Adriano Goldman, director of photography for HBO’s Harry Potter series, said in a recent interview with Andre Pirri that filming conditions for the show were “extreme” as the camera team had to work around the demanding shooting schedule of the young cast.
“You have to shoot very fast, and the faster you go, the more you sacrifice quality,” Goldman says. “There’s no way around it, right? Of course we have a lot of resources, but it’s grueling. The screen time for the kids is really grueling. So the methodology is very specific. In effect, we have to pre-shoot every scene while the kids are in class.”
Goldman explained that Dominic McLaughlin (Harry Potter), Alastair Stout (Ron Weasley), and Arabella Staunt (Arabella Staunton) were on set for about “an hour and a half,” and that their schedule required them to shoot “six set-ups” before they left again.
“It’s really difficult. With a schedule like that, you can’t shoot everything in order,” Goldman said. “The process is very complicated, but we have now completed it.”
As Goldman pointed out, one reason the schedule is so rigorous is that child actors must balance on-set education with filming. In July 2025, the BBC reported that Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, the production base for HBO’s Harry Potter, had built a makeshift school for many of the young actors appearing in the show.
Three Rivers District Council has given the studio permission to use a series of mobile buildings as school facilities for the next 10 years. The classroom will be open from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on weekdays, allowing young actors to work on their studies in between night shoots, reshoots, and location shoots.
The Harry Potter series will debut on HBO and HBO Max on December 25, 2026.
