Ken Hawryliw

Ken Hawryliw
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Role:	Property Master
BSG Universe:	Re-imagined Series
Date of Birth:
Date of Death:	Missing required parameter 1=month! ,
[{{{site}}} Official Site]
IMDb profile

Kenneth H. Hawryliw is the property master for the Re-imagined Series (with the exception of the Miniseries) and prequel series Caprica.

A nod to Hawryliw exists in the form of a label on a bottle of alcohol, which the character of Leon Grimes uses to strike Lee "Apollo" Adama in the head with in "Colonial Day". A second is given in "Retribution" when a personnel file for Lillian Teller lists Hawryliw Robotics Inc. as her previous employer.

Career and Approach

Hawryliw is an industry veteran who works closely with the art department, costumers, and sets to ensure that props look right for the show. His process begins with reading each script and compiling a list of items for each scene. Consulting with the director, he works out what the actors will do with each prop, which ultimately determines the level of detail and functionality required.

Hawryliw explained his collaborative process: "We basically look at the scripted needs of whatever prop it is and try to work with the director and production designer to figure out what is needed from our end. If it is something that needs to be built, usually I will design it myself unless it is something really specific like a piece of Cylon technology... Then I defer to the art department to make sure it really ties in with the look that they are creating."

Design Philosophy

The props department steers away from the polished science fiction look common to many sci-fi TV shows. "We want things to look different but familiar," Hawryliw stated. "It is a very interesting look for the show. It's unlike any other show that I have ever done in terms of using stuff anywhere from the 1930s to the present. It is a matter of retro-fitting those things to keep them familiar but also make them look like they come from a different place."

Hawryliw credits production designer Harry Lange (who worked on Moonraker and 2001: A Space Odyssey) with instilling in him a cost-effective philosophy: "You can go out and buy an object for six dollars that would cost half a million in research and development to come up with that shape. Use somebody else's something else, and create a new thing."

Notable Work on Battlestar Galactica

Season 3 Cylon Basestar

For Season 3's introduction of the Cylon Basestar, Hawryliw noted that from the props perspective, there wasn't very much to be done. "It's mostly just set decoration. For the few things that we have to do, we have gone for a very traditional, very neo-classical look for everything. It is very timeless," he explained. "It is so difficult to do sci-fi without it looking dated, so we took our clues from things from the past that have worked and are still around and aesthetically pleasing."

Hawryliw described filming on the Basestar sets as "a welcome relief from the hectic schedule of filming on the Galactica and Pegasus sets," noting that scenes could be as simple as D'Anna Biers holding a folio full of drawings—though even this required the props department to create a custom folio from scratch when nothing available met their aesthetic standards.

New Caprica Refugee Props

Season 3's New Caprica arc required the props department to equip refugees with baggage that told personal stories. "The interesting thing is what would a person take with them when they've only got so much time and so many arms to carry things? You take food but you also take the clock your grandfather gave you or the rug by the hearth. It's interesting character stuff—you are creating backstory for these people," Hawryliw explained. He added, "As they say, 'God is in the details.' My job is to create details for every aspect of the show."

Weapons and Armory

While the look of the show was established in the Miniseries, guns weren't a big part of it initially. The props department had to redesign the armory, adding a range of weapons from handguns and rifles to specialty weapons.

The Model 5.7 Colonial sidearm is based on a Belgian handgun that wasn't distributed in the United States and was originally designed for military and police use. "We were the first civilian group to actually purchase them anywhere in the world. The serial numbers are incredibly low," Hawryliw noted.

The department also had to create weapons for the Colonial Marines that would be different from what the pilots have. "These are all functioning weapons. What we do, as a lot of movies do, is find an existing weapon and modify it to make it look different."

Document Props and Authenticity

One of Battlestar Galactica's ubiquitous props are paper files handed between characters and studied in detail. "We try to make these as authentic as possible rather than just putting photocopied gibberish in the actors' hands," Hawryliw explained. "Not just because the camera may see it and viewers catch a glimpse of it, but also for the sake of the actors: at the very least, it is not helpful to the actor if it is not right and at worst it is distracting and takes them out the scene for a second."

Quality Standards

Hawryliw emphasized that attention to detail is vitally important in modern television production. "Twenty years ago, the adage was, 'Close enough for TV.' You can't get away with that now because people expect to see feature films quality on television shows. I used to say it on The X-Files and it certainly applies to this show: we are doing a feature film every day."

External Links

• Ken Hawryliw GALACTICA.TV interview