THE SHARDS Designer Cat Smith on Building 1980s LA From Her Own Childhood
The designer explains how wealth and status among the characters informed choices behind the sets.
Production designer Cat Smith joined host Evan Ross Katz for the latest episode of THE SHARDS Official Podcast, discussing how the private school setting at the center of the FX drama draws directly from her own upbringing. Smith walked through the process of recreating the look and feel of 1980s Los Angeles for the series, describing how personal memory informed the visual world of the show.
Smith detailed how the wealth and privilege of the show's characters shaped specific design decisions, from the elite prep school environment to the broader aesthetic choices meant to reflect the insular world its students inhabit. THE SHARDS is executive produced by Ryan Murphy and adapted from the bestselling novel by Bret Easton Ellis, set against the backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles as a group of privileged high school seniors navigate identity, jealousy and obsession beneath a darker undercurrent.
Katz has spoken with other members of the cast and crew on the podcast as well, including Co-Executive Producer/Costume Designer Lou Eyrich, Costume Designer Josh Marsh, and cast members Igby Rigney, Kaia Gerber, Homer Gere, Hayes Warner, Graham Campbell, Evan Rachel Wood, Wes Bentley, and Jordan Roth.
Smith's remarks add to the production's broader emphasis on period accuracy, following a previous behind-the-scenes look at recreating 1981 for the series, in which cast and crew discussed the specific sound and style details grounding the show in its early 1980s setting.
