By the time Hacks reached its fifth and final season, Adam Bricker ASC had spent six years shaping one of television’s most distinctive visual identities. The HBO Max comedy, created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky, concluded in May 2026 with 47 episodes, 25 nominations for its final season, and a cinematography profile that had already earned Bricker five Emmy and four ASC nominations.
“From our earliest conversations, Lucia, Paul, Jen, and I agreed that being a half-hour comedy didn’t mean the show had to look a certain way” says the DP who lensed every single episode. “The scripts are so funny and the performances so perfect that the visuals don’t necessarily need to underline the comedy. Our cinematic language is naturalistic, sometimes even moody, and always reflective of where the characters are emotionally.
”That philosophy shaped Hacks from its Las Vegas origins—following legendary comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her young writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder)—through a journey that eventually took the characters to Los Angeles, New York, Singapore, and finally Paris.
Bricker and the creators built the show’s early aesthetic from a mix of references: Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven and Behind the Candelabra, the Judy Garland biopic Judy, and classic Vegas photography. The goal was a modern image with a nostalgic pulse, a subtle nod to Deborah’s heyday.
To achieve it, Bricker partnered with Panavision’s Guy McVicker to rework Primo 70 glass into something more period inflected. “He engineered a custom lens treatment that softened the highlights, added a bit of bloom and gave the flares a warm, vintage glow,” Bricker explains.
“From our earliest conversations, Lucia, Paul, Jen, and I agreed that being a half-hour comedy didn’t mean the show had to look a certain way” says the DP who lensed every single episode. “The scripts are so funny and the performances so perfect that the visuals don’t necessarily need to underline the comedy. Our cinematic language is naturalistic, sometimes even moody, and always reflective of where the characters are emotionally.
”That philosophy shaped Hacks from its Las Vegas origins—following legendary comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her young writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder)—through a journey that eventually took the characters to Los Angeles, New York, Singapore, and finally Paris.
Bricker and the creators built the show’s early aesthetic from a mix of references: Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven and Behind the Candelabra, the Judy Garland biopic Judy, and classic Vegas photography. The goal was a modern image with a nostalgic pulse, a subtle nod to Deborah’s heyday.
To achieve it, Bricker partnered with Panavision’s Guy McVicker to rework Primo 70 glass into something more period inflected. “He engineered a custom lens treatment that softened the highlights, added a bit of bloom and gave the flares a warm, vintage glow,” Bricker explains.
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