The Traitors has taken the world by storm. It is a reality competition series that has also become a social media sensation. The contestants all try to steal a cash prize without getting caught. They lie, cheat, and deceive each other to reach their goal. Based on the Dutch series De Verraderst and theatrically hosted and acted by the one and only Alan Cumming, who has built an unparalleled resume of many excellent performances in Movies, TV, and Theater.
Siggi Rosen-Rawlings & Matt Wright, both of whom have extensive credits in the world of reality TV, were up for the challenging task of shooting this series in real-time in a castle the Scottish Highlands. Rosen-Rawlings and Wright recently spoke to Immersive via Zoom about the experience.
[This conversation has been edited for clarity and length]
Please describe the setup of having two DPs on a reality/competition show.
Siggi Rosen-Rawlings: We were like a tag team on The Traitors…like ships in the night. We sort of see each other for a minute now and again, and then we go off and do our own things.
I think Alan Cumming is absolutely amazing as a host of this, so that must be invigorating when you’re on set.
Matt Wright: He brings a lot of theater to it, and I think what we try and achieve is very theatrical and atmospheric and yeah, he definitely adds to that.
SRR: I’m always blown away by Alan’s performances because sometimes the scripts are written just before we start filming, and he performs these monologues effortlessly.
How did you guys get involved with this show? What was your first impression?
SRR: I was approached by Director Ben Chard, who we’d both worked with previously on some other shows. We did the kind of first leg of the pre-production, so things like designing the camera hides for the round table. Then Matt came on board to run the missions. I was taking care of stuff that happened in the castle and around the castle, and Matt was out in the field and figuring out all the rest.
MW: There was this amazing world being built in the castle which was a major part of the series. Then we figured out that in each episode they were due to leave the castle and do their missions. It was our job to continue this immersive experience for the players and not keep them in that bubble, not take them out of it and just add a different element to the show.
You’re nominated for one specific episode, so let’s talk about The Funeral. What were some of the interesting setups in it? What were some of the challenges?
SRR: We have to keep the players in an immersive bubble. We are part of the game ourselves. We’re not allowed to interact with them or we don’t interact with them. We don’t want to make eye contact with them, we don’t want to speak to them. Everything’s done in real-time. We are shooting an episode a day, and schedules are tight. This particular episode was the best combination of mission and castle kind of reality stuff. The walk that they do from the castle to the graveyard is in real-time.
MW: We worked hard to make sure the cameras were in the right places to record multiple scenes. We had a mobile gallery following the mission as it moved along, and the players had to engage in various challenges along the way before they eventually reached the graveyard. I think part of the joy of how that all came together was the prep to ensure that we had everything in the right place at the right time so that the players just went on this continual journey and felt the emotions, which I think played out nicely on camera.
Are you just following people or do they have other people do a run-through so you kind of have something to prepare or you’re just doing everything fresh?
SRR: The reason why there are two DPs on it is because there’s so much to shoot every day. You couldn’t physically be in two places at the same time. It’s in real-time, so when they get up in the morning right through to when they go to sleep at night, filming them essentially. It’s quite a tight schedule and that’s why we have such a big team.
MW: Every single day is a big day and we have to ensure that we fit in with that. We get our window to record the mission and then they go back to the castle again. It’s all about prep before the players are involved so that when they are involved, they’re just living their day in as real a way as possible.
Do you both have a favorite moment in the episode?
MW: I’m really proud of this episode. It took a lot of work for the mission side of things to ensure that everything was set up and I enjoyed the culmination of that, which both me and Sig were involved with, which was the actual kind of graveyard funeral scene. I thought it was brilliant. When the coffin slammed down, I thought that was a great TV moment.
SRR: That scene, it was tense as they walked. The tension was building the whole time, and then they got there and it was misty and dark and with Alan’s performance really nailed it. It was powerful when that coffin lid closed.
What has the experience been like as a whole working on The Traitors? What was it like being nominated for this?
SRR: I was completely surprised when I got a text message and then another text message and another text message from some of the execs and then the director. I was completely blown away that we got the nomination. I’m still sort of a bit stunned, really.
MW: I was really blown away, too. I think I was on another job and couldn’t access my phone for a while, and then I saw these messages pop up, really lovely messages from the execs and people involved. I was genuinely stunned, amazed, really pleased. I feel emotionally attached to this project. To get recognition from your peers is very humbling and a really nice feeling.
The Traitors is available to stream on Peacock.
