see what I'm doing, but my jaw dropped. Oh my God, something is wrong. And, as a producer, these are I already know immediately. Well, these are the problems that I'm supposed to be solving.
Voice Over:No, I don't want anybody to have a face like that Something's wrong.
Michael Manasseri:So I went up and I said what's going on? And the production designer turns to me and goes somebody stole the chicken.
TIffany Woolley:So was he actually cooking the chicken?
Michael Manasseri:Well, in the film the character is walking around with chicken, a lot Frozen chicken, walking around with chicken and then eventually, yes, the chicken gets cooked but we had 20 pounds of frozen chicken, of chicken that was left in the freezer that night because we thought you know where the people thought who's gonna take 20 pounds of frozen chicken? But I mean, but I showed up and you know and I this was a really difficult movie to make for many reasons and it was was a wonderful experience and the movie turned out great.
Voice Over:Did you taste the chicken?
Michael Manasseri:Eventually, I had to let it go and it was cooked, but at this point, like that chicken, even in a production design, a movie sense, that chicken was working in like the next scene, that frozen chicken was supposed to be in the next scene and we didn't have the frozen chicken and now we had to go out and get 20 pounds of frozen chicken and he only had a set budget.
TIffany Woolley:So basically, you had to pay for the chicken.
Michael Manasseri:Well, we had to pay for the chicken, but it was just like it's 7 am in the morning, where are you going to go to get 20 pounds of frozen chicken? That's going to work at 8 am Anyway. So that's my chicken story.
Scott Woolley:But that's in dealing with a production designer talking about chicken.
TIffany Woolley:That's just so funny. Yes, at least it wasn't pickles.
Michael Manasseri:Ah, that was good. That was good. I made a pickle movie. For those of you that just went, what are they talking about this? It was a pickle movie.
TIffany Woolley:And he gave out pickle pens at the premiere.
Michael Manasseri:I mean, I think I stole 14 of them it was a pickle movie.
Voice Over:And he gave out pickle pens at the premiere.
TIffany Woolley:I mean I think I stole 14 of them.
Michael Manasseri:It was a hilarious movie. It was a great movie, thank you.
Scott Woolley:It's another one people should watch.
Michael Manasseri:There you go, you're sitting at home, you want to watch a feel-good movie, the Pickle Recipe. So, yes, that one I directed and dealing with production design on that. Similar questions, similar, similar. You know, how do we want the pickles to look? I mean, really, how do we want to?
TIffany Woolley:look what's the canister gonna look like. What are they gonna? Look like all that, yeah, yeah that is just so interesting which is one of the reasons when I started the podcast is I just feel like everybody has such amazing stories to tell, and I mean you probably could go on for hours, with the exception of even design just just all the stories that you daily.
Michael Manasseri:I mean when it comes to and Scott knows this too when it comes to production, the stories. Actually, the stories can be more interesting than the actual films and TV shows that are being made, the stories behind it, because the other thing- about it is. Well, I think some people are. But if you bring, you're bringing 50 or 100 people together to work on a project, which also means you're bringing 50 to 100 people and their stories and their personalities and their problems. It is fascinating.
Scott Woolley:And everyone works together closely, tightly. It's a great unit, almost becomes a family, and 30 days later, everyone's gone.
TIffany Woolley:Stay in touch with them.
Michael Manasseri:It's interesting. So some, I absolutely do. But you do realize over time, if you've done this long enough, that you do absolutely go. Man, I was so close with those people for two months and none of us talk to each other anymore, Because what happens is you. Then, if you're fortunate enough to keep doing this, you're, you know a couple of months later, you're on to the next one, and you're on to the next one and you keep.
Michael Manasseri:You know, you keep having these really intense, almost familial relationships and everybody's keeps going on to the next one and they're usually very intense, they take up all your time. So you're really like you're in it when you're in it and then you're never, in it.
Scott Woolley:But it's the same thing with interior decorating, like some of the projects you have right now.
TIffany Woolley:I love that, Like they become family for me. I love knowing about their children.
Scott Woolley:I love watching the other generation, but it's also the vendors, the crew, the people who are the subcontractors.
Michael Manasseri:All of them.
Scott Woolley:Right, and there's certain ones that you become very friendly with, and then a project's over and everybody's got to move on.
Michael Manasseri:I know Everybody's got to make a living Right.
Scott Woolley:But I think in the interior design side and your side of it is the ones that are really good you're reaching out to them again?
TIffany Woolley:I guess that's what I was trying to ask before. Michael, Is there your go-tos, for example?
Michael Manasseri:Certainly as a producer and a director. Now it is more like that. I mean, if I so, for example, when I went off to Milwaukee to make Gimme Liberty, I didn't know any of the people in Milwaukee. So that group of people, they were all new to me and they were wonderful, incredible, and I've worked with some of them since then on other projects. Um, but in terms of my regular go-tos because for a long time I've been based out of Detroit, I certainly have, you know, as a producer. I have directors I work with regularly. I have other producers, production designers, et cetera. I will keep going back to and I'm sure it's similar with you in the business. Once you can actually trust someone and if they're doing a good job, that's important, so important. So you want to keep working. I mean, if you can keep working with friends that you trust, that are there for you, that you can rely on that's the best, I agree.
Scott Woolley:It's pretty much like for me with the specials that I do TV specials I use the four to five same people travel with me that have particular important positions, but the rest of the crew 50, 60 people are all hired first time and typically, unfortunately, last time because it's typically in another state, right, just in another city. 50, 60 people are all hired first time and typically, unfortunately, last time because it's typically in another state, right it's in another city. But those four to five key people have been with me for years.
TIffany Woolley:So when you're doing set design in a key city, do you hire the set designer from that area, or who do they bring you?
Michael Manasseri:Not necessarily, yeah not necessarily for production design. It's a similar thing where, if you can bring someone you work with and you trust in the past and you know they're right for this project, look, there are people that I've worked with who I know are wonderful, but I know they're right for something, they're not right for something else. So you know, that's where I will depend on other people that I'm working with references things like that and we'll bring somebody in that we feel is really really right for the project. But usually with cities, if you're talking about that, that would be locations, people, things like that. Or maybe we'll bring in a key location person but then they'll hire everybody locally because those local people are going to know the answers to the questions.
TIffany Woolley:So when you do hire a location scout, do they then look into hiring, like if somebody wanted to film a movie in Delray Beach, for example? How do you go about your location? I?
Michael Manasseri:mean? So let's say they wanted a three-bedroom house on the water in Delray. I mean the location scout would be given, basically, instructions from the location manager, from the production, from the producers. This is the kind of house we're looking for, this is the kind of money that we have. So do you?
TIffany Woolley:rent it.
Michael Manasseri:Oh, I mean well, the scout would go out and knock on doors, call people, leave flyers, basically oh, he drives by a house and says, man, that house is perfect. Usually we'll take a flyer and say, hey, we're thinking about filming on a property like yours. We'd love to talk to you about it. Please give us a call at such and such number if you're interested. That person would call back and then it's basically it's a conversation. You describe what the situation is and then it's basically it's a conversation. You describe what the situation is and then is it see inside? And it's money.
Scott Woolley:Most major cities have people who are location scouts.
TIffany Woolley:My house growing up was used for a movie.
Michael Manasseri:Grand Rapids.
TIffany Woolley:No, in Boca.
Michael Manasseri:Oh, okay.
Scott Woolley:In Boca.
TIffany Woolley:Raton in here. Yeah, michael and I both have Michigan connections, but I remember that it was Little Women of the 1990s or something.
Voice Over:It was an.
TIffany Woolley:Italian film and I, little Women. It was an Italian, but it was like. Little Women of the 90s.
Michael Manasseri:It was like a remake of Little Women Okay, the Italian remake of Little Women, something like this. That sounds hilarious. Why did I not produce this?
TIffany Woolley:I know and I actually want to look back and see it these days, because they hosted a party there and it just was like my whole family moved out for a week.
Voice Over:Sure.
TIffany Woolley:But I was able to stay because my mom was like you need to still go to school, You're in high school.
Scott Woolley:You need to have a very unusual temperament pertaining to owning a house and allowing a crew to come in and take it over. I'm just going to say this oh no, yeah, we need a new carpet.
Michael Manasseri:I'm going to say this If you are listening, and if somebody comes to you because they want to use your house for a movie or a commercial, you probably should just say no, that's why I said you need an unusual temperament, right, or they're going to give you a lot of money because, basically, your house will be taken over. It will be taken over by 50 human beings who might want to be respectful of that property.
TIffany Woolley:There was catering trucks outside.
Michael Manasseri:But now it's just their workspace, Like that's it.
Scott Woolley:And they will move everything and anything and it's a deal.
Michael Manasseri:And they will try not to break things. Try not to break things.
TIffany Woolley:That's like the opposite.
Michael Manasseri:I guess Watch I'm going to need a house for a movie and someone's going to say I heard you on a podcast. Well, this is so fun.
TIffany Woolley:Yes it is. I know. Well, I'll say on a podcast Well, this is so fun. Yes, it is I know.
Michael Manasseri:Well, I'll say one thing briefly. So around 2004, 2005, when I actually started to produce, that is also right around the time I met the Woolies. Is that when it was yes, it was yes. Yes, the first movie that I produced. Well, let me tell you this?
Scott Woolley:So Santa Monica, no, not Santa Monica, melrose, it was on Melrose, I believe. Yes, yes and I remember pulling into a parking lot.
Michael Manasseri:Fred Siegel.
TIffany Woolley:That's correct, fred Siegel the guy who owns Fred Siegel now lives in Boca. Ah, okay, so.
Scott Woolley:Fred Siegel, the clothing store on Melrose. I remember pulling in the parking lot and all the trailers and so forth and we got guided into a shoe store and it was a pretty funky. I remember like really outrageous shoe store with wild walls and colors. Was it Fred Siegel? I don't think so.
Michael Manasseri:The property was Fred Siegel was, I think.
Scott Woolley:We took over the space and we did, and that's where I met you, I think first time, yeah, in that shoe store okay in that fake shoe store, which was a fixed, wasn't it?
Michael Manasseri:no, it was a real, wasn't it, but it was an interior design.
Scott Woolley:You talk about interior design that I don't think it was interior designed or built for. The movie was there, I think. But it was quite a set, an unusual set for a shoe store, not your typical shoe store. But it also wasn't a typical movie.
Michael Manasseri:No, it was not.
Scott Woolley:Because I remember having a conversation with you after I met you, and then what was it? Jenny McCarthy comes walking by asking you a question and then Carmen Electra comes walking in and shooting a scene. Those were the days, guys. Those were the days. Yeah, it was a pretty outrageous scene too.
Michael Manasseri:Yes, yes, it was, that's right. Wow, yeah, I mean, look, I remember Fred Siegel, that's about it. Good memory, scott.
Scott Woolley:All I remember is the fish.
TIffany Woolley:Oh yes, oh my God, I kind of vaguely remember this story.
Michael Manasseri:This is when we changed the subject. Yes, Back to interior design and fresh flowers, and then I came to Delray About four months later I came to Delray.
Scott Woolley:Right Then we ended up doing a project with William Shatner together. Yes, yes, it was a lot of fun.
TIffany Woolley:I know we have a fun history, that's only just begun.
Michael Manasseri:That's right, that's right.
TIffany Woolley:And I look forward to embarking on some more fun.
Michael Manasseri:I look forward to more iDesign podcasts.
TIffany Woolley:Thank you, yes, very much. Thanks for joining us today. You got it.
Voice Over:Thanks for having me iDesign Labs Podcast is an SW Group production in association with the Five Star and TW Interiors. To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit twinteriorscom.
