TV Commercial Production Story from Author Ben Bryant 

• Posted on 7th October 2014
• in Entertainment, entertainment books, Film Production, Hollywood memoirs, TV Commercial Production
• by Ben

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Here’s a

TV commercial production

story from Circumstances Beyond My Control Chapter 18: The Italians.

“The first job Ken [Licata] did under the Ficalora banner was for Kinney Shoes. 1980 was a Presidential election year and this spot was in a political convention setting and starred Ken Berry as the Kinney “candidate” speaking before a convention type audience of about fifty extras. At that time there was a dearth of large sound studios in NYC and in order to find a space large enough we ended up shooting in one that was under construction. Somewhere in Queens, it was just a huge empty space with no air conditioning and no equipment. …

“Ficalora had a staff producer, Marlene DiPutza. … Frost Wilkinson coined a word to describe her, “She’s not a producer, she’s an aggravant.” … her well earned insecurity and total incompetence became manifest on the shoot day.

“A stage had been erected and dressed to look convention-like with banners and bunting. … we brought in two loads of lighting and grip equipment from Film Trucks and some stand-alone air conditioning units which made barely a dent in the heat and were so noisy that they would have to be turned off when we were shooting sound. …

“The shoot day was one of the hottest of the summer and by the time the fifty extras and the twenty crew were in and the lights were on it was over 100 degrees in the space. We had four or five ice chests full of soda, water and juices and by 10 AM they were empty. John Ficalora, Tony’s youngest son was one of the PAs (along with Ken Jr. and Doug, Ken’s other son) and, as the junior man in that category he was the gofer. I told him to … go to a market and replenish the beverages. Half an hour later he returned with two six packs of Coke. I was flabbergasted. I looked at him and said, “Look around. There are seventy people here. Go back and load the car with drinks.” He replied that he didn’t want to, it was too hot.

“I don’t often lose my temper but I came very close. I pointed to the door and said, “Leave. You don’t work here any more.” Marlene had a conniption. “You can’t fire him. He’s Tony Ficalora’s son!” I said, “I don’t give a shit if he’s the fucking Prince of Wales. He’s outta here.” Looking shocked, John slowly walked out.

“Ken Jr. headed to the store with his brother and soon the coolers were full again. The shoot finished on schedule and without further unpleasantness and no one passed out from the heat.

The next day I was in the office wrapping the paperwork and Michael Ficalora [Tony’s eldest son and Executive Producer] walked into the room where I was working. He introduced himself and said, “I hear you fired my little brother yesterday.” I thought, “Well I’m finished with this company.” I said that I had indeed done so. Mike held out his hand for a handshake and said, “Good for you. That’s the best thing that ever happened to that kid. Maybe now he’ll shape up.”

That was a relief. I went on to many more Ficalora jobs with both Ken and Tony. They’re in the book.

Buy Circumstances Beyond My Control

Tags: Author Ben Beyant, Ken Berry, Ken Licata, Tony Ficalora