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‘Yellowstone’ TV: Watch How the Set Decorator Crafts ‘Not Your Average TV Set’

Carla Curry is the set decorator for “Yellowstone.” And she and her crew are having a great time creating the atmosphere that gives the show its Western feel.

Ranching in “Yellowstone” and in Real Life

Curry has worked on films such as “The Last Stand,” “Paul” and “Friday Night Lights.” Moreover, she is married to a rancher in real life.

“We’ve ranched for 20 years,” Curry said. “And so when I met [show creator] Taylor Sheridan, we instantly pretty much had a shorthand. He could give me notes, what he wanted the show to look like. And I knew exactly what he was talking about.”

Curry joined the show at the very outset. So she has watched “Yellowstone” develop from season one. 

“I have done lots of different genres in my time,” Curry said. “When they called me to see if I would be interested in doing this show, I read the first page of the script, and realized it really spoke to me.”

From her experience ranching to her comfort with the script, Curry knew that “Yellowstone” was something she wanted to do. Furthermore, she can now say with confidence that her set decorating team “bring[s] the ‘real’ to the set.”

“The logs are real. The antiques are real. There’s not fake anything in here,” Curry said. “We shoot it totally like a big ol’ feature film.”

Attention to Detail

For each episode, they have a process. They get the script. Then they hold a meeting and talk about each character, Sheridan’s vision and the director’s vision for each scene. They work to translate that vision into the set.

Curry described the painstaking attention that goes into sets like the lodge – which is a historic lodge that was built in 1914 – or the bunkhouse.

“We bring all the details that you see on the set, from the very nice, high-end offices to the barns – we pretty much do it all,” Curry said. “The whole concept of the bunkhouse is, it’s almost like a cowboy dorm… From the dirt on the floor to the empty cans and bottles, it’s basically a guy’s world in there. Which is fixin’ to be shaken up a little bit.”

She explained that the whole feel of the show grew out of the lodge, beautifully preserved, that they found in the first season. It set the tone for Dutton world. And now fans across the country love that world. 

“It’s a lot of fun because we let our creativity go wild,” Curry said.