SCÈNE 02. Amanda Verdon, Head of Film & TV, bigbaldhead
The morning after a martyred dinner party, the ideal housewife directs a kitchen sink drama.
Welcome to 2024, and welcome back to this, our second edition of Mise-En-Scène. Perhaps your holidays were partly spent like mine: Taking in middling-to-extraordinary entertainment (Saltburn! Wonka! Anatomy of a Fall! Poor Things!); observing all the little details in said entertainment, and clocking when they were used to transcendent effect (again, Poor Things); and attempting to be as thoughtful and visually expressive across my own avenues—personal attire, gift-wrapping efforts, even baking projects!—over these past two weeks, the most boisterous and acutely earnest of the year.
This edition’s featured guest is a champion of radical opulence and unaffected personal expression. (Reared on maximalist-minimalists like Tim Burton—the O.G. Frankenweenie (1984) being a particular favorite—our curator is someone who understands making the high concept feel intimate and universal.) Amanda Verdon is an executive in film and television who, regardless of her peripatetic schedule and how much she balances at any given moment, is always game to add another ball to her juggling routine. She is also especially game to drop said balls in order to race to a recent work by a promising playwright or express-order a book by a first-time author someone trusted mentioned to her in passing. In short, she is voracious and optimistic; the girl stays primed for discoveries.
Amanda goes into things hoping they will offer a sharp point of view and be resolute in their execution, but she also reflects on how artists grow into their voices throughout the trajectory of their careers. (Someone she currently has her sights on is Croatian writer-director Daina O. Pusić.) Amanda intuitively understands the mysteries of the human heart, appreciates the dark comedy of day-to-day life, and brings those sensibilities to bear on the notes she passes on to creators: economical, perceptive, and sensitive to the grunt work it takes to show us something cool, even sublime.
Currently the Head of Film & TV at bigbaldhead, the production company founded by Norman Reedus, Amanda has her thumbs in several creative pies at a time; before this, she cut her teeth as a development executive at AMC, where she had a front-row seat to aughts-defining television like The Walking Dead (2010-2022) and, crucially, Mad Men (2007-2015).
And it’s precisely in Mad Men’s ‘60s-era diorama of claustrophobic, smoke-filled advertising offices and airless, booze-soaked suburban homes, along with the cryptic glances and loaded gestures that permeate throughout, where we find ourselves in this edition.
Read ahead for Amanda’s thoughts1 on her Mise-En-Scène pick: Sitting pretty, albeit awkwardly, amidst a quietly calamitous morning in Betty Draper’s kitchen.
“MOMMY SAID THE PARTY WAS FUN”: FILM & TV EXECUTIVE AMANDA VERDON ON MAD MEN EPISODE “A NIGHT TO REMEMBER,” 2008
AMANDA ON THE KITCHEN AS DOMESTIC VÉRITÉ:
According to the gospel of Italians, my people, the kitchen is the nerve center of all life. Chaotic cooking, meditation at the sink, a fight or several—everything pops off in the kitchen. Have I ever thrown an onion at someone with full force? I prefer not to say. But the point is: Dining rooms are theatre. The kitchen is where you see someone at their most real.
AMANDA ON THE EXERTION AND EXHAUSTION OF BETTY DRAPER:
The scene [I chose takes place] the morning after Betty (January Jones) hosted a tour-de-force dinner party for [her husband] lazy Don (Jon Hamm), his blowhard coworkers and their wives.
If you’re familiar with [Mad Men], you’ll remember that Betty prepared a killer meal and made it look like it was NBD. She themed it “Around The World” and whipped up culinary delights like Dutchess County-style leg of lamb with mint jelly, rumaki from Japan, egg noodles the way her grandma from Germany used to make ‘em, and “a frosted glass of beer from Holland” (Heineken).
She put in weeks’ worth of preparation to make the evening go off without a hitch, and Don, in his casually vicious way, humiliated her at the dinner table in front of all the guests, and then cruelly pretended as if nothing had happened. (Nat’s note: It’s in this moment that Betty gathers she has fallen prey to a marketing experiment by Don and his coworker, Herman “Duck” Phillips, to influence her purchase of Heineken beer, a Sterling Cooper client. She is the Traditional Housewife who has successfully displayed Traditional Housewife Behaviors, and she doesn’t like it.)
Later, [following the dinner,] Betty calls Don out for cheating.
AMANDA ON THE KITCHEN AS A CRACKPOT GLADIATOR’S ARENA:
The next morning is the aftermath. Betty’s in the kitchen—her kitchen. And every. Single. Thing. Is. Intentional. The tremors have begun to show.
The kids [Sally and Bobby] are fully dressed; Betty’s still in her outfit from the night before. A wild plate of bacon sits in the foreground. Also some eggs, toast, and that gloopy, radioactive orange juice concentrate which lands in the pitcher with an audible thud. And for breakfast? She’ll have a single cup of black coffee and a cigarette, thank you very much. There is nothing set for Don. Even the chair is wedged firmly against the table. A fully majestic display of war.
The home is just about spotless, yes, but the visual grammar here reveals more: There is major air of Fuck You, as if the shit Betty is willing to absorb has reached fever pitch. The closet door is open to reveal a pile of laundry and a vacuum, things a housewife of that period would go to great lengths to avoid [exposing]. The fruit-shaped refrigerator magnets are half-assedly ready to hold up another piece of her kids’ crappy art. Some dirty dishes are lying about. And, if you squint, Betty Crocker’s Hostess Cookbook is open and displayed like the Bible in the background.
AMANDA ON THE HOSTESS COOKBOOK AS THE SKELETON KEY TO UNLOCKING BETTY’S DIGNITY AND DESPAIR:
I worked for AMC around the time Mad Men was ending, and somehow found myself in charge of coordinating series wrap gifts for [creator and showrunner] Matt Weiner and the principal cast. Each actor was given an antique book their character had read in the show, hollowed out, with some props and a set of keys to custom Vespas nested inside—Vespas which were all, hauntingly, registered in my name with the State of California DMV.
The only hitch: Betty Draper had few, if any, books of note that her character actually read, except, of course, this cookbook (“Featuring over 400 guest-tested recipes!” “A wealth of ideas for today’s entertaining!”).
This book revealed so much about her mindset, and I’ve thought about it, and this scene, forever since.
AMANDA ON THE DINNER PARTY AS LABOR:
It’s incredible how much effort went into a dinner party back then to ensure a woman got it perfectly right for her man, for her house, and for her standing in the community.
Some of my favorite instructions by which the hostess must abide in Betty Crocker’s cookbook include: Always serve your husband first. Laugh at his jokes extra loud. And keep children around either never (preferable) or “in small doses” and for party tricks only, like to serve chips.
Imagine the other wives gleefully knocking Betty down a peg once her culinary trip around the world had concluded, their husbands a little too entranced by the perfect blonde and her perfect meal.
To endure all of this psychological warfare, the endless scrutiny, and still manage to nail the perfect dinner party was a feat. Then her oaf of a husband coolly undoes it with a deflating comment, and all the guests laugh at her expense.
That would absolutely be enough to unravel me to the point I’d sleep in my dress from the night before and chain-smoke before the kids left for school. No wonder women turned to pills in the ‘70s.
While Don and Duck may have used a guileless Betty as part of their Heineken positioning strategy, as already stated, the following Recommends section is not my sneaky attempt at affiliate activities. Instead, consider it an extended showcase of Amanda’s great taste!
AMANDA VERDON RECOMMENDS
London breakfast martini.
Amanda says: My industry went through two mega-strikes this past summer, so, as expected, there was a need to drink. In London, I had my first-ever breakfast martini, which is gin, orange liqueur, and a hefty dollop of orange marmalade. Despite the name, they are not meant to be enjoyed in the morning, but in a strike, all bets are off. They are completely delicious, unfussy, and essential to the year we've just been through. (Nat’s note: If only we could’ve prepared a stiff one for dear Betty Draper!)The Young V&A and, specifically, Boris Karloff’s original Bride of Frankenstein costume on display.
Amanda says: When you can't drink… play. I finally made it to London's Museum of Childhood, now the Young V&A, and it was like waltzing through a dream. Ettore Sottsass furniture, a carved wooden sled from 1700s Sweden, the Spice Girls doll set, sublimely weird dioramas like this model butcher’s shop gifted from Her Majesty Queen Mary, and my personal favorite: Boris Karloff's costume from Bride of Frankenstein (1935), which was thought to be destroyed until they found it in the late ‘60s. When you stand in front of it, there's a crack of thunder and flashes of lightning—it's meant to help kids understand theatre and the emotions you can feel from different forms of art. The whole experience whisks you away and reminds you how much fun it is to let your imagination run wild.Renaissance, the World Tour and A Film by Beyoncé.
Amanda says: Speaking of royalty! Like everyone on the planet, I'm obsessed with the Renaissance tour and now film. I saw the concert three times last year—I even flew to Kansas City, Missouri like an utter sociopath. I was legitimately speechless by the end of the first show, which is big as someone who gives notes for a living. I turned to my friend and said, "Nothing can be that good." It completely lit me up; it even invaded my dreams! Mostly, it was amazing to see how intentional everything was and how much fun she had on stage. Yes, that's hard work, but there was pure joy, too. It fully recharged me.Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull with Amy Wallace.
Amanda says: Re-reading Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull [with Amy Wallace]. I do this every so often when I feel a little confused by the industry. It's a brilliant book and a good reminder to keep your focus on what you believe is good art and not get swept up by trends or what's selling, or chasing other people's success. Tons of nuggets of wisdom in there that you can implement like: Only round tables for fostering the art of good conversation, etc.Poor Things (2023), directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Amanda says: I saw Poor Things at the New York Film Festival (NYFF) and had to pick my jaw up off the floor. It was so original and so fucking nuts. I absolutely adored it and hope this means the beginning of a weird era in film. Excited to see more freak flags fly.
Whew… Let’s put the Jack Jones on the record player and get the Dior New Beauty look out the closet. I’m now inspired to make at least one of Betty Draper’s worldly dishes. (The gazpacho-from-Spain seems like the lowest-stakes selection that will generate the least amount of resentment towards my smug dinner party guests.)
You can stream all Mad Men episodes on AMC+, and read up on Amanda’s brilliant work in film and TV here. Her slate runneth over.
Thanks for being here with us, among the rich details. Until next time! See you soon.
Lightly edited for clarity.