2022 Set Building Workshop

This workshop will provide trainees with:

• Hands-on training experience in film/TV set building techniques and concepts

• Confidence so that graduates feel prepared to work within the art department on an actual set

• Techniques for collaborating and working with an art director, and other key departments

• An understanding of departmental roles and operations

• Knowledge of what set building entails

Upon successful completion of this workshop, participants will be referable for assistant positions on upcoming film and television productions.

ELSA RINDE – PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Elsa is a Scenic and Production Designer based in Brooklyn. She holds an M.F.A in scenic design from the Yale School of Drama, where she was a recipient of the Donald and Zorka Oenslager Fellowship Award in Design. She also holds a B.A. in theater from Barnard College. She is a local 829 member, and currently works as an Assistant Art Director. Recent TV credits include Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin (HBO) and Extrapolations (Apple TV). Production design credits include the short films: An Occurrence at Arverne, Roost, Vuka, Dodge is Dead and ¡Topes!. Art directing credits include Hangdog, Columbarium, Jack and Jill and Candace. She previously worked as an art department assistant and clearance coordinator on multiple television shows including The Deuce (HBO), The Sinner (NBCU), Gotham (WB), and Elementary (CBS).

DEBBIE DE VILLA – PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Debbie De Villa, born in Brooklyn, raised in NYC, has worked as a production designer all over the globe for well over two decades. She graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BFA degree in Theater Set Design, intending to design for film. This goal was soon reached with films such as Josh Marston’s Maria Full of Grace and Chris Eyre’s Skins. One of her more recent film credits is the critically acclaimed, HBO, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-nominated film, The Tale, directed by Jennifer Fox and starring Laura Dern, Ellen Burstyn and Common. Credits include the TFF award winning Diane, directed by Kent Jones, starring Mary Kay Place; and The Evening Hour, directed by Braden King, starring Lili Taylor and Philip Ettinger. Select earlier credits include Uncertainty, directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Love the Hard Way, directed by Peter Sehr, starring Adrien Brody; Mean Girls 2, directed by Melanie Mayron; and A Dog Year, directed by George LaVoo, starring Jeff Bridges. https://www.debbiedevilla.com/

JEFFREY FRANCIS – BEST BOY

 Jeffrey Francis is a Poughkeepsie resident and participant in previous Stockade Works trainings including their Bootcamp, Camera Workshop and Grip/Electric Workshop. Francis has since worked as a construction grip for features filmed here in the Hudson Valley.

BILL CHESSER – KEY FOREMAN, CARPENTER

Bill Chesser has been a resident of the Hudson Valley for most of his life. He graduated from Syracuse University’s School of Visual and Performing Arts and has been building scenery since 1998. He began his career as a scenic artist at Scenic Technologies in New Windsor, NY where he specialized in sculpting and became a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees Local 311. He also worked for other local scenery fabricators; Beyond Imagination and Czinkota Studios. He transitioned into the field of carpentry and custom home construction in 2004, working for Handcrafted Builders in Rhinebeck, NY. In 2005, he met his  future wife and followed her to New Mexico where he fell into the film industry and transferred his union membership to the I.A.T.S.E. Local 480 Motion Picture Studio Mechanics Union. From 2005 to 2011 he built sets as a carpenter and sculptor for movies and television shows including Breaking Bad, Marvel Studio’s The Avengers, Thor, 3:10 to Yuma, No Country For Old Men, Terminator Salvation, The Book of Eli, and Cowboys and Aliens. In 2011 Bill moved back to Upstate NY and worked in local scenery shops again. He became a project manager at Bernhard Link Theatrical for four years, a company that specializes in lighting and building scenery for New York City’s Fashion Week, and corporate events for clients including Tiffany and Co. and Macy’s. In 2018, Bill went back into the film industry as a carpenter for I.A.T.S.E. Local 52 Motion Picture Studio Mechanics Union. With them, he has worked on John Wick 3, Joker, The Gilded Age, and most recently Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin. Bill was initiated into Local 52 on April 9th, 2022.

Additional Instructors to be Announced