ASC welcomes Blake McClure as new member

In 2014, he was honoured with an ASC Award for Best Cinematography in a Half-Hour Episodic Series for his work on Drunk History. His recent credits include The Dropout.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, cinematographer Blake McClure got his first spark of inspiration from an unlikely source, the Ernest comedy movies — including Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Scared Stupid — as they filmed in and around his East Nashville neighbourhood. Seeing production crews moving about and setting up lights revealed the world of filmmaking to McClure, who went on to attend and graduate from Watkins Film School.

His earliest on-set experiences include working as a production assistant on O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the period comedy directed by Joel Coen and shot by Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC. He credits those two months on set with Deakins with teaching him as much about cinematography as he learned in film school.

McClure’s television credits include the first four seasons of Comedy Central’s Drunk History, each episode of which focuses on a famous moment in history as narrated by a drunk person and acted out by a cast of famous comedians. With every episode taking place during a different time period, McClure created an entirely new look and tone for each story — displaying his diverse skills with lighting styles, lenses and camera movement. In 2014, he was honoured with an ASC Award for Best Cinematography in a Half-Hour Episodic Series for his work on the episode “Detroit.”

His other credits include the series A.P. Bio; Still the King; You’re the Worst and Big Time in Hollywood, FL; numerous segments for NBC’s Saturday Night Live; and the features Listening and The Grace of Jake.

Based in Los Angeles, McClure recently wrapped episodes of the Hulu limited series The Dropout, and is currently in production on Season 4 of the TBS anthology series Miracle Workers. In addition, he shot an episode of each of American Crime Story: Impeachment, Hollywood and Ratched — all for Ryan Murphy TV.