“Margo’s Got Money Troubles” is an electric, neon-soaked story that follows young Margo (Elle Fanning), whose life gets turned upside down once she gets pregnant and decides to keep the baby. Featuring an oddball cast of characters, like Margo’s parents Shyanne and Jinx (Michelle Pfeiffer and Nick Offerman, respectively), you can’t help but fall in love with the ups and downs of Margo’s quirky life.

The show received eight Emmy nominations, including a cinematography nomination for the episode “Flamingos”, shot by Tari Segal, ASC. She’s the only female cinematographer nominated for narrative cinematography.

Cinema Femme sat down with Tari to talk all things Margo, her roots as a Chicago local, and what her journey had looked like up to this point.

I would love to know a little bit about your career journey, and what first drew you to working on this project?

I went to Columbia College, where you can concentrate on cinematography which is awesome, and I wanted to get into indie film, they were very all about story. Then I ended up moving to LA in the early 2000’s where I got paired up on an internship with Phedon Papamichael on “Sideways”. Because of my love of French new wave, we paired up really well.

From there it was just shooting indies and music videos, and eventually because TV became a different sort of entity, I fell into that operating and doing second unit, which is a great chance to learn the politics of TV work. From there I just started getting my own shows, which was fantastic.

I was doing a show called “Interior Chinatown”, which is still a huge love on mine, and one of the writers on that, Eva Anderson, and I became really close friends because we’re both kind of weird. She’s the co-showrunner of “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” and so she recommended me, and that’s how I got hooked up with the project.

This show is extremely visually distinct. What were some of your inspirations, and how did you decide on the final look?

So I shared the show with Carl Herse, so we kind of came on around the same time and talked a lot about the show, and it really evolved a lot. Even though we only got two scripts at a time, we had no idea how it was going to end or what the journey was going to be, so we kept it open. Dearbhla Walsh, who is one of the directors, has such a great way of telling stories visually, so that collaboration created this whimsical way of shooting the show. There weren’t really any specific references since it was such a unique experience where we were being inspired by the performance. You read it on paper, and then you see Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer come to set and read the lines, and they really brought it to life so well. We’d take that performance and play to that and improv a bit about what we were going to do.

One of the key things we talked about was Margo’s perspective on the moment, and wanting the audience to be with her, that was the biggest motivating factor for the camera. Sometimes we’re with her and the camera is moving, or sometimes we’re watching her make bad choices so we’re a bit further removed. We tried to carry that without.

This show has some very dark themes and could have been really heavy, but instead it’s almost heartwarming in a way and you really fall in love with the characters and their flaws. How did you navigate such dark themes visually while also creating so much magic in their world

In this world we’ve created it’s always a little bit more hopeful and endearing, even though it’s set with real stakes. In life you have your ups and downs, and in Margo’s world you have that but in the end, you’re going to keep going. We didn’t shy away from all of that, the seriousness of what she was going through, but I kind of felt that it was quite authentic to how life is sometimes. Some days everything is just going wrong and you can’t see your way out, and then you wake up the next day and turn on your Spotify playlist, get a pep in your step and just make it happen. That’s kind of the vibe we wanted to give her, you’re continually hearing a good soundtrack that gets you back on your feet.

Like you said the soundtrack for the show is fantastic. How did that play into any visual decisions you made?

Some of the songs were pre-chosen and written in the script, and so we had the music readily available on set. Sometimes we put it into the coms so the operators could hear it, because it kind of puts you in the mood when you’re operating or doing camera moves. It kind of gave everyone a great cadence to work with.

Let’s talk about your main episode, Flamingos, which is my favorite episode of the show. What was it like creating that iconic Vegas atmosphere? What was that process like?

That episode…I’m at a loss for words sometimes. I mean it was the most challenging episode, yet the most rewarding at the same time. It was really fun, but we were all just going mad in our heads trying to get it all in the can.

We just started with this idea that we were shooting Shyanne’s Vegas. It’s not the new, modern strip with all the other clean casinos and LED lights. This was the old Vegas, downtown, twinkly lights, warm incandescent, neon lights. So, we embraced that and brought that into all our sets in LA, and we only had three days to shoot in Vegas. It was just adding that color and making sure that color was present to give it that vibe.

My favorite scene is when Margo and her mom get in that big fight and walk into this hallway that’s all mirrors and lights. The location is so perfect visually and metaphorically. Was this a specific vision, or just something lucky you stumbled across when filming?

We do a little tour when initially scout, and the location liaison was showing us around. We were all done and she took us out back and we walked through that mirrored hallway with lights. The director was like “Oh my God we have to shoot something here!”. So yes, we came upon it and it became part of the scene, and the director thought metaphorically it’s a place where these two women are seeing other sides of each other, and so that’s why it’s all shot in the mirror.

I just remember when I saw the location and she loved it, I was just like “This is a nightmare, there’s a mirror everywhere and I’m going to see the camera and the lights.” It was a little tricky to figure it out how to make it work on our schedule, because it was just one of many stops along the way. The other challenge was shooting the argument a month earlier in LA, and then picking up the run out a month later in Vegas.

Congratulations on your Emmy nomination, as the only women in your category too. Cinema Femme focuses on celebrating female filmmakers. Can you talk a little bit about how your journey has been as a female creative?

I’ve been really fortunate to be surrounded by some great supporters. I really take leadership; it’s an important quality to have. In Chicago, I was in ROTC in high school and I was really into it, but then I switched to study film, but you are taught a lot about leadership and about how to motivate a crew. I’ve carried that with me, and I think it’s worked quite well, especially as a women surrounded by men; men who are older than you and haven’t had many experiences working for a female DP, at the time when I started. There’s a comradery that you build, and every chance you get to build that trust with people – I mean trust is earned and respect is earned. You have to come in with that and have the command of a crew, a crew behind you supporting you helps you do your best work, and I think people see that and what to bring you on to other things. It’s been a journey, for sure, trying to get to a place where I feel like I have a real career. I thank a lot of my mentors and my supporters for that.

What would your advice be to other women out there who are interested in cinematography?

Perseverance. I remember it echoing in my head when I was younger. There is so much in this industry that is luck, and opportunity that comes your way. It’s hard to compare yourself to other people’s journeys, I would never do that, never compare yourself. Your journey is going to be very unique, and you just have to persevere, and keep going.