Spotlight: Malchus Janocko
FBI is known for its intriguing stories and fast-paced action, and the show has a brand new playground for bringing these stories to life — an innovative filming location called Gettywood. Production Designer Malchus Janocko has worked on FBI since Season Two, and played a key role in the creation of this new space. We talked with Malchus about what went into the design for Gettywood, what makes this space stand out, and what kind of scenes he’s most excited to shoot here.
Q: Tell us about your career to this point. How did you become interested in this field?
A: I studied painting and glass blowing at Rochester Institute of Technology, and after graduating from RIT, applied to Carnegie Mellon University with the goal of becoming a scenic painter. I was accepted at CMU, but into the design program rather than the painting program. I made the decision to stick it out and earned a graduate degree in set design for theater. Upon graduating, I moved to New York, as one does, where I started working at a design firm almost immediately. My wife and I, who share a career in the arts, joined United Scenic Artists local 829, the union that represents designers and scenic artists on Broadway and in film and tv, shortly thereafter. I continued working in events and sports television — we did a lot of car shows — for about seven years before transitioning to film and scripted television in 2004.
Q: Tell us about Gettywood. Where did the idea for this lot come from?
A: Gettywood is our newly completed shooting location that we designed at the end of Season Six and constructed over our filming hiatus to be used for Season Seven (and beyond!). We developed most of the facility’s 67,000 square feet on a site in Long Island City that’s almost 4 acres large and was previously a Getty oil storage terminal. Tony Argento, the owner of Broadway Stages where FBI shoots, also owns this property and has leased it to us since Season Three. Executive Producer and Producing Director Alex Chapple had been musing on the idea of creating an actual backlot there — it felt like the natural next step in the evolution of the show. We had been spitballing about building something for months before the idea was developed enough for Alex, Executive Producer Amanda Slater, and Producer Rachel Cates to propose it to Wolf Entertainment.
Q: What are some of the benefits of the space?
A: Gettywood is so smart. It’s convenient and efficient, because it allows us to create multiple locations for a single day of shooting — no need to move trucks! We spent a day there last week and we were able to shoot four different scenes at four separate story locations within the space. If we can be there even just one day per episode, the amount of time we save is exceptional. On the lot, we have several interiors and exteriors — from a row of brick townhouses to industrial space to a handful of shops to a cafe with outdoor seating, it’s a little bit of everything. If we favor any given setting in an episode, we’re able to favor a different direction the following episode. We just do some redressing and repainting and add different foreground elements, and we can shoot episode after episode without the audience seeing too much of any one thing.
Q: What’s your favorite feature of the set?
A: I enjoy blowing it up! As fans know, we like to do plenty of fires and explosions on the show, and we’re able to do those things more freely and easily at Gettywood. Case in point: the first time we shot there, we blew up a bodega! We can go really big there — we can have guns out and cars crashing and our stunt team jumping out windows and anything we can imagine. The details here allow us to create more effects practically and rely less on VFX, and that’s a great capability to have.
Q: Does FBI require anything unique as far as production design compared to other shows?
A: FBI is definitely different from other projects I’ve been on — I worked for six years on Gossip Girl, and we didn’t breach a single door! On FBI I’ve become very familiar with all of the ways that set design and special effects can interface. We work with our special effects team lead by Johann Kunz and James Kolpin all the time, and we’re always trying to engineer things to make them new and fresh and interesting. I have a fine art background, but I also love engineering and architecture, so it’s great to be in a position where those specialties come together to figure out how to blow stuff up and make it look cool.
Q: Tell us about the teamwork it took to create Gettywood.
A: So many people came together to make this space happen, from the initial design to the construction. We can draw and imagine sets all day, but it takes so much to actually make it a reality, and we had an amazing team that was able to do just that. We got our special effects team and our stunt coordinator involved while we were developing the space as well, to see how we could accommodate ways to help them accomplish their goals for the show. Even the actors were excited about what we were doing and have been huge champions for our work. I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished; I still can’t believe that everybody approved it!
Q: What is your favorite episode of FBI?
A: Episode 609, “Best Laid Plans.” It involves an exciting diamond heist that culminates in a giant shootout in downtown Manhattan. One of the things that we love to do on the show is incorporate places and events that are unique to New York City, and in this case, the agents run into a Cipriani space that’s setting up for an art auction, and the shootout ensues. It’s one of the most ingenious and thoughtful locations that we’ve done, and that we tied into a great set build.
Catch the first scenes shot at Gettywood in Episode 3 of Season 7 of FBI, airing Tuesday, October 29th at 8pm PT on CBS, and see more of Malchus’ production design in action when you stream FBI on Paramount+.
