There are few people who know more about lighting for television than Bill Berner. Over the course of a nearly 40 year career, he’s lit countless series and episodes of celebrated television, and picked up six Daytime Emmy Awards and 11 nominations. He shares a nomination for Sesame Street and a win for Between The Lions with previous podcast guest Mitchell Bogard and his credits span from corporate theater to TV Funhouse to a slate of Disney sitcoms.

Today, Bill is a Director of Photography working almost exclusively on multi-camera sitcoms. His latest project is The Crew on Netflix, which released its first season the same day this episode was posted. We discussed the show in-depth, with Bill explaining his approach, his fixture and grip choices, the schedule by week and by season, and how he deploys his team. We also discussed his early career and how that led to him forming Berner & Brill Lighting Design with Steve Brill, why he departed the company, why he chose to transition from an LD role to a DP role, and the continuum of job titles and responsibilities he’s held.

Come back next time for the second half of the interview! Thanks for downloading and listening!