Crafting the Contenders: Adam Bricker, ASC on bringing Hacks home

By the time Hacks reached its fifth and final season, Adam Bricker ASC had spent six years shaping one of television's most distinctive visual identities. The HBO Max comedy, created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky, concluded in May 2026 with 47 episodes, 25 nominations for its final season, and a cinematography profile that had already earned Bricker five Emmy and four ASC nominations.

From our earliest conversations, Lucia, Paul, Jen, and I agreed that being a half-hour comedy didn't mean the show had to look a certain way says the DP who lensed every single episode. The scripts are so funny and the performances so perfect that the visuals don't necessarily need to underline the comedy. Our cinematic language is naturalistic, sometimes even moody, and always reflective of where the characters are emotionally.

That philosophy shaped Hacks from its Las Vegas origins-following legendary comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her young writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder)-through a journey that eventually took the characters to Los Angeles, New York, Singapore, and finally Paris.

Bricker and the creators built the show's early aesthetic from a mix of references: Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven and Behind the Candelabra, the Judy Garland biopic Judy, and classic Vegas photography. The goal was a modern image with a nostalgic pulse, a subtle nod to Deborah's heyday.

To achieve it, Bricker partnered with Panavision's Guy McVicker to rework Primo 70 glass into something more period inflected. He engineered a custom lens treatment that softened the highlights, added a bit of bloom and gave the flares a warm, vintage glow, Bricker explains.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

Carrying the look across five seasons Once we established the look in season one, that became our reference point for the seasons that followed, Bricker says. It's been an exciting challenge figuring out how to keep the visuals cohesive as the world expands and evolves in ways we couldn't have anticipated when we started.

It helped that Bricker worked with the same core collaborators throughout including colorist Shane Reed, who runs boutique color house MOM&POP. That consistency allowed him to treat the show almost like a long form feature film, evolving the palette and lensing choices as the characters matured.

He established the look in season one with Gaffer Christopher Faulkner and Key Grip Randy Garcia. Gaffer Daniel McNutt joined in season two. Bricker describes the lighting and grip teams as incredibly dedicated and talented, helping evolve the visual language of the series over five seasons.

The final season took Deborah and Ava to France, and with it came a major shift in Bricker's approach.

The work we did in Paris was the biggest departure from our standard operating procedure, he says.

Without the ability to bring the full Los Angeles crew overseas, Bricker and director Lucia Aniello leaned into a more agile, intimate approach. In Paris, the story really narrows its focus to Ava and Deborah, he explains. We talked about approaching it more like an indie film-staying close to them and creating a sense of intimacy in those key, pivotal moments.

Instead of transforming locations into heightened worlds, as they often did in Las Vegas, Bricker embraced Paris as it was.

Working with found light, real spaces, and a smaller crew created a tonal shift that felt right for where the characters were emotionally.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

A cinematic farewell It's unusual for a single cinematographer to lens every episode of a multi-season series. Bricker embraced the challenge.

I loved these characters. I loved the way Jen, Paul, and Lucia told their story. I couldn't imagine not being a part of it, he says.

By the time we reached the fifth season, there was something really satisfying about being able to make choices with a sense of the whole - looking at a script and connecting a palette or a lens to something we'd established years earlier. You start revisiting the work from those first seasons and realize that some of those early choices were setting up things you're only now getting to pay off.

But there's also a wonderful freedom in trusting your intuition - going with your gut and believing those instincts will keep everything cohesive, because that's what we'd relied on all along to tell the story.

The final episode even mirrors the pilot which opened on a oner on Deborah Vance's back. Episode 47 opens on Ava's back.

We knew early on that we wanted to connect the two shots as much as possible, so [Production Designer] Rob Tokarz counted Deborah's steps, and designed the set so that Ava would take the same number. It was shot by Steadicam Operator Joel Marsh who worked with me on every episode, and with the same focus puller, Jamiel VanOver, another longtime collaborator, and on the same custom 35mm lens we designed six years earlier.

You can really feel that continuity, Bricker says. We all gave so much to the show over those six years, so for me it was genuinely special to have the opportunity to see it all the way through. And of course, it's not just me. The continuity of this incredibly talented and dedicated crew is a huge part of the show. You can put on any episode and immediately feel that consistency.

He adds, We all really grew as filmmakers over the course of making this show. Getting to do that together, over five seasons, has been one of the best experiences of my career.

Bricker's other work includes Netflix culinary-doc series Chef's Table (for which he earned an ASC nomination and two Emmy nominations), and Netflix true-crime mockumentary American Vandal.

Sohonet is proud to be part of the workflow for this award-winning production.

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