The Product Agent: Hurry Up and Wait

Jodi Mancuso is the Hair Designer on SNL, but you can also catch some of her work in Portlandia, among other things. Jodi grew up in the Bronx, and as a child, she was always watching her mother do hair. Jodi’s mom’s passion for hair was validated when her childhood friend (who was one of the top hair designers on Broadway) encouraged her to pursue hair, and so in her 40s, she went to hair school. Her mother then got started in pro...

Lou Eyrich works for Ryan Murphy Productions, and has been the Costume Designer on American Horror Story, Pose, Nip Tuck, Glee, and more! Lee grew up in Minnesota in a creative household. Her father was a painter, photographer, and musician, and she and her 7 brothers and sisters were required to take piano lessons and play in the band. Lou grew up loving music so much that she thought she’d grow up to be a musician. Her “family ar...

Heba Thorisdottir grew up in Reykjavík, Iceland. She grew up playing with her mother’s makeup and creating characters for herself. It wasn’t just about beauty for her, it was about creating and turning herself into a character with the use of makeup. She worked her way up from the bottom from craft service until she was hired for jobs as a makeup artist. 

In Part 2 of my interview with Heba, we talk about the challenges of working o...

Heba Thorisdottir grew up in Reykjavík, Iceland. She grew up playing with her mother’s makeup and creating characters for herself. It wasn’t just about beauty for her, it was about creating and turning herself into a character with the use of makeup. She worked her way up from the bottom from craft service until she was hired for jobs as a makeup artist. 

In Part 1 of my interview with Heba, we talk about how she literally work...

My guest this week is Costume Designer, Mitchell Travers, who has worked on Hustlers, Late Night, In the Heights, and more!! As a child, Mitchell had an insatiable appetite for creativity. With the encouragement and support of his mother, he enrolled in as many arts programs as possible, created his own halloween costumes, and more. His mother took him to see theater performances and he would beg her to sit as close as possible so ...

Sherri Laurence grew up loving makeup and hair and always wanted to be in front of the camera, but she realized in college while studying film and television that she actually liked to be behind the camera. As she fell more and more in love with production, she resisted doing hair and makeup because it was something she had always done, and she wanted something different, but after trying every department in production, she realize...

Sherri Laurence grew up loving makeup and hair and always wanted to be in front of the camera, but she realized in college while studying film and television that she actually liked to be behind the camera. As she fell more and more in love with production, she resisted doing hair and makeup because it was something she had always done, and she wanted something different, but after trying every department in production, she realize...

Regina Graves is an Oscar nominated New York-based set director whose credits include The Irishman, the Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Step Up 3D, and War of the Worlds! Growing up, Regina didn’t even know what a set decorator was. When she was working at Pier 1 in New Jersey, she made the acquaintance of a set decorator who came in to shop at the store, and that was the very first time she even heard about what it was. She was an as...

Nicki Ledermann is a German-born makeup artist who has spent the last 30 years living in the United States doing makeup for television and film. She has worked on 80 projects, and her credits include Sex & the City, Vinyl, Boardwalk Empire, the Devil Wears Prada, Enchanted, the Greatest Showman, and the Joker. What a career! 

Nicki was always fascinated by film, and after watching the Exorcist as an adolescent, she became transf...

My guest this week is the amazing Ellen Mirojnick! Ellen is a costume designer whose credits include Bridgerton, Fatal Attraction, Wall Street, the Greatest Showman, Maleficent 2, and so so so much more! Ellen’s resume truly blows me away. She’s even worked on the pilot of How to Get Away with Murder, Speed, and Showgirl!

Ellen never actually studied costume design and found her way in the industry by complete accident. She stu...

Keri Lederman is a NYC-based set decorator whose credits include The Undoing, Marry Me, The Night Of,  Sneaky Pete and The Looming Tower. Her mother was an antique dealer, so Keri grew up in her mother’s store seeing decorators and collectors come in. She ended up majoring in English and through a few internships, she found herself on low-budget film sets and working as a PA in production offices. She then became a prop person befo...

Meghan Kasperlik’s credits include Watchmen, 99 Homes, Fahrenheit 451, Noah, and many more, but she didn’t always want to be in production. In fact, she originally wanted to go into the medical field, but when she was in high school, she started to broaden her horizons and develop an interest in fashion. A retail job developed into a fashion magazine internship, which then led to a job offer in the fashion PR field. After that, she...

Pam Chilton has been the costume designer for the last 6 seasons of Modern Family, but she did not always want to be a costume designer. Originally from the small town of Galveston, Texas, she struggled when she was in college as a film major with finding her niche and knowing who she was. While she was taking a semester off from school to figure herself out,  a movie film crew came into town, and she volunteered to intern in the c...

My guest this week is Julia Caston, who has been a costume designer for movies and television for almost 25 years. Her credits include Bad Moms, the Middle, Celeste & Jesse Forever, and Great News.

Julia’s career started when she studied theater, and learned costume design as part of her theater study. Costume design was never really her intended path until she realized that she had an aptitude for it. She began as a PA for...

Karen Patch’s illustrious career as a costume designer includes the Royal Tenenbaums, Team America: World Police, School of Rock, and many, many more classic works. 

When Karen moved to Malibu with her family, she quickly realized that all her new neighbors worked in the film industry. With her background as an art student and family members who hand made clothes, modeled, and knew the fashion industry, Karen naturally gra...

My guest is costume designer Meredith Markworth-Pollack. Meredith’s credits include Dynasty, Reign, and Hart of Dixie.

Meredith didn’t even know what costume design was until she was studying film at UC Santa Barbara, and had a revelation about how characters in television and film are dressed. Even though she was passionate about fashion, it wasn’t something she wanted to have a career in necessarily, but costume design was a way s...

My guest this week is the wonderful Diana Oh, Department Head of Makeup at the Late Late Show with James Corden. Diana has been with the show since day 1, and is now in the fifth season.

Diana was inspired to do makeup after visiting a makeup counter at Macy’s to have her makeup done for her homecoming dance in high school. From then on, she knew she wanted to do makeup. While in makeup school, she was able to work on AFI stude...

My guest this week is Eugenia Weston, celebrity makeup artist, and founder & creative director of Senna Cosmetics. Her clients include Bette Midler and Paula Abdul. Eugenia was raised in a family of creatives and artists. She soon developed an obsession with faces and studying them, and she started doing makeup at age 11. In those days, there weren’t any classes or makeup schools, so she taught herself everything. As she got ol...

My guest this week is Tinisha Meeks, Department Head of Hair on Grownish. Tinisha’s credits also include Scandal and Blackish.

As a kid, Tinisha had Cabbage Patch dolls, and she used to braid their hair. In fact, a local doll maker even paid her to braid doll hair! From then on, Tinisha decided that she wanted to do hair. She went to cosmetology school while going to high school, and she graduated from both at the same time! She tra...