To contact by E-Mail Steven E. Eyrse
818-842-7729
Currently Head Painter for the
Nickelodeon series "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide"
Head Painter / Scenic Artist for the Feature film " Grilled "
Head Painter / Scenic Artist on the FX channel show " The Shield "
Head Painter / Scenic Artist on the NBC TV show " Providence "
Painter:
Michel Hayes , Family Law , CSI Miami , Century City
Head Painter / Scenic:
Standby painter for the Toutchstone pilot " THREAT MATRIX "
Godzilla , Duddly Do Right , 007 Visa Commercial , The Horse Whispers , Starship Troopers II
" GRILLED "
Production Designer: Tracey Gallacher
The Fuller Brush salesman meets Omaha Beef. With Ray Romano , Kevin James , Burt Reynolds and Sofía Vergara. It has transvestites , fast talking door to door meat salesmen, the mob. What else could one want in a movie. We shot locations all over the Los Angeles and San Fernando valley. We will be the last to use the noted Perino's nightcub on Wilshire as it is going to be torn down to make way for Condo's.
Head painter for the FX Televison show
Production Designer: Kitty Doris-Bates
Intense cop show on the FX network. Mostly shot on locations in and around Los Angeles east side and downtown. A lot of tyeing in our new doors and walls to what is already there. It has a very gritty look to it.
Head Painter for the NBC Series Providence.
Third / Fourth / Fifth Season
Production Designer: John DeCuir, Jr.
" The Princess and the Marine "
Production Designer: Curtis Schnell
December 2000 L.A. and Palm Springs
This is a true story from the headlines of today. A U.S. Marine falls in love with a Princess from Bahrain . He sneaks her out of the country.
Palm Springs and Indeo Ca. Worked for the Middle Eastern Island Country. The Marine stuff was shot at old bases in Long Beach. The biggest deal here was bringing a closed mall in Palm Springs back to life as one in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It aired on N.B.C. television to some good numbers.
Production Designer: Jon Gary Steele
June 2000 L.A. , Ca.
On the Glass House I was a location foreman. I did most of my work at the "real" house, which was in Malibu up on the hills over looking the Pacific just as in the story. All of the interiors were done in a " Glass House " built on stage 27 at Sony Studios in Culver City. This included the lap pool and interior reflective ponds. As it was set in current times and very " high tec " all of the paint was straight forward. Other than the high gloss blue metallic, which is a product manufactured in Culver City by a company called NOVA COLOR.
Painter
Production Designer: Jon Gary Steele
August 1999 L.A., Ca.
Location Forman
May. 1999 L.A., Ca.
With Danny DeVito, Bette Midler and Jamie Lee Curtis "Drowning Mona" is set in Verplank, New York. The trick here was, of course to make L.A. and the various locations ,look like the Hudson River Valley. This required changing the front of a convience store in Sierra Madria and constructing a brick Police station in the parking lot across the street. There were a lot of Yogo cars to age, as everyone in town drove one. Midler's character Mona ends up in the drink in her sons car and thus the drowning. We had various versions of this yellow car. This show may come out in March and should do quite well.
Mar. 1999 L.A., Ca.
The MGM TV production of Inherit The Wind a remake with the late George C. Scott and Jack Lemon. Mr. Lemon recived the Golden Globe for his roll in this show which aired on Showtime and then will be on N.B.C. television. Then it will be released to theaters in Europe. This one of the most fantastic projects to be involved in. Not that the painting was all that much, just a oak court room with granite floors. But to watch these two actors work together, along with Beu Bridges was a real treat. I did standby after the set painting was all done. The court room floor took a lot of work to keep up.
Jan. 1999 L.A., Ca.
Smart House for the Disney Channel is about a computerized home that a family wins. While we built a real "house / set" on stage in Santa Claritia most of the effects are being put in electroniclly via green screen. To do this all of the walls had be removable or in some cases just chunks of them. The metal protective shutters that lock down the place were made of masonite and painted with Hammerite a type of metalic paint.
Nov. 1998 L.A., Ca.
"That Championship Season" the story of a basketball team that once won the State Championship and now looks at their lives. It was a stage play then a film and now made once more by MGM as the own the rights as a cable movie of the week. It all takes place in a Old Victorian house. This ment we got to do a lot of woodgraining and marble on the floor and fireplace.
Sept. 1998 Lone Pine, Ca. / Bonneville Salt flats, UT.
Slow Burn With "Minnie Driver"," Josh Brolin" and" James Spader" is about lost diamonds and people lost in the deserts of the Southwest. The only real sets were a Toyota landcrusier and a tent. Lots of small props, strong box for the diamonds a bird cage. All of these were in triples that had to match. So there was some painting and ageing there. However most of my work was in painting Pictographs. Those Indian designs on rocks. As we were in State parks it all had to come off when we left. So I used murfeys oil soap and tempera paint. The locations were unreal. Lone Pine Ca. has a history of film making that goes back to the 20's. They shot "Gunga Din " there.
May. 1998 Tacoma, Wa.
10 Things I Hate About You is a Disney feature based upon the Shakespeare Taming of The Shrew. Hay it IS a new century right around the corner. The location of Stadium High School in Tacoma, Wa. was chosen as it LOOKS like a castle. Built in the late 1800's as a hotel it became a School when the city bought it in the 1900's. Well we "the paint department" had to make it into "PADUA" high school. We did a hide for the big S in the courtyard. We painted astro turf to hide the S on the football field. We did a cover of the sandstone name on the front of the building. This was a HUGE paint show. Just my kind, and I had once more my fantastic Northwest crew. One of the fun things to paint were the Pipe targets for the paint ball location. This was setup in Gas Works Park on Lake Union in Seattle.
Production Designer: Jeannine Oppewall
Various location in Washington State
"Snow Falling On Cedars" What a great show to do standby paint on. I must thank my friend "Barry Kootchin" for getting me into this spot.
This is from the book by the same title. While we used some of the same locations that I had been to in "Come See the Paradise". (both shows are based upon the internment of Japanese Americans in WW2). This picture has many sub plots running at the same time. Visually it is stunning. As always "Bob Richardson's" camera work is outstanding, from what I saw on the on set monitors it will fast out distance "The Horse Whisperer" in outstanding images. For those of you who don't know a "Standby Painter" is there to fix all of the last minute things a shooting company might run into. So some days you do nothing. Other days your hanging right next to the camera to see what needs to be touch up. It is a nice change of pace.
Feb. 1998 Twin Falls, Idaho.
Breakfast of Champions is a film adaptation of the Kurt Vondegut book. Written by Alan Rudolph. Staring Bruce Willis, Albert Finney, Barbara Hershey, Nick Nolte. This one is going to be a HOOT. Albert Finney stars as the demented writer Trout. While Nick Nolte is the cross dressing car salesman who lives in a Kama Sutra home. Both give a great twist to life . Part of the sets were the LaSaber house that had to be this sort of strange sexual palace. I did a fade of purple to heavy red in the "bed" room. While the living room went from GOLD to violet with a soft white line on the horizon. Which I over sprayed with the gold so that dead on it was gold, to the side white. Then there were these huge Kama Sutra on silk paintings we did. So they could be front or back lit. As we were working on a very small art department budget things had to be done cheaply and the cleanup must be fast. Thus the sandblast paper Marble.
1998 Set
Each year the Might Morphin Power Ranges have a new location for their headquarters. 1998 it is in space. I painted the main space ship. Making plastic and wood look like metal. I used various metallic powders in a clear binder over a gray base to make it work in a non toxic environment. As this set had to live for a whole season of television we used Bondo and not spackle for all the seams. It had to be grip proof. Which still didn't help when one of them stepped thru the ceiling two days prior to the start of shooting.
Oct. 1997 L.A.
In a cross marketing promotion
VISA and UA put together a 007 commercial that ran in various
sporting broadcasts and as a trailer in theaters prior to the
opening of "Tomorrow Never Dies" in theaters nation wide. The sets were
quite elaborate, here is a over view of the outsides, including
a 
concrete tunnel and great hall.
Feb 1997 L.A.
Forman
American History X is a
very dark show. Looking into the relationship of siblings and
their environment with the Neo-Nazi subculture of America. As it
was on a small budget we used many locations. Once more lots of
hiding signs and repaint of houses. The interesting aspect in
this project was the "rubber" curb for the jaw breaking shot.
Oct. 1996 Salt Lake City
From those whack-oh
Scots who gave you "Shallow Grave" and 
"Trainspotting" now comes "A Life Less Ordinary" . Some designers want to paint
everything and that was the case here. Cabins built in the mountains outside Salt Lake, to the dirt
in a grave. Everything felt the touch of the brush. A comedy that
is as dark as "Homer and Eddie" , this one deals with love and divine
intervention. Set in somewhere U.S.A. it is a very colorful show.
At least we put a lot of paint on things, and wallpaper.
May 1996 Seattle
"Pandora's Clock" a N.B.C. four hour mini series shot in Seattle takes place on a 747. Think of Outbreak meets Airplane. The sets were all High Tec. The C.I.A., White House Oval office, 747 cabin and cockpit. It was a fun project to be able to make Seattle into four other countries.
Feb. 1996 L.A.
"The Crime of the Century" is the story of the Lindbergh
kidnapping and the execution of a carpenter named Hauptmann. This
story uses both original footage and new material to tell the
story of what seem to be a wrongful death. Set in 1932 to 1935 it
required a lot of old material to be made new once more. Along
with new material and set dressing copied from old photographs
that needed to match. We also had to make southern California
look like New Jersey in the fall and winter. Frosted windows
winter sky backdrops. Lots of jails and various cells. Poured concrete walls, brick walls,
steel walls all of the usual.
Mar. 1995 L.A.
"Ed" the story of a chimp that plays
baseball better than the kid he rooms with. For this we built a
full size Baseball stadium at the Saben movie ranch on sand canyon road north of
L.A. The designer wanted this to be all old and crackled. It took
a LOT of Sodium Silicate and Shellac but we did it. Other sets
included a locker room to match the look of the stadium and some
apartments. I did a 
20' x 40' sky
drop for outside the
window. These sets were all built on the Delifeno stage in Sylmar
Ca.
Jan. 1995 Seattle
"Under One Roof" was a C.B.S. series set in Seattle. We did eight episodes. The home set we did in a warehouse featured natural wood trim. This was woodgrained, because it was built from hemlock and pine. The walls had two oil glazes over the base color, I used japans in McCluskys, this gave them a very warm and deep look when lit. Then there were various locations around town that had their usual small changes made that I had to tie in. We also painted five backdrops for use out side the windows of the house set. These matched the existing location we were using for exteriors.
Aug. 1994 Seattle
"Georgia", a tail of rock and roll and drugs. Two sisters' one who makes it and one who, at the end, sorta. Well visually it is going to be a looker. The Art Department did some swell stuff for, once more, very little money. We did plugs to block off wide vistas that didn't fit. Then we hid a ranch house by turning it into a barn, which we then aged. Then there were some location sets in the Pioneer Square. Here we did the normal wild walls and patching and painting of existing areas.
June 1994 Seattle
Born
To Be Wild which was described
to me as FREE WILLIE with fur. In a way it was, but I think more
as it touches on some real life stories. A gorilla that signs,
one that lives in a cage in a shopping center and a young upset
lad. We did a lot of sets for very little money on this project.
This included a 
Mountain wood cabin on stage. All in all
it was a straight forward show with some real visuals that looked
good but were cheap.
Feb. 1994 L.A.
Forman
Don Juan Demarco and the Centerfold brings Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando
together for a full fantasy love story. A lot of the action was
shot on the SIR sound stages in Culver City due to the nature of
the sets. Spanish Bedrooms, Bathrooms and Steam Ship Heads. See
you can tell that it is a comedy, lots of toilets. There were
locations in downtown L.A. to the Valdez movie ranch in Saguss.
Here we painted the entire town to look Mediterranean. Then there were an Arab and Mexican
seaport on two sides of a terminal island pier.
June 1993 Great Falls, Mt.
Holy Matrimony is set in a Huterite commune in Canada. We built one on a wheat ranch in Montana. Besides this army size set there were boxcars, various cars, trucks and a bathroom. It seems as if on every other show I end up doing a bathroom of some kind. The more interesting part of the project was rubber cementing flocked wallpaper on three motel rooms. I chose this technique so we could just peel it off and walk away not having to repaint or paper the rooms. I had done it before with fabric on other shows.
Jan 1993 Seattle
Little Buddha is from Bernardo
Bertolucci, the bulk of which was shot in Nepal. I worked on the
Seattle part. It called for general painting and age. Nothing
trick except painting a hillside Matte Blue for a composite to be
done in England.
June 1992 Seattle, Wa.
This is a light
comedy with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan called Sleepless in Seattle. Hanks lives on a houseboat with his son.
We used a real one for the exteriors but built a double on stage
for the interiors. There was a townhouse first and second floor
and other insert sets. The largest on this show was the
observation deck, gift shop and elevator foyer of the Empire State
Building. This came in
over 120 feet long and 65 feet deep. I ended up using a mix of
Fixall, cornmeal and sawdust for the stone walls. Some of the
stainless was real other made from masonite. We had to use three silk screens to get the terrazzo
floor. At the same time, I had others making the reddish tiles
for the exterior floor, which while still wet, we spattered with
water to get the acid rain pockmarks that the existing has.
Feb. 1992 Portland, Or.
The Temp is a story of a unstable temporary worker. She comes to a bakery and runs amuck. We had a large set in a office building downtown Portland. Yet the biggest was the two and a half story "working" bakery we built in a warehouse. This used vacuum formed brick in large arches and end walls, along with new steel catwalks and foreman offices. One room the "sugar room" ended up being sprayed with 77 adhesive and then flocked with real sugar and silver glitter. We had various other sets, bed and breakfast, offices. One part was shot on the Oregon coast where Tim Hutton and Lara Flynn Boyle were to almost fall off the edge of a cliff. This was constructed from chicken wire which I then sprayed with house foam. After carving it to match the rocky coast it was painted and dressed with some real flora and fauna.
Oct. 1991 Minneapolis, MN. Moab, UT.
Equinox is a Alan Rudolph's show. This one tells the story of a twin that doesn't know his is a twin. It is a Love/Comedy/Drama. The interesting part of this project was working on a small budget. To make things go a long way we set up a promo trade for paint. One big part of my work was that of models. We needed to make a city outside one of our locations. The real one didn't give us the correct look. This was then reused via a repaint for another set that was built on stage.
During the shooting, Minneapolis was struck with the worst snow storm in twenty years and we suddenly had to create many NEW sets to cover areas that were no longer available. One was the interior of a subway car. Built from Masonite, I used "Hamertone" paint in various grays and then graphite to get the worn metal look that we needed. When we moved to Moab for a dinner shot, I ended up painting the signs on the glass windows as none of the local sign people could get it done as fast as needed.
July 1991 Seattle, Wa
American Heart is a story of ex-convict Jeff Bridges and his son. A dark and moody story so the look had to match. The set we built on stage for his apartment was just plain fun. It is rare that one can age away to their heart's content. On this show I could as the designer wanted it to look "real" on film. We were matching a actual location that was a transient hotel and low income housing. This gave me some great reference material. Such as cigarette burns, coffee cup stains, heavy water damage, mildew, and just plain dirt. It really was great fun that only those of us in the industry can appreciate.
Mar. 1991 Tacoma, Wa.
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is a very Hitchcock show about a
revengeful governess played by Rebecca De Mornay. As with most
shows there were the new doors in existing park locations. There
was a dry cleaners to totally repaint, while it was still in
operation, along with work in a working Hospital and Clinic.
However the main location was one house and yard that had to change with the help of a "handyman" during the show. This huge Victorian home was painted inside and out. Also we had new construction that was aged and crack/peeled to match the existing weathered look. On stage we built, aged and distressed a full size basement and attic. I found it best to mold one of the cedar beams and then apply the grain in "Fixall" on luan boxes, then used Japan colors to have them match. I also did one on blue foam that the grips used as a cutter. Cobwebs, dust, leaks all added to the look of a old home.
Feb. 1991 Seattle, Wa.
This was a C.B.S. movie of the week about homeless. Featuring Tyne Daily it ran as "The Face of a Stranger". It required a Tombstone (granite out of foam) and a burnt building. Other smaller sets were the interior of a house and a hospital. Both of these were a repaint. The house had one trick in the wallpaper for the bedroom. We changed it by rubber cementing fabric over it. This then just peeled of when we were done.
Nov. 1990 Memphis, Tenn.
Scenic on the T.N.T. production of "Memphis" with Cybil Shepherd. Shot in Memphis, this once more was a film set in the fifties. Due to that a lot of the set decoration needed to be spruced up to look fresher. Also a lot of signage was needed. With this production it was faster to have a local sign painter do them and then I made them fit our needs. Some to look current some to look very aged. There were three duplicate cars ('51 Chev Coupes) plus various curbs and lamp poles. Big sets included the Illinois Central train station, two entire houses and an amusement park.
July 1990 Seattle, Wa.
Scenic on the A.B.C.
movie of the week "I'll Take Romance". This was a straight forward today's time
film. However, as it was set in a television station, I did get
to do some "sets" such as a Paris backing. There were
also art cards that were used on various monitors and as props in
the studio. Then as transportation couldn't get any Seattle
Police cars, the "Goodwill Games" were on, I had to
spray-lat some rentals to work. The worse thing of this show was
two years latter while going on a vacation to the islands this
was the in flight movie. But still it is a easy show.
Mar. 1990 Cincinnati, Ohio
I was the head
painter/scenic on the feature " A Rage in Harlem ". This was shot on location in Cincinnati
Ohio. This was picked as our show was a period piece set in 1956.
The area of "Over the Rhine" still has the need
architecture for Harlem at this time. The largest set was a full ballroom
that I and a crew of four painted in two days. The second was a
church that two of us painted and aged in three days. One
interesting set on this show was a shack built from two old
barns. I then had to tie all of our new material to this existing
age. This show also required a large amount of
"washable" age. This kept locations costs down as we
could just wash it off and walk away.
Production Designer : K.C. Fox
Jan. 1990 Seattle, Wa
Head painter on C.B.S. movie of the week, titled "Child in the Night". Shot in Seattle, the story dealt with a murder and a witness who suppressed what he saw. This child under observation explains a dream of Captain Hook and his pirate ship. Thus I painted a large fantasy boat set. This had to relate to the drawings the child did in Crayons. I sprayed a base color on T-111 siding and then by using cut down rollers matched the scribble of colors. Last, I blocked in the ground color of the paper the child had used.
Production Designer: Steve Karatzas
Nov. '89 Hong Kong
Head painter on the Warner Bros. C.B.S. movie of the week "Forbidden Nights". This was shot on location in Hong Kong. Technically this was a very good show for me. China is a very run down country so our locations were all in the outer neighborhoods of Hong Kong. I had to match our new material to that which had been there for ninety to one hundred years. Also, they use some strange construction methods which, in turn, effects the way age develops. We also constructed a apartment set on a sound stage at the Shaw Studios.
Oct. '89 Portland & Tacoma
Painter on the Alan Parker feature "Come See the Paradise". This crew numbered six sometimes eight painters plus two to three in signage. The feature was another 1935 to 1949 period. Parker is so fond of very heavy aging that the production called it "Parkerisation" of a set.
" Waiting For The Light "
1990 Tacoma , Wa.
A former vaudevillian magician (MacLaine) moves her straight-laced niece (Garr) and her two mischievous children to a small town. When the two kids get in trouble with a neighbor for stealing vegetables from his garden, the aunt concocts an illusion of ghosts in revenge. The neighbor lives in a Hermit type burnt out house next door. Only trouble is the whole town believes it is real and soon the press is swarming the town and a major magic trick is required for everyone to save face.
The restoration of old cars and
"
building of street rods". Spray painting, welding, bodywork, engineering and
design . Metal fabrication, cold material casting. Woodworking,
the use of pneumatic and electric tools. Film, television and
theater skills with over twenty years experience. Worked as a
draftsman for the U.S. ARMY CORPS of Engineers. (return to main)
To see a full list of films with
links to them all jump to The BIG LIST
last update 4/15/04
