Building the Playful World of GoodRx's Savings Wrangler with Zachary Scott

With its bold palette, stylized Western influences and memorable cast of characters, GoodRx's Savings Wrangler campaign creates a world all its own. From Times Square to the New York subway system, the work found a life well beyond the studio.

We caught up with photographer Zachary Scott to talk about the inspiration behind the campaign, solving production challenges on a tight timeline and building a hybrid workflow that balanced practical photography with AI-crafted backgrounds.

The campaign has such a distinct look and feel. Where did the inspiration come from?

The agency was exploring a couple of different directions. One was this Hollywood Western aesthetic inspired by the 1950s and '60s, almost like a classic movie set. Those are the backgrounds with the yellow skies and the deep red rock formations that feel a little like Arizona or the Grand Canyon. They have a very specific color palette and lighting quality.

The other direction was more of a painted backdrop approach. The backgrounds looked like large scenic paintings, with visible seams, canvas texture, rips, tears, and other imperfections that made them feel handmade.

We ended up pursuing both directions and building a visual language that could move between them while still feeling cohesive.

It also feels very much in line with the work you're known for.

Yeah, I think so. The project shares a lot of the qualities that run through most of my work. It's character driven, there's a narrative component, and there's always some sort of story unfolding within the frame.

The imagery is conceptual, but it's also playful. The sets feel a little theatrical, almost like stage sets or dioramas.

I'm sure the agency was looking at a range of references, including painted backdrops and theater design, but they were also familiar with my work. I've been using painted backdrops and constructed environments for years because I enjoy working in the studio. I'm always looking for ways to make images feel more painterly, stylized, and slightly surreal rather than completely literal.

When you started thinking about production, what became the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge was figuring out how to bring these environments to life within the timeline we had.

We didn't have the ability to build every backdrop as a physical painted set, and most of these environments didn't already exist. Creating them all from scratch would have required a significant amount of fabrication and would have locked us into those background decisions before we ever got to the shoot.

By developing the environments after the photography was completed, we were able to stay flexible and continue refining the look as the project evolved.

So the challenge became finding an approach that preserved the aesthetic without requiring massive set builds.How did you approach that?

We approached it similarly to other projects I've done. We photographed everything against a gray backdrop and focused our efforts on building practical foreground elements. Then we layered in background imagery later, whether that was photography, painted artwork, or a combination of different sources.

The schedule was incredibly tight. We essentially had a single shoot day to create all of this work, so shooting on gray gave us flexibility and speed. Rather than spending time on large set changes, we could focus on lighting and performance while shifting between the two creative directions, the Hollywood Western look and the painted diorama aesthetic.

The final backgrounds were developed from agency references as well as visual ideas drawn from my own archive of painted backdrop and set design work.

You also worked with Jeff Satterthwaite on the backgrounds. What did that collaboration look like?

Jeff and I split the work pretty evenly.  He took the lead on the background development while I produced the shoot with Rina Rachman.

He handled the retouching and compositing on the first group of images, and I worked on the second group. We shared references, techniques, and visual direction throughout the process, so even though we divided the workload, the campaign still felt unified.

Also, my daughter Ivy is a wrangler at the Madonna Inn, so she became our unofficial wrangling consultant and helped us every step of the way.

One of the things people may not realize is how much of the campaign was photographed practically.

Absolutely. The Savings Wrangler had a custom wardrobe, and her sidekick, Dusty Pete, had his own costume and accessories as well. The foreground sets and props were built in the studio and photographed in camera.

Dusty Pete was photographed practically on set alongside her. The only significant retouching involved removing support wires and a few rigging elements used to position him.

Most of the Photoshop work was focused on the backgrounds. The talent, props, wardrobe, sets, and character interactions were all photographed in camera.

For me, it's a good example of a hybrid workflow. You're using digital tools, and in this case AI assisted techniques, to solve a very specific problem, which is creating the environments. The performances, lighting, styling, and photography were all shot in the studio.

What's interesting is that it was still a full production. We had the same crew, stylists, assistants, producers, wardrobe, and talent you'd expect on a commercial shoot. The technology changed one part of the process, but it didn't replace the collaboration that goes into making the image.

At the heart of all of this, it still feels like storytelling is the point.

Definitely.

No matter what tools are involved, I'm always interested in storytelling first. There's usually some kind of narrative or character interaction happening within the image.

It's funny because I spend most of my personal time outdoors. If I'm not working, I'm usually surfing or out on the tractor doing yardwork. But when it comes to photography, I've always been drawn to the studio. Part of it is the air conditioning, but I also love the control. I love painted backdrops, set design, costumes, props, and all the little details that allow you to build a world rather than simply document one.

For me, the goal is to create images that feel playful, cinematic, and a little surreal while still keeping the characters and the story at the center of the frame.