Jun 12, 2026 · 54 min · 14 segments
In this episode, Christina sits down with Oscar-nominated production designer Fiona Crombie. Fiona trained as a theatre designer in Sydney, spent ten years in Australian theatre, then crossed into…
Fiona CrombieGuestChristinaHostAnd I mean, uh, I mean we, I spoke to you about this but the big reason for me starting this podcast is to kinda demystify what roles in film are.
And so I'd be curious like how would you describe what a production designer does in your own words?
Um, [lip smack] I think, well the kinda clearest way for me to explain it is to say that it's, it's everything that you see in a frame.
So in, when you look at a frame of a film, it's everything that doesn't include people.
So if there's a sofa or I don't know, the color of the wall or you know, a car that's being driven or a meal that's being eaten or a bunch of flowers, that's art department.
The architecture obviously, the landscape often, you know, like we're involved in choosing locations so it's landscapes.
Um, so really it's expansive, like it's really wide in terms of like it's the big picture and then it kind of comes down into the tiny little details like the pen that somebody's writing with is all coming in under art department and set decoration.
Like sort of production design has the br- the two branches of art department or art direction and, um, set decoration and so they walk hand in hand.
So you know, one is sort of the, you know, environment in terms of architecture and, and the other is the detailing and decoration.
And I s- it, I assume you come on pretty early in the process, you know-
... 'cause it's a big task to kind of-
... create those worlds.
I mean I'm usually one of the first people, um, and I often get like a little run-in that's just me doing sort of pretty quiet development, you know, just maybe just back and forth with the director a bit and just sort of working out, um, [lip smack] yeah, like just the kind of where we're headed.
Hello.
Mine always walks behind me so you might see.
[both laughing] Um, so process-wise could you walk us through like what that actually looks like, like the moment you get the script to production?
And I mean, uh, I mean we, I spoke to you about this but the big reason for me starting this podcast is to kinda demystify what roles in film are.
And so I'd be curious like how would you describe what a production designer does in your own words?
Um, [lip smack] I think, well the kinda clearest way for me to explain it is to say that it's, it's everything that you see in a frame.
So in, when you look at a frame of a film, it's everything that doesn't include people.
So if there's a sofa or I don't know, the color of the wall or you know, a car that's being driven or a meal that's being eaten or a bunch of flowers, that's art department.
The architecture obviously, the landscape often, you know, like we're involved in choosing locations so it's landscapes.
Um, so really it's expansive, like it's really wide in terms of like it's the big picture and then it kind of comes down into the tiny little details like the pen that somebody's writing with is all coming in under art department and set decoration.
Like sort of production design has the br- the two branches of art department or art direction and, um, set decoration and so they walk hand in hand.
So you know, one is sort of the, you know, environment in terms of architecture and, and the other is the detailing and decoration.
And I s- it, I assume you come on pretty early in the process, you know-
... 'cause it's a big task to kind of-
... create those worlds.
I mean I'm usually one of the first people, um, and I often get like a little run-in that's just me doing sort of pretty quiet development, you know, just maybe just back and forth with the director a bit and just sort of working out, um, [lip smack] yeah, like just the kind of where we're headed.
Hello.
Mine always walks behind me so you might see.
[both laughing] Um, so process-wise could you walk us through like what that actually looks like, like the moment you get the script to production?
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