Made in Maryland: Hanging With the Crew on the Set of Veep

It was a cold, blustery Tuesday in December when we were on the set of HBO’s Veep in downtown Baltimore. On the production front, however, It was a relatively calm day of filming by Veep standards, but a calm day on the set of this show still requires dozens of crew members to work their butts off. Whether it was Kim Bogues in craft services, costumer Constance Harris or assistant property managers Jamie Bishop and John Bert, the crew was thoroughly busy. Producing a TV show, especially one as ambitious as Veep, is both a sprint and a marathon. You have a ton to get done each and every day, in a relatively short amount of time, yet those days can feel long. Word on set was the cast and crew would be enjoying a particularly epic day of filming that coming Saturday. An epic day on the set of Veep means something; this is a show that has had a few record days of production, shooting more than 20 script pages, roughly double that of what a typical TV show films in a day.

Created by Armando Iannucci and starring a cast of comedic heavyweights led by Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the role of Vice President Selina Meyer, there’s a gleeful feeling that permeates the set of Veep. Part of that is due to the fact that the show is funny, and the thermonuclear put-downs and on-set ad-libbing create an atmosphere of I can’t believe we get paid to do this-like joy. Another part of it, a big part, is pride; many of the crew members working on Veep are Maryland residents, and the show represents an opportunity for them to work on something they believe in without having to leave their families to do so. Like The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Street before, and along with House of Cards today, Veep is a critically acclaimed and creatively ambitious show that brings work, money and prestige to the state of Maryland. In fact, many of the talented folks we talked to that day had worked on on these shows as well.

We spoke with about a dozen crew members about what it’s like to work on the phenomenally funnyVeep. Whether they were in charge of sound, rigging, transportation, costumes or props, they all shared a genuine, and rare, emotion; they love their jobs.

Featured image: Hanging with the Crew of HBO's 'Veep' on the set in Baltimore, Maryland. Courtesy HBO.