How Netflix's 'The Haunting of Hill House' pulled off the show's best episode, which included '18-page scenes without any cuts'

haunting of hill house

A new Netflix featurette goes behind the scenes of episode six of Netflix's new horror series, "The Haunting of Hill House."
The writer and director Mike Flanagan said the episode's camera choreography had to be incorporated into the script because it had "18-page scenes without any cuts."
Flanagan said one of the show's main sets was constructed with the episode in mind.

Netflix's new horror TV series, "The Haunting of Hill House," has quickly grown in popularity to become one of Netflix's best-reviewed shows. But one episode stands out for its immersive long takes.

Episode six features a series of one-shot takes, the longest being 17 minutes, as it flashes between the past and the present. A new Netflix featurette goes behind the scenes of the episode with the cast and crew.

When writing the script, the writer and director Mike Flanagan said that he "realized that a lot of the camera choreography needed to be incorporated into the draft itself, because we were doing 18-page scenes without any cuts."

Flanagan said he "wanted an episode that would appear to take place essentially in real time, in one single shot."

"It turned into a challenge unlike anything else I've ever had in a production," he continued. "The set had to actually be constructed with this episode in mind — we knew that we had certain shots that were going to require us to walk through the house in its entirety."

Carla Gugino, who plays Olivia Crain, the troubled mother on the show, added that "everyone has to be absolutely in sync with each other, and if one thing is off, the take is gone."

Watch the full video: