Production designer Claire Bennett says Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This” looks so lived-in because it’s filmed entirely on Los Angeles locations—an approach that removes the usual soundstage control and can even limit access to sets until the morning of.
For a romantic comedy like “Nobody Wants This,” love stories are only half the job. The other half is how the city breathes around them—how Los Angeles looks, feels, and stays believable shot day after day.
In Erin Foster’s Netflix series. viewers keep running into the same on-screen gravitational pulls: Kristen Bell’s brassy podcaster Joanne with “hot rabbi” Noah (Adam Brody); Joanne’s flighty sister Morgan (Justine Lupe); Noah’s brother Sasha (Timothy Simons) and his wife Esther (Jackie Tohn). Foster’s real-life marriage also inspired the show. But the series isn’t just about those connections—it’s also about where they happen. The program is set in Los Angeles and, crucially, it’s all filmed on location.
That decision comes with a different kind of pressure, according to production designer Claire Bennett. She has worked on all twenty episodes across the show’s run so far, and she described how even after two seasons, the practical reality of location work can still land like a jolt.
“This is the first show I’ve done where it’s all location,” Bennett said during IndieWire’s Craft Roundtables. “So that was very interesting, just as a complete contrast to not have the flexibility, for once, [of] being on the soundstage and being able to control it.”
The trade-off is clear: less control, more improvisation. Bennett and her team have spent the last two seasons figuring out how to make it work—balancing schedule constraints with the need to capture real places in real time.
“Some of the sets. we didn’t actually even have access to until the morning of. so that was its own host of challenges. Challenges and discoveries!,” Bennett said, as fellow production designers chuckled along. She added that the show’s DP. Wes Scardino. and his team handle scouting. with an emphasis on making sure everyone is supported during what Bennett described as the tech scout. “It’s always a massive collaboration, [and] that communication with the DP and his team and the gaffer is critical.”.
The result is a series that has to earn its look and texture on location, even when the day’s access is uncertain until the last possible moment. Streaming audiences may see romance and comedy—but behind the scenes, Bennett’s job is built on constant coordination.
Both seasons of “Nobody Wants This” are now streaming on Netflix. IndieWire’s Craft Roundtables is also available to stream on the PBS App.
Nobody Wants This Claire Bennett Kristen Bell Adam Brody Erin Foster production designer Los Angeles filming Netflix romantic comedy IndieWire Craft Roundtables PBS App