Created by Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck and directed by David Mandel, the five-part miniseries White House Plumbers shines a fresh light on the real-life comedy of errors that burst out of the infamous Watergate scandal. Light Iron provided dailies and final color for the project, which reteamed cinematographer Steven Meizler and supervising colorist Ian Vertovec. As Vertovec explains, The tone of the series can be almost comedic at times, but we always wanted the show to look and feel like a political thriller.
Meizler and Vertovec began collaborating early on to create a custom shooting LUT ahead of principal photography. My prep process was to bring the camera to location and take pictures to later go through with Ian to carve out a LUT, the cinematographer recalls. Its very important for me to come up with a LUT in prep because I don't like to color on set. I dont want to spend one second of the day coloring when I know I could be shooting instead.
The collaborators also shared a number of visual references, including director Alan J. Pakula's feature All the President's Men, shot by Gordon Willis, ASC. Meizler notes, We didnt want to copy it Gordon Willis amazing work isn't something to copy but David Mandel said to me early on in prep that he wanted this to be like a sister project to that. We also looked at these Polaroid images from Davids look-book and used them as a jumping-off point to make it gritty and give it an edge that really leans into the darkness and shows the duplicitousness of these people while staying grounded in the reality of the 70s.
Vertovec notes that another Pakula-Willis collaboration provided additional inspiration. We also talked a lot about The Parallax View, which has some really interesting wide-angle work that emphasizes the architecture of the period, the colorist explains. Also, the Eastman film stock used at the time had strong earth tones without diminishing primary colors.
During the grade, we made sure to maintain the restrained palette of the references, but we also focused on the contrast of each location, Vertovec continues. The more it looked like a serious political thriller, the more you felt the ridiculous behavior of the main characters.
With the final grade, the filmmakers sought to place viewers in the period setting without overtly calling attention to it. There's something about warm yellows that make you feel like youre in the 70s that I really wanted to stay away from, Meizler details. So in the color process, I watched it a few times with Ian to really get a sense of the look, and I kept going back and saying, No, I want some more yellow taken out of that,' and every time we would get more color separation.
It's important to go over and over it again to find things that we both think are good, the cinematographer continues. Weve become attuned to each others aesthetic. Based on what we both see and what we both like, there's a shorthand. Hell put a window in before Ill even say, Maybe we should put a window there.'
Meizler and Vertovec's shared credits also include episodes of the Netflix series The OA and the recent Apple release The Beanie Bubble. Light Iron has always been supportive through the years, and Ian has been really huge, the cinematographer shares. He inspires me to bring stuff to projects that I usually wouldnt.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's leading streaming television channels, at NAB 2026 will be launching new Studio services to help content ow...
07/04/2026
Ikegami USA has chosen NAB 2026 in Las Vegas as the launch platform for new additions to its range of broadcast-quality television production equipment. These w...
07/04/2026
April 19, 2026, Las Vegas Kiloview, an innovative provider of AV-over-IP technologies, will showcase its latest broadcast IP solutions at NAB 2026, presenting...
07/04/2026
Bitmovin has announced support for Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI) across its playback products using HLS interstitials, enabling more advanced ad-supported s...
07/04/2026
Synamedia is unveiling AI by Quortex at The NAB show, a just-in-time AI plugin framework that applies intelligence only when needed across video processing, dis...
07/04/2026
Cuez will showcase four additions to its cloud-based newsroom, rundown and automation platform at NAB Show 2026 (April 18 22, Las Vegas, Booth N1867):
Cuez ...
07/04/2026
CueScript to Showcase Innovations at NAB that Add Mobility Options, Ease Editing...
07/04/2026
Barix Extends Transport Options for Multi-Engine IP Encoder
Brie Clayton April 7, 2026
0 Comments
New for NAB, Barix adds SRT and RIST support to Mult...
07/04/2026
Elite Media Technologies Selects Interra Systems' BATON File-Based QC Soluti...
07/04/2026
Tightrope Media Systems to Debut Cablecast LiveBridge for Simultaneous Streaming...
07/04/2026
Cuez Brings Four New Innovations to NAB 2026: From Story-Centric Newsroom to Ope...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/04/2026
Designed for synchronized multi-stream playback, low-latency delivery, and real-time analytics, MATCH introduces a unified viewing experience for sports broadca...
07/04/2026
Berklee Students to Honor George Martin with Performance of Original Scores The orchestra, led by associate professor Xander Rovang, will perform several work...
06/04/2026
Michigan legends bring a new voice to the broadcast as TNT Sports and CBS Sports...
06/04/2026
From high school sports all the way up to the major leagues, building high-quali...
06/04/2026
Quickplay, an AI company for the media and entertainment industry, has been accepted into the Advanced tier of the TwelveLabs Ecosystem Partner Program. Quickpl...
06/04/2026
Grass Valley has announced the Future Playmakers Program, a global initiative to...
06/04/2026
El l der de operaciones impulsa la producci n en estudio mientras encuentra insp...
06/04/2026
The ops leader helps lead the charge in studio for the Spanish-language broadcas...
06/04/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
06/04/2026
The National Hockey League (NHL), in partnership with Verizon and the New Jersey Devils, today announced the opening of the NHL Innovation Lab powered by Verizo...
06/04/2026
Rock League, a new professional curling league, has announced that ESPN+ will stream its inaugural 2026 season for fans in the United States. The first Rock Lea...
06/04/2026
Advanced Systems Group has announced the appointment of Andrea (Andy) Cummis as Vice President of Systems Design and Engineering. In this role, she will lead de...
06/04/2026
Backed by Bolt Ventures, the venture brings Bryson DeChambeau, Grant Horvat, and...
06/04/2026
With this environment we can start that collaboration even earlier because we ca...
06/04/2026
Like the immortal lives of vampires, some stories never really end. That's t...
06/04/2026
As podcasting continues to evolve, growth increasingly means building beyond aud...
06/04/2026
Multiband dynamics plug-in enhanced
California-based developer FSK Audio have released a significant update for their innovative multiband dynamics processo...
06/04/2026
Share official & user-created full-rig presets
IK Multimedia's latest TONEX update makes it possible for users of the popular amp and effects modelling ...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/04/2026
Dalet Showcases Dalia Agentic AI and End-to-End Media Workflows at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Dalet, a leading technology and...
06/04/2026
OpenDrives Shows Off Sports Expertise in Sports Business Hub located in NAB Show...
06/04/2026
Proton to Demonstrate 3D Application at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Yet further creative potential unleashed through innovation in ...
06/04/2026
Autoscript Highlights Voice-Driven Prompting and PTZ Solutions at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton April 6, 2026
0 Comments
Experience Autoscript Voice, PTZ prom...
06/04/2026
Mediaproxy Highlights Significant Enhancements to its LogServer suite at NAB Sho...
06/04/2026
Wayne, N.J., April 6th, 2026 Phantom High-Speed announces the release of PCC 4...
06/04/2026
April 6th, 2026
TRIBECA STUDIOS AND LILLY ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF INAUGURAL VITAL...
06/04/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Kids Entertainment Lineup With Playground App ...
05/04/2026
Tackles all reported bugs!
SoundBridge have just announced the launch of a new update that introduces a couple of minor changes to their remote collaboratio...
Created by Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck and directed by David Mandel, the five-part miniseries White House Plumbers shines a fresh light on the real-life comedy of errors that burst out of the infamous Watergate scandal. Light Iron provided dailies and final color for the project, which reteamed cinematographer Steven Meizler and supervising colorist Ian Vertovec. As Vertovec explains, The tone of the series can be almost comedic at times, but we always wanted the show to look and feel like a political thriller. 
