A Few Memories of Tom Yatsko, Director of Photography on Fringe

By Stephen Tulley (@Stephen_Tulley)

You’ve seen them before, all those names listed at the end of movies in the credits and on TV shows and you might have asked yourself, “What does that person do?” Because I work in the business I’m often asked that question.

One of the names Fringe fans saw over the first three seasons was Tom Yatsko, who served as Director of Photography for twenty-four episodes and directed three of my favorite episodes of the series: “White Tulip,” “6B,” and “The Last Sam Weiss.” Now I never got the chance to work on Fringe since I don’t work in New York or Vancouver, but I did have the chance to work with Tom on the first two seasons of Brothers & Sisters on ABC Television from 2006-2007 where I was a stand-in.

Now to be blunt: If there ever was a slighty-crazy creative genius like Dr. Walter Bishop on a TV set, his name would be Tom Yatsko! So for this blog I’d like to relate a few “Tomisms” from set in lieu of Walterisms.


You can actually see a very quick interview with Tom on “The Massive Undertaking” feature of The Ghost Network (1.03) where he explains that the crew had not previously seen the tunnel in New York where they filmed the bus trapped in amber – they just showed up and had one night to film three scenes! And in a more hilarious inside-joke homage to Tom by the writers, Peter’s childhood cocker-spaniel was named “Yatsko” in 3.09 “Marionette”.

Now I should explain first that in the American system of filming the Director of Photography (called the DP) is in charge of all technical aspects of cinematography and all of the camera directions and set lighting. Consequently he/she works very closely with the Director, whereas in the British system (where they are called the DOP) they have a little less direct oversight of filming. As a result, almost all DP’s have been camera operators earlier in their careers. Up until recently some Chief Lighting Technicians (called the “Gaffer”) had been allowed to serve as a DP, but I’ve learned that rule was changed in the guild.

For those who are interested, setting-up a scene entails the following steps (please skip below if too technical). The 1st Assistant Director will call out for a “Rehearsal with Heads of Departments.” As the Director walks through the scene with the actors he/she will also talk with the DP about setting up the shot. The conversation often goes something like this - Dir: “I’m thinking about this angle.” DP: “Umm… How about this angle? And then coverage from this angle?” and so on. It really is quite a collaborative effort and viewers might be surprised to learn just how “on the fly” decisions are made about how to shoot a scene. After the two directors have agreed on the set-up they will then have a “marking rehearsal” with the actors. At this point the DP begins to talk with the camera operators (there are usually two, “A” and “B” on most shoots) about how to set up the shot, which lenses to use, the film speed, etc. As the actors walk through the scene the 2nd Assistant Camera Operator (the “clapper-loader”) follows the actors and marks the spots where they stop with colored masking tape. Upon completion the 1st AD will “excuse First Team” (i.e., the actors) and “invite in Second Team” meaning, the stand-ins. The actors and the Director then leave the set and the DP begins to work with the Key Grip and the Gaffer on what lights to bring in, how to organize the shot such as setting up tracks for a rolling shot, etc.

It’s at this point that DP’s earn their reputation as the “Mad Hatters” of the set, often pacing back and forth, waving at a wall, saying “a bit of this, a little bit of that” and so on.

On the reshot pilot of Brothers & Sisters I remember one such lighting set-up where Tom was eating a lollipop and having a conversation with the Gaffer John Smith that went like this:

TY: (Waving at a suspended light.) “That… what do you call that?”

JS: (Sarcastically.) “Uh, we call that a light… sir.”

TY: “Good. A little bit more of that then.”

And on another episode where I was standing-in for a day player Tom had me standing at an elevator at a nice Spanish-revival hotel. The cameras were a good ten yards away down some steps. He began yelling “Open your palm! Open your palm!” As I began to think, “He can’t possibly want to light the palm of my hand as I push the call button for the elevator?” he yelled out, “Now, light the palm of his hand!” And they did.

It’s during this lighting set-up that sets become complete chaos as the stand-ins move from mark to mark for both cameras to frame the action and the 1st Assistant Camera Operator (the “focus-puller”) for each camera measures the distance from the lens to the corner of the stand-in’s eye socket, since focus is done manually on most industry cameras. C-stands and riser stands get moved around, lights are moved and adjusted with filters and the 1st AD will often repeatedly ask the DP “How long?” meaning, how long until the set-up is complete and the Director and the actors can come back in. My job as a stand-in was to match the actions of my actor for the camera operators and try to listen to three or four important voices out of the cacophony of perhaps forty crew members talking to each other and their respective departments on radios. Most of the crew on Brothers & Sisters had worked together on Alias for years, so they felt completely at ease to chat about anything-but-the-shot, which made it an even louder set. [Anna Torv once talked about how loud the Fringe set was compared to others.]

On more than a few occasions Tom just didn’t like how the shot had been set-up and called out the ominous phrase, “Executive decision!” He would then completely change the positions of the actors and cameras, causing everyone to reposition for the shot. When the Director and the actors came back in there would have to be a small private meeting between him and the Director while the stand-ins would have to tell their actors that everything had changed. Luckily for me Tom Skerritt was nice about it, but I felt bad for my friend Candy who had to tell two-time Oscar winner Sally Field that, “Everything you did in rehearsal has changed now.” (Actors don’t like to “rethink” everything they’ve been doing in their trailer for that shot.)

On another wacky day on the pilot of Brothers & Sisters Tom was having long discussion with Director Ken Olin about a scene in a backyard pool where Tom Skerritt’s character (“William Walker”) has a heart attack and falls in the water to eventually die. There was a lot of discussion about stunt work, underwater shots, getting the right equipment, etc. I mumbled to myself, “I hope I don’t have to work in the water” right at the point when the 2nd2nd Assistant Director walked up to me and said, “Uh, tomorrow night is the death scene in the pool Steve… You might want to bring a pair of bathing trunks.”

Thankfully they used the stuntman for that lighting set-up!

So that’s a bit what it’s like working with Tom Yatsko on set, and probably gives you a better idea about why the writers wrote him into “Marionette.” Fringe fans might also be pleased to learn that he continued to work under J.H. Wyman as DP on Almost Human, and currently has served as DP on Gotham on Fox TV.