Reed Morano
Biography
Reed Morano was born on April 15, 1977 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. She is known for directing and executive producing the pilot as well as episodes 2 & 3 of 'The Handmaid's Tale' (2017) and directing the feature film, 'Meadowland' (2015), which she also served as her own DP on. She also did double duty as director/DP on her second feature, 'I Think We're Alone Now' (2018). As a cinematographer, Reed is known for her work on Lemonade (2016), the Oscar nominated feature 'Frozen River' (2008) and 'The Skeleton Twins' (2014).
Family
Trivia
Member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) since 2013. At the time she was inducted, she was its youngest active member.
Invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Cinematographers Branch) in 2013.
Her brother, Justin S. Mankin, is a professor of climate science at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Personal Quotes
[on HBO} They were really great to work for. They try to hire the right people and give as much freedom as they can. What makes them so good is that they hire artists they trust and let them do what they want. They definitely have their opinions, but they don't micro-manage. They're so supportive.
[on the series 'Looking'] There was a lot of sexual talk in the script. But the crew got it. We're shooting two dudes having sex and everyone's going with it, there's zero judgment, They don't feel like they need to set themselves apart for anything because we're all a family on set. It's definitely going to alienate some people. When they posted our trailer on Facebook it got a million comments - a lot of people who were very angry about the fact they had to see two men kissing. It was really upsetting to me. I can't actually believe that an ignorance to that level still exists.
For better or worse, I'm just like one of the guys. They can say what they want. It doesn't bother me and chances are I've heard it all before. I grew up in an informal jokey environment. That's the reason I took this job. If I wanted to go to work and be serious, I'd work for a hedge fund.
I'm hyper-sensitive to people who are waiting around. It's not as easy as it looks to be that fast and still give careful thought to the story, the continuity, the emotion behind the scene and how all things affect the lighting. It's a very tricky job we have as DPs, where you are expected to make something that really is an emotional art but also needs to be technically spot on. You're often given a very small window of time to achieve it.
There are many legendary DPs that I admire, some of whom have a very strong signature but I'm not sure I want to be the DP where you see my work and say oh, Reed shot that. I hope to be able to adopt to every movie and disappear into it.