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TV is a visual medium, and cinematographers serve as audience’s eyes throughout the entire viewing experience. So it’s appropriate that IndieWire’s 2026 Craft Roundtables kicked off with a panel celebrating the cinematographers behind some of our favorite shows of the season. The roundtable assembled cinematographers from a wide range of shows, including new series, long-running hits, and spin-offs set in existing worlds. The shows on the panel included comedy and drama, fact and fiction, and a wide range of visual styles. But they all shared a deep commitment to getting every detail right.
Cinematographers on the panel included Jason McCormick (“Love Story”), Ashley Connor (“The Chair Company”), Greta Zozula (“The Testaments”), Tommy Maddox-Upshaw (“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy”), and John Brawley (“Shrinking”).
“This is the Craft Roundtable for cinematography, the craft that defines the look and visual language of television,” IndieWire’s Jim Hemphill said in his opening remarks. “Through light, composition, and movement, our guests create the images that shape how we experience every scene.”
The wide-ranging conversation covered a variety of topics, including technical minutiae about aspect ratios and camera technology to broader discussions about how cinematography fits into a show’s larger narrative choices. Each show brings its own unique set of challenges, from the improv-heavy spontaneity of shooting “Shrinking” that requires flexibility on set to the VFX-laden “Starfleet Academy” that mandates careful preparation. The panel makes it clear that while every show requires different visual choices, all cinematographers are ultimately storytellers whose work is done in service of the characters who captivate us on screen.
Watch the complete panel in the video above. All episodes of IndieWire’s Craft Roundtables are also available to stream on the PBS App.
For more coverage of IndieWire’s Craft Roundtables, click here.
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