Clubhouse Conversations — Long Bright River

In this episode, cinematographer Pepe Avila del Pino, AMC is joined by interviewer Patrick Cady, ASC to discuss his work on Long Bright River — a crime-drama miniseries that follows a patrol officer's investigation of a string of Philadelphia murders.

Long Bright River follows patrolwoman Mickey Fitzpatrick (Amanda Seyfriend), who searches for her missing sister while working in the rough Philadelphia town of Kensington. Del Pino helped to establish the series' visual language early in its run, serving as director of photography on the premiere episode, entitled "These Girls."

In this interview, del Pino discusses how he and director Hagar Ben-Asher strove to create a focused, character-driven look that reflects the protagonist's limited perspective; his preference for long lenses and handheld camerawork in an effort to keep viewers close to the story; how he and the crew worked with hard ceilings and fixed sets to help create a realistic feel; lighting scenes to afford actors freedom of movement; how he worked with other series cinematographers to maintain a consistent look in each episode, and more.

Pepe Avila del Pino, AMC is a cinematographer whose credits include The Deuce (2017), Ozark (2017), The Kindergarten Teacher (2018) and House of the Dragon (2022). In 2025, he won an ASC Award for his work on the music video 313.

Patrick Cady, ASC studied filmmaking at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and has since carved out an extensive cinematography career in both film and TV. He broke out in 2000 after shooting his first feature, director Karen Kusama’s award-winning drama Girlfight, and went on to shoot many series including Cold Case, Rectify and Insecure, for which he earned a 2018 Emmy Award nomination.

You’ll find all episodes in our ASC Clubhouse Conversations discussion series here.