From Baltimore to Hollywood and back again, Nathan Bailey is the St. Paul’s Schools new Set Designer and Technical Theatre Teacher!
Nathan Bailey is a Baltimore native who grew up immersed in art. His father being a landscape oil painter and his mother being a photographer and film programmer, his becoming an artist was inevitable
In his high school years, Mr. Bailey attended Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied theater design and production. By this time, he already knew what he wanted to do- enter the film industry. It seemed almost natural that he took deep interest in theater design and production, a study that combines visual art and film, akin to his parents’ professions. However, it wasn’t until his drafting teacher encouraged him to indulge in his interests around his sophomore and junior years, that he truly believed he was able to pursue a career in the field. Bailey recounts,
“A teacher of mine one day after class was like, hey, I just wanted to talk to you and tell you that I see like an ability in you to do this. Like you're really good at this. I think you could do this professionally…that teacher was the first person that kind of, other than my parents, the teacher was the first person that was like, you know, you could make a career out of this,”.
Following high school, Bailey attended Emerson College, located in Boston, Massachusetts, where he earned his BA in film production and minor in political communications. He describes his decision to major in film production as a toss-up. He thought about applying to architecture schools, and he thought about majoring in theater set design. But ultimately, he landed on film production, as he knew that he wanted to make a career in film and TV, not just architecture or theater. His minor in political communications provided him with the skill to address problems and conflicts with a neutral approach, which he says he “knew would come in handy as a designer”. While attending Emerson, Bailey took classes at Boston Architectural College. He did so to build his portfolio and receive more knowledge about design. Ensuing, Mr. Bailey earned his graduate degree at the American Film Institute (AFI) Located in Los Angeles, California. While attending AFI, Bailey worked as the production designer with his then classmate, American film maker Ari Aster, on his short film “The Strange Thing About the Johnsons”. The short film served as their thesis, earned much notoriety, and became synonymous with Aster’s brand. He characterizes his time at AFI as formative in pushing his career forward, as he was surrounded by professionals with impressive and extensive portfolios. His professor Joseph Garrity, a veteran production designer, served as a particular inspiration for Mr. Bailey, showing him that his career goals were entirely possible. Striving to deeply understand and learn the technical components of set design along with also valuing the creative outlet and opportunity which the practice provides is a trait that sets Nathan Bailey apart from many others. This is not only in his career, but also among many professionals.
Years of education, portfolio building, and hard work led to the most critical moment in Mr. Bailey’s career: being accepted into the ADG (Art Director’s Guild). In order to be hired on large-scale Hollywood productions, a person must be a member of one of Hollywood’s guilds. More commonly mentioned ones include the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) or the WGA (Writers Guild of America). These are considered above the line guilds. There are only a handful of things required for someone to be an eligible member: being cast in a production or having your script purchased. Contrastingly, below the line guilds, such as ADG, require extensive experience and portfolios for a person to be considered for a nomination into the guild. From 2010-2015, Mr. Bailey worked on small and independent productions to build his portfolio. These productions ultimately led to him being nominated and accepted into the ADG. Mr. Bailey compares the time he dedicated to building an exceptional portfolio to “getting a PhD to then get accepted into Hollywood,”.
Once he was accepted into the ADG, work followed Mr. Bailey constantly. Notably, Mr. Bailey worked as the art director on the set of the music video for “Hold Up” by Beyoncé, which became a recognizable and iconic motif of not only the album the song belongs to, but Beyoncé’s brand. The music video aired on HBO as a portion of Beyoncé’s Lemonade film, along with Bailey’s other contributions to the project. Following this project, Bailey began to work as the assistant art director for FX’s American Horror Story season six, which was his first time working at a large studio on a large production. Succeeding, Mr. Bailey went on to work on the sets of many widely familiar films and shows. He worked on Bullet Train as a set designer, for Mattel as a set designer, on Hawaii Five-0 as an assistant art director, and even on Loki as an assistant art director. Many may recall Mr. Bailey’s work on Loki being displayed in the hallway outside of the theater during the first few weeks of the school year.
So then, what brings Nathan Bailey back to Baltimore and teaching at St. Paul’s? A desire for stability and an outlet for creativity. Working in Hollywood is not conventional; jobs become neither needed nor enough depending on the state of the consumer and economy. Amongst the rise of AI, especially in creative spaces, St. Paul’s has become a place where Mr. Bailey is able to explore his teaching ability while simultaneously being able to do what he has worked for unremittingly since he was in high school. When asked if he had any advice for anyone in the community that may want to pursue a career in the film or entertainment industry, Mr. Bailey’s words can be summed up to, “Don't have any regrets. Don't look back… the best thing is to just go for it,”, These words perfectly encapsulate Mr. Bailey’s attitude, the one which has made him so undeniably successful in his career. He continues to bring this attitude to the St. Paul’s community, along with his innate talent for and extensive knowledge of set design and film.