e.fite.

surely you’ve seen her work…
I LOVE YOU MAN..THE HANGOVER…brothers and sisters…maybe even modern family
numerous commercials
she makes these places believable places these characters reside, love, fight, work, play, BE.

she’s the girl who BUYS [also rents...barters....borrows] stuff to make environments REAL
modern…mid century….classic…name a style she’s on it.
decorating powerhouse and did i mention she gets to SHOP…all day. what girl wouldn’t want to do that?

inspired by Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino-designs [thanks to the married team of  Sandy and David Wasco] to get into the movies…
she can cook a mean turkey even in a 200 degree not-really-working oven.
pull a party together in no time flat
is one of the coolest people you could meet and kindest and empathetic but is from texas so don’t mess with her…she will kick your ass.

she will go home [to texas] for thanksgiving and then it’s off to washington DC…to DECORATE…1600 pennsylvania….for the holidays.
there was a brief moment of eeek…what if the background check comes up with “allegedly smuggled something in from cuba” but no…she’s fine.
again….alleged.

[Lori Fradella, Nov, '09]

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you have a job. what is it?

right now i am currently working on TRUEBLOOD as a set decorating buyer. i work in the set decorating crew of feature films, tv and or commercials.  decorate, buy, shop, schlep, it’s all the same…basically read a script, develop a character in my head, ask the a bunch of questions about the history and the look of that character to either the production designer [my boss] and or have a meeting with the director and then shop….for everything from the look/type of keys on the key chain sitting on the dresser in a farmer’s bedroom to the look of the folding bed and sheets in a homeless shelter to the tables and chairs put in the ambassador hotel’s version of the 1921 palm room.  i basically try to help create the best possible environment for an actor “feel” and act his part in a role and try and make the background portray the story as best as i can.

what’s this about being invited to decorate the White House?

a dear friend is doing all the floral design for the white house.  she somehow got us on a list to help decorate the white house for the holidays…it was a shot in the dark…after many hours of filling out forms and what i thought to be a shot in the dark, i got an envelope in the mail that was crisp and off-white (no smell, unfort)…..the return address at the top left hand corner said “THE WHITE HOUSE”….THAT IS IT!  ”THE WHITE HOUSE”….um, ya, they don’t have an address CAUSE IT’S THEEEE WHIIIITTTEE HOUSE!  pretty rad.  i’ve kept it stuck between my four wheel drive shaft and my stick shift….i pull it out every so often to look at it.  i noticed it has aged…what we freaks pay money to have done to any letter needing to look old…but i shouldn’t have done that, i should’ve tucked it away and kept for later years of coffee mornings and “i can’t believe it” conversations.  sad.

are you allowed to tell your William H. Macy story? and if not, can you tell us if he’s really, really nice?

he’s amazing.  he’s amazing. he’s amazing.  after much inhalation of some chronz, i won’t say WHO’S chronz….AND the jameson’s i brought as product placement served “neat” all taking place in his reno hotel suite with other crew members from THE COOLER….he lost his tendency for the mad mag look and pretty much turned into the reliable actor we’ve all come to know and love.  that’s that.  i can’t tattle on the bill macy, man – he’s one of the good ones.

your bf is a designer. you are one as well. who chooses what the house looks like? and in one word, how would you describe it?

i don’t know that you’d call either of us designers…..but i have to say, the house doesn’t come together without feeling like you’ve had a hard day at the dentist…………………………i usually play the dentist and he the patient….i get a little heavy on the laughing gas………..either that or a sleeping dart is a good back up…….when he wakes, things are hung and he’s well rested with a cold beer in his hand….”that didn’t hurt, now did it, baby?”……hhahahaa…happy campers….one word to describe this place:  calm.

and last, why do you call your dog Jagger?

it was gonna be tweedy (jeff tweedy, my hero and lead singer of wilco) but i thought it too painful for a boy dog…though he’d pull that shit off, i still couldn’t do it….so, my next hero would be mick jagger.  me loves me somes olllllddddd school jagger….he’s so not a rock n’ roll dog but he’s the best damn dog and he makes the name better.  probably the singer too.  all of us really.  period.

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[check out Erin's work on the new upcoming season of True Blood. or on IMDB. or, you know, at The White House.]