‘Saturday Night Live’ Set Design Team Talks Mastering the Time Crunch — and Leaving Room for Last-Minute Changes
variety.comJazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “Saturday Night Live” production designers Leo Akira Yoshimura and Keith Raywood work at breakneck speed under extraordinarily tight schedules to ensure sets for the timely satire are camera-ready each week — with changes being added right up to the very last minute.
Raywood, who began as a production designer on the show in 1985, will often start crafting sets late on Wednesday nights. “This show is writer-driven.
It all starts with the script,” he says. “One show can haveless complexity to it and fewer special effects are involved, but we never know until it’s handed to us on Wednesday night.” Other sets will be used for two to three scenes.
When Yoshimura introduces people to the show, whether it’s cast or friends visiting, they always comment on the stage size — Studio 8H is just over 6,000 square feet, including space for audience seating — or remark on how swiftly the crew shifts scenery.
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