Behind the Scenes
Iron Man 3, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, The Descendents, and The Five Year Engagement. What do all four of these have in common? They have had the creative help of Liz Georgoff. Liz Georgoff works in the Art Department for many feature films, TV shows, commercials, and live events. She is a property master, set dresser, Art Department coordinator and researcher, and art director, among many other things.
Working in the Art Department requires a great deal of attention to detail in order to create the perfect mood for the viewer. "If the art department team does not do their jobs well, the viewer or participant will get distracted and they won’t be able to let themselves get lost in the experience," explained Georgoff. "Oftentimes, the best sets are the sets that blend so effortlessly with the story or experience that you don’t notice that they were 'created.'"
A job as a property master means that Georgoff is constantly thinking outside the box. A scene might need a very specific prop and Georgoff is the one that figures out where to get that certain prop. "The trick of the job is to anticipate a variety of possibilities, the director and actor’s style, and then be a creative, 'MacGyver type' to pull it off," Georgoff said. "I usually have thirty minutes to attend to these changes while the crew finishes setting up the lighting/cameras for the scene."
Georgoff has a passion for storytelling and that passion is what drew her to her profession. She also enjoys the creative energy stemming from the large group of people working on set with her. She said, "Hollywood has a bad reputation for being full of scumbags and that’s just so not the case. Most of the people involved with the actual making of a film are wonderfully adventurous, creative and intelligent people."
It is not a career for everyone, however. People need to be very flexible with when and where they are working and their financial situation. Georgoff advised to have a practical view about going into the entertainment industry and think carefully about the lifestyle that comes with it. "Seek out opportunities in film if you want, but take it all with a grain of salt. If you should be so lucky as to intern on a film or get a small role in something, see it as a “neat experience”. Only choose to “go into film” when you’ve started making a livable income consistently and feel confident that your network is solid enough that you can dedicate yourself to this career," she said.
The Park’s huge size, Liz said, has prepared her the most for her life after high school. “I’d hate to think who’d I’d be if I went to a smaller school where I couldn’t find enough people like myself,” she said. “Where I was forced to take classes I didn’t want to take at a level above or beneath me, or where rumors could destroy you completely.” It was at PCEP where she was able to engage in all of her interests from sports like cross country, track, and swimming, to other activities like the National Honor Society, the Yearbook committee, and humanities.
Georgoff opened the door to a wide range of experiences after deciding to go into a career in entertainment. She travels all over the country doing things like driving a fake police car at 100 miles per hour, exploring the shutdown Packard plant in Detroit, and searching for a fake dummy arm at four in the morning. Every day brings a new adventure for Georgoff and she is always growing thanks to them. Georgoff has helped create the "worlds" of many of the projects on which she has worked, and this has unconsciously affected the fans of these "worlds" everywhere.
Liz (right) hand doubling for Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) in Iron Man 3.
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