December 2025

The Chair Company: Shooting the First Episode's Conspiratorial Climax

My pitch to Andrew DeYoung, director of the pilot for The Chair Company, was simple and clear: The aesthetic of the show had to take itself as seriously as Ron Trosper (played by Tim Robinson, who co-created the series with Zach Kanin) takes exposing the ills of the company he’s investigating. When shooting comedy, it’s easy to sacrifice visual rigor for a more traditional and flexible way of covering scenes, but we aimed to design shots that would be dynamic and propulsive. Our visual references were deeply rooted in genre. In prep, we watched Michael Clayton, Seven and Punch-Drunk Love. Also, Andrew and I share a love of Network and all of William Friedkin’s movies. Our visual approach always centered on energetically matching Ron’s...more