Attention Lumon Employees: You Are Cordially Invited To Read This Interview With The Prop Master Of ‘Severance’

From her start on the American Gangster crew to a bejeweled Furby design for Uncut Gems, Cat Miller has made 15 years of film magic and counting. Her sharp eye for design led to working with the Safdie Brothers, Derek Cianfrance—and, more recently, Ben Stiller. As prop master for Stiller’s genre-defying TV thriller, Severance, Cat proves that the story is always in the details.

Severance follows a group of employees who split work memories from their personal time, living entirely different lives from nine to five on the Severed Floor. Together, they begin to question the nature of their work for Lumon Industries and test the limits of this sinister office-scape that Cat and her team helped create. 

This Thursday, November 6, the Art Directors Club of Tulsa is bringing Cat to town for a talk at Heirloom Rustic Ales. We got a chance to chat before her visit to Tulsa, and I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

Cailie Golden: Cat Miller! I’ve been a huge fan of your work for years—without always realizing—so it’s wonderful to meet you.

Cat Miller: Thanks for those lovely words. 

Cailie: And thank you for making time during a shoot! I’ll try not to completely take over what I’m guessing might be your lunch break. Before we dive into all things Severance, let’s talk about your career journey. How were you introduced to property management?

Cat: I didn’t start out in that world, really, but I have family in the business. My dad was a key grip, his sister was a prop master, and their father worked in silent movies along the Palisades. 

Cailie: What a legacy. 

Cat: But as I grew up, my parents didn’t want to force that on me. “You have this dream of following dance,” they said. “You know, go for it, and the film industry will always be here.”

So, I went to conservatory at the UNC School of the Arts and traveled with dance companies for 15 years. Then, in the summer of 2006, I found myself on hiatus between jobs. That was the summer I am Legend and American Gangster—gigantic movies—were both shooting in New York, taking over whole regions of the city. All the union crews were booked, but they still needed lots of manpower. My dad got me on American Gangster, and when I saw the check from one week of work … that started this kind of dual career path that allowed me to be choosier with my dance projects. At the same time, what I thought was just a money job became something more.

Cailie: Would you say your background in dance, a medium that also embodies visual storytelling, has had an effect on your approach to prop design?

Cat: I threw it all in a pot and mixed it up; I found this new way of going forward. All art tells a story, whether it's more esoteric or high-concept like a horror movie. There are so many amazing artists that pour their hearts and souls into everything seen on-camera. I had a lightbulb moment, you know, realizing film could tell fascinating stories that people related to on a much broader scale. 

Cailie: For readers who may be less familiar with the industry, what part do prop masters play in creating these stories?

Cat: We handle anything an actor touches—little details like watches and bags that help create a character or large-scale items from weapons to cars. It’s very wide and varied, because each movie has its own culture and world that it's living in.

Cailie: Severance, for example, strikes this unique balance between mid-century office nostalgia and chilling minimalism. What was it like brainstorming props that would bring the script to life?

Cat: We started developing that vintage feel with our office technology, hearkening back to when work was a point of pride. It began with the computers our hero characters spend so much time staring at. I did a big show-and-tell talking through monitor options with the creative team, and we landed on the Data General Dasher. I had to punch the back out a bit to add a CRT color tube, but after some trial and error (maybe some burnt transistors), we had it. Every other object built on that aesthetic. 

Cailie: It’s unbelievable how many art forms fall under the property design umbrella. I mean, you had everything from the Lumon logo to animatronics and melon sculptures. There must’ve been a few team firsts as you made the vision a reality.

Cat: Tansy Michaud, our graphics designer, created a series of logo iterations going back all the way to the company’s start. We were never making something weird for the sake of being weird. It all comes back to the spine of the story, kind of grounding the Lumon corporation and what they’re trying to achieve.

Cailie: In its two-season run so far, Severance has kept viewers busy trying to solve the show’s mysteries. As a fan, I did spot certain props and wonder if they hinted where the story might be headed. I’d love to hear how your team used objects on-set to build suspense.

Cat: I will not give away any details. I will not give away any details. Gosh, everything we do is tied to the arc of the story. Most objects we put in front of the camera were “severed” in some way: mugs with two-fingered handles, a tank split for two fish, or something like the keyboard we built without an escape key. People on the Severed Floor literally cannot escape, so why would Lumon even add a button that might trigger the thought? 

Cailie: I’m so mad I didn’t catch that!

Cat: Basically, we create metaphoric objects that tell the story on both visual and subconscious levels. So, are those Easter eggs? Some are. They’re all part of the story, whether this gets revealed in some way or not. 

Cailie: I have to ask, do you have a favorite scene? How did props play into it?

Cat: That’s tough. Almost definitely the marching band one … I love our instruments. They look so beautiful. We sourced them and met with the musicians, learning how saxophones and things came apart so we could powder-coat each one. You just can’t have random colors on the Severed Floor. Lumon needs their white or blue, you know? It was a really fun, epic scene to be a part of and a pivotal moment at the end of Season Two.

Cailie: I remember watching that. The instruments, the movement and visual textures: it was stunning. Another design that should get all the love is your animatronic of Kier Eagan, Lumon’s founder; although, it is spooky to think he’s out there still in some dark storage closet. 

Cat: —In a crate somewhere!

Cailie: That’s a jumpscare waiting to happen. Speaking of Kier, we get to know his character entirely through prop work. From paintings where he’s the unlikely star of history’s greatest masterpieces to an 8-bit animation, what was it like creating this figure who’s almost an office deity at Lumon?

Cat: We wanted to make it believable that the entire corporation would be verging on the worship of this, as you said, God-like figure. How to create that lore through art? We looked at cults through history. We sprinkled Lumon and Kier toys into certain scenes with kids. Tansy created those great propaganda posters that you see in the break room this season. It all just reinforced this strange, cult-like setting.

Cailie: How does it feel to see props like Lumon-brand mugs and more out in the wild? From what I saw of Season 2 watch parties, it was fascinating how fans drew from prop work to recreate Lumon at home. I feel like that has a lot to say about the medium.

Cat: Our fans are the best in the world. The fidelity with which they recreate every single prop that is seen on the screen blows me away every time. I'm so grateful—and to be hitting the zeitgeist, you know? We’re all dealing with huge cultural questions like “What is life,” “What is work,” and “Who am I?” It’s moving the needle of our collective consciousness and asking what it means to be a whole person.

Cailie: This certainly isn’t your first time reaching massive audiences, but as Severance floods the mainstream, it’s proof that some props have a way of sticking with us. They not only bring life and depth to the stories they inhabit but, in cases like this one, also send that artistry rippling out into the wider world. 

Well, we’ve made it to my last question! This one’s just for fun: if you could take a prop home with you, which one would it be?

Cat: Everything stays on-site. Hypothetically though, the keyboard we created for those computers is my favorite. I’d take one of those home if I could. The trackball is just weird, and I love that the keys actually clack—that this could be somebody’s keyboard because it’s totally practical and functional.

Cailie: Until you need to hit the escape key, of course.