CMU School of Drama


Friday, March 14, 2025

'SNL' costume designer tells how they create hundreds of costumes

Los Angeles Times: The first thing you are likely to wonder about Tom Broecker, who has spent more than 30 years as the costume designer at “Saturday Night Live,” is whether he ever sleeps. Indeed, he does — but not much. Broecker says he averages about five hours a night, and tends to get more shut-eye earlier in the week.

1 comment:

Sharon Alcorn said...

I remember watching a 10 minute youtube video a few years ago that briefly took the viewers on a tour through the process of costuming, hair, and makeup at SNL. I don’t remember much from it, but what stuck with me was the sheer number of costumes that have to be created within such a short timeframe. The ability of the costume team to churn out costumes at this rate is incredible.

What stuck out to me in this article was the actual hours for tech, dress rehearsals, and the live performances. What Tom Broecker said about emotionally detaching from his work was some invaluable advice, and I think that when you work on such a tight schedule and make so many costumes, it’s probably easier to detach emotionally from the work you are doing. Currently, I can recall in great detail the projects I have worked on, but that is because I don’t have the same years of experience that Broecker has.