S24 - Ep 8 - Hacks - Production Design

Production Design doesn’t always get the laugh — but on Hacks, Rob Tokarz helps set up the punchline.

This week on Below the Line, Production Designer Rob Tokarz joins Skid to discuss Rob’s Emmy-nominated work on Hacks, the HBO Max comedy that just wrapped its fourth season. Rob shares how the show’s design evolved with Deborah and Ava’s careers — from Vegas casinos to LA sound stages — and how visual comedy can live in the details.

Among the highlights:

• Designing Deborah’s late night talk show set — and how its clean lines, reflective surfaces, and scale marked a new chapter in her career
• Leaning into sleek, showbiz artifice while still grounding scenes in emotional truth
• How Rob approaches “passive comedy” through shape, scale, texture, and layout
• Collaborating with Showrunners Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky to ensure that design and comedy worked hand in hand
• Designing new spaces like Jimmy’s office and the Home Shopping Network studio
• Working with returning directors, DPs, and department heads to maintain visual continuity
• Navigating studio notes and shifting production goals across multiple seasons

Rob also shares how Hacks maintained character integrity even as its world kept expanding — and why no design detail is too small when you're playing for laughs.

🎧 Press play and go Below the Line on Hacks. For more, visit belowtheline.biz.