Maggie Ruder is the production designer behind the latest season of HBO Max’s comedy thriller Search Party. Maggie started her film career as an On-Set Dresser, and moved through the ranks as an Art Dept Coordinator, Art Director, and Graphic Designer. Her background in design lends endless creativity and imagination to her past projects, which include HBO Max’s The Other Two and HBO’s Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas. Currently Maggie is designing for season 3 of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.” We had the chance to chat with Maggie today about her career journey, creative problem solving, inspiration, and more.
Tell us a little about yourself. How did your professional journey lead you to your current role as a production designer?
I went to college to study graphic design, I had big dreams of doing exhibit design for museums. I have always loved building models and miniatures, and until I made some friends in my college’s film department I never knew that a job like Production Design existed.
My junior year some friends asked me to come meet them while they were shooting a student film. I walked on set and immediately saw these posters that they had put on the main wall of the shot – the posters were vibrating against each other – totally the wrong feeling for what they were shooting. It was really cool to be able to help them out and make it look better, and they started asking me to help on other projects, and I just fell in love with it. I loved being able to combine my background in graphic and environmental design with narrative storytelling.
Over the next several years I worked my way up in the Art Department from being a PA on an indie Bollywood movie, to on-set dressing commercials and Art Directing and Designing features and then tv series.
You’ve collected some outstanding credits over your career, most recently working on season five of “Search Party”. Were there any particular challenges you had to work through for this project?
Search Party was a dream project for me. I had been a fan of the show since I saw that it was in development years ago. It was a big mental challenge to step into such a creatively established show. The characters and their personal spaces are so iconic, so it was really important to me to be able to integrate into the existing world while also giving it my own unique interpretation.
When I started the project, the show’s creators, Charles Rogers and Sarah-Violet Bliss gave me some very sage advice. They said to throw big ideas at them and take chances, and to commit to concepts — I tried to take that advice and made bigger, bolder choices with the designs. That was incredibly fun, and such a privileged place to work from, but it is also terrifying to trust yourself, your ideas, and your team to achieve these big designs on an incredibly tight timeline and budget.
“Search Party” is a dark comedy thriller that is rooted in mystery. How did the show’s genre-bending premise affect your approach to this project?
I love working on projects that take cues from reality but then push it a step further. With this season, that meant that we got to take these big creative leaps into both science fiction and thriller references – which are incredibly fun to mix with the millennial aesthetic of the show. From the start I knew that I wanted the color palette of the season to shift. It was fun playing with the tonality of each episode moving to first the soothing pastels of Lyte HQ and then into the moodier and more dramatic tones of the Seaside Inn and Liquorice’s house as we get closer to the climax.
How do you see your role as a production designer for “Search Party” – do you see it as more technical, more creative, or a mix of both?
I think what I love most about being a Production Designer is that I get to do both. The process starts out as creative and not worrying too much about the details of how you are going to be able to pull off the ideas – but eventually, once the overarching design is in place, the creative problem solving has to start. The heart of the job, to me, is creative problem solving with incredibly talented people.
When you are assigned a new project, what are the first steps in your creative process?
I usually start with a lot of image research. Whenever I start an initial deck for a project I end up with folders of inspirational photos, artwork, and textures that I use to immerse myself in the new world. I also tend to do a lot of other research. For this last season of Search Party I read a handful of books about self-care workplace culture as well as a few great articles on Millennial trends surrounding astrology and spirituality. The deep nerd in me loves taking on really diverse because it means I get to research something new every time.
What is happening next in your world?
Right now I am getting a chance to go back to my own past as a high school drama kid – Production Designing season three of High School Musical, The Musical, The Series for Disney+. It has been an incredible experience so far.
Any last words of advice for aspiring production designers?
The two pieces of advice I always try to give are:
Don’t be afraid to say yes to big things. When I first started out I was terrified that I would be hired to do something that I didn’t know how to – like puppets or robots or miniatures. Over time I realized that a huge part of this job is saying yes to being part of a team that figures that stuff out together. As the designer, your job is to be creative and know how to lead a team that can figure those things out. So say yes, even if you are intimidated.
Be good to your crew. Period. This job is a privilege, and as a leader and head of a department it is so important to set a tone of inclusion and respect. The entertainment industry is not always a kind or healthy place, but it is important to me that my crew feel safe, supported and engaged on the job – and taking that time has only made our work stronger.
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Thank you for reading! You can learn more about Maggie on her website.