Art Department

Production Designer playbook.

Owns the visual world of a project — sets, locations, and how a place is supposed to feel on screen.

What this role owns

Director · Art Director

Not your call

Story choices are the director's — you build the world it happens in.

First move

Read the script for what a place needs to feel like before you decide what it needs to look like.

Titles are usually given to whoever's already doing the work — if that's you, say so.

Also in Art Department

Executes the production designer's vision on the ground — the day-to-day of getting a set actually built or dressed.

Dresses the set — the furniture, props placement, and small details that make a location feel lived-in.

Owns every object an actor actually touches — sourcing it, tracking it, and making sure it's there for every take.

Decides what every character wears and why — costume is a storytelling tool, not just clothes.

Keeps every actor camera-ready and continuous — the same look, take after take, scene after scene.