TV Commercial Production on Distant Locations (Part 2)

TV Commercial Production

As I’ve mentioned in a couple of previous posts, my fourth tier of work in TV Commercial Production – as an actual Line Producer – began in 1977 after entering the field briefly as a PA, moving up to Studio Manager and on to Location Scout.

Between ‘77 and ‘80 N. Lee Lacy & Associates in the person of Executive Producer David Johnson – my former boss at Ansel – was my primary steady client. I mostly worked with director Don Guy who was also a brilliant cinematographer. His footage was always beautiful and most of his jobs were of the sort that made best use of this skill. Here’s his current demo reel. (Alas, none of the old stuff that I produced is on it.) These two stories are about two of the three shoots I did with Don that were not on distant but nearby locations.

Two excerpts from Circumstances Beyond My Control chapter 16: Distant Locations

“… the first job I did with Don, a spot for Goodyear truck tires … we shot at a truck stop in Mahwah, NJ. There was a diner in the background called “Pals”. Betsy [Hepburn, my wife] was an extra, a waitress in the diner.

“Here’s an example of what a serious actor she was. Even though she would be inside the diner which, itself, was a long way in the background, she wore a tacky short uniform with oversized, garish plastic ball earrings – chewed a wad of gum. The other extras at least appreciated and enjoyed her performance. Those other extras were part of a bodyguard crew headed by “Big Tony” Munafo who went on to a modicum of notoriety as Sly Stallone’s bodyguard.

“We had a Peterbilt truck and had to get an actor who could actually drive it. Of the six or seven guys we auditioned three claimed they could handle such a rig so we took them to Peterbilt headquarters to find out. Only one of them was telling the truth: Don Struss. I knew him from auditions when I was an actor. He was (wrongly) convinced that I was responsible for getting him the job and he gave me a Peterbilt belt buckle which I still have.

“We shot the whole spot at night and the rain came down like crazy but we had to get the job done and we did. The sun was rising as we finished. The first of my many marathons with Don Guy.”

I think the second job I did with Don was this one:

“The IT&T spot was memorable because of the location at JFK. International Telephone & Telegraph had invented some sort of device which enhanced the functionality of air traffic control. This was a pure documentary shoot: just Don, an AC, a PA and me. We were stationed at the end of the active runway and shot planes landing and taking off. There were two [airport] security guys with us and it was a constant battle with them since Don kept creeping closer and closer to where the planes touched down.

“… when 747s were taking off. The noise was unbelievable but it was topped by the Concordes. The sense of power was more than palpable. We were shaken to the bone.”

All but one of the rest of our jobs together were on distant locations. Some were very distant and some were very strange and a few were both. They’re all in the book.

Buy Circumstances Beyond My Control

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