'Hacks' Director/Co-Creator Lucia Aniello & DP Adam Bricker

IndieWire's Filmmaker Toolkit

One of the three co-creators of the new HBO Max series “Hacks,” Aniello also directed six of the 10 episodes (including the first three) and together with cinematographer Adam Bricker employed a purposeful and effective use of the camera so sorely missing from most half-hour comedy series. On the podcast Lucia discusses casting a non-standup in Jean Smart, creating her routines, and how she used the camera to tell the story of Deborah Vance (Smart) and Ava (Hannah Einbinder). Bricker joins the second half of the podcast to talk about creating the look of a classic Vegas and avoiding the pitfalls inherent with cross-shooting a comedy series.

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