For beauty lovers who can recognise products from their packaging alone, the types of items a character keeps in their bathroom, purse, or vanity case can speak volumes.
I press the pause button on my remote and approach my television to get a closer look at a conspicuous cornflower-blue bottle on the corner of the screen. I am watching Succession, and said bottle is perched on the bathroom countertop of Kendall Roy, the contentious billionaire fighting for control of his family's media company in between lavish parties and private jet excursions.
A closer inspection confirmed my suspicions: the bottle was that of Augustinus Bader face cream – the brand which debuted in 2018 and grew mostly through word of mouth among elite crowds.
The bottle was on the screen for all of five seconds, but in that time, I learned a million things about Kendall: that wants the best, values exclusively, and might even be a little bit vain. (And if you watch Succession, you know that tracks.) The choice to place that cream on his bathroom counter was too perfect to have merely been a coincidence.
It is, in fact, never a coincidence when a character plucks, say, a Dior lipstick from their vanity instead of a Wet n Wild one. It's the job of set decorators (if the item lives within the set, like inside a bathroom cabinet) and prop stylists (if it's physically handled by the actor) to select beauty products that help further character development.
"It's all very deliberate and very considered," says Lydia Marks, a set decorator who has worked on films like ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. She considers factors like time period; availability to the character; and how the packaging jibes with the rest of the set. “Continuity is also key”, says Joanna Leavens, assistant prop master for ‘And Just Like That….’. "If an actor is actually putting on the makeup in the scene, we, in the prop department, would consult the makeup department and actually get the makeup that they used on them," Leavens says. “Aside from those practical considerations, there are also psychological ones,” says Marks: "For example, does the character want the product because others will see it, or because they love it?" “Brand names and price points are also top of mind during decision-making,” Marks says.
So, do set decorators and prop stylists get to go on Sephora shopping sprees
"for"
characters? Sometimes, but not always, says Leavens. If the filming scheduling allows, instead of spending money and time chasing down products, they reach out to their Rolodex of contacts at beauty brands to request samples.
That said, some enterprising brands send products not just in response to requests but proactively, in hopes that when it comes time for a set decorator to source items, they might reach for what's already nearby. Tyler Williams, the CEO of public relations firm, Nouveau Communications, often directs product mailings from his clients to hair and makeup departments, which he says has resulted in on-screen placements on shows like ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and ‘Smash’.
Despite his success, Williams says the strategy can be hit or miss.
"What's interesting is that set decorators and prop masters look at products through a totally different lens than we do as public relations and marketing professionals. We get so focused on what a product is and does, but those teams might like the shape of a bottle, or how the colour of a product looks with the rest of the scene.
" Right up until the moment the product hits the big or small screen, nothing is guaranteed, unless it's a paid placement. "These are more generally called brand integrations, which are more involved and are contractual," says Mimi Clarke, vice president of Front Row Media, which specializes in product placement and brand integrations.
With that said, Clarke claims that it's a common misconception to assume that money is being exchanged when a brand logo appears on the television screen. In fact, that just indicates that the production company received official legal clearance from the brand.
But for beauty lovers, being able to identify a product based on its colour, shape, and size alone is an art. During production on ‘And Just Like That…’, Leavens and her team
"were very aware that there are super fans out there that are going to notice every little thing,"
she says.
When I ask her how she got the beauty products
"right"
for the stylish women of ‘And Just Like That…’, she answers me with a sound that rings pleasurable as it informs me that she reads my magazine.
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