TV Commercial Production on Distant Locations (1)

My fourth tier of work – as an actual Line Producer – in TV commercial production began in 1977 after entering the field briefly as a PA, moving up to Studio Manager and on to Location Scout.

Excerpt from Circumstances Beyond My Control chapter 16: Distant Locations

“Between 1977 and 1980 Lacy, [N. Lee Lacy & Associates] in the person of [Executive Producer] David Johnson, became one of my primary, steady clients. I worked with several of their directors but mainly with Don [Guy]. For a producer he was a challenging client. Don is a brilliant cinematographer. His footage was always beautiful and most of his jobs (when I worked with him) were of the sort that made best use of this skill. What was most challenging about him was his tendency to overshoot. I ran out of film with Don Guy in four different states. I hasten to add that Don’s overshooting was not the result of insecurity, as it was with many other directors. He just loved to take pictures. Everything visual interested him and he had the ability to find the proper angle to make whatever it was look its best.

“I believe the Chevrolet pickup truck shoot was the third or fourth spot I did with Don and it was a very interesting job. The point of the commercial was that a Chevy pickup truck was sufficiently powerful to tow a giant ore hauler. These things carry 400 tons of ore and are so big that each eleven foot wheel has its own engine. 

OreHauler

“We shot the job in a copper mine a few miles south of Tucson, Arizona with a crew made up of a second camera operator from New York named Stefan Czapsky, several guys from LA and a local grip/electrician who had an equipment truck.

“Before the shoot I spent several days on location prepping the job, eating great Mexican food and hanging out with Shel Gingerich, a local medical student who was working summers as a PA. There are lots of OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration) rules to be dealt with when working in a potentially dangerous environment like an open pit mine: safety equipment, where one can and cannot go etc. And we needed one piece of special equipment, which was a bucket lift to get a high camera angle. This I rented from a local construction equipment dealer.

“One of the OSHA requirements was that all personnel must wear steel-toed boots. This is not normal footwear for film crews. We wear hi-end sneakers. When you spend all day on your feet comfortable shoes are your most important piece of equipment. When I apprised DJ of this he gave us an allotment of $50.00 for each crew member to buy these shoes and I passed the info along to the guys who would be joining us in Arizona in a few days. I went to a local store and got a pair for around $45.00. (Remember, this is 1978 or ‘79.)

“The day before the shoot the NYC boys arrived and I gave each the fifty buck reimbursement and got them to the motel. Then Sheldon and I went to the airport to meet the bunch from LA.

From Shel Gingerich: … I recall taking you to the airport to pick up the LA film crew. I was worried we wouldn’t recognize the members. I asked you if you’d ever met the LA crew and you had not. You said, “I promise I’ll pick every one out, no problem.” And, there was no question which ones were the crew.

“While we didn’t know each other there is a look about film crew people that is recognizable to almost anyone in the business. I could spot these guys a mile away. It’s a sort of brotherhood, as it were. 

“But they had to test me.

“When we got to the motel they all gathered in my room to get their shoe money and the details of the next day’s job. One of them lit up a doobie and passed it around then we got down to business. They had all spent more than the agreed on amount for their shoes and started in on me for full payment. I don’t recall the details of the negotiation but I did show them both my boots and my receipt and after a lot of jocular hassle they capitulated and I gave them each the fifty. I had proved myself not to be a pushover and from then on there were no more problems.

“Our local grip (whose name I’ve long forgotten) was a real character. A wiry little guy, he looked like an eighty year old cowboy but was obviously not that old, as he had plenty of strength and energy. He was full of folksy sayings. The only one I recall was in reference to a shot he found boring. ‘If you’re a-gonna kick a dead horse at least ya ort to wear red boots.’

“The shoot went well except for the fact that we ran out of film. But that was not a big deal since we had enough footage by lunch and the clients were ready to quit then.”

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