TV Commercial Production in Prison

Between 1977 and ‘80 David Johnson, N. Lee Lacy & Associates’ exec producer – my old Ansel boss, kept me fairly busy in TV commercial production. Don Guy, the director I produced for, was also a brilliant cinematographer and he tended to get interesting jobs to shoot in interesting (read: challenging) locations.

Excerpt from Circumstances Beyond My Control chapter 16: Distant Locations

“The shoot we did for the National Council on Child Abuse (‘78 or ‘79) was a Public Service Announcement (PSA) … The tag line for the piece was “Help destroy a family tradition” and it was based on a statistic which showed that a very high percentage … of people who are incarcerated for violent crimes were abused as children.

“So Don and I went to Kansas State Penitentiary where all the inmates are lifers who have been convicted of violent crimes. This was the first time I’d ever been inside a maximum security prison. … We had to interview inmates (never called prisoners) and, without them knowing the purpose of the interview, find out which had been abused children. We were scheduled to begin the interviews on Friday morning but when we arrived in Kansas City on Thursday and called the Warden we were told we’d have to wait at least twenty-four hours because the joint was in lock-down. A CO (Corrections Officer – never called guards) had been stabbed in the heart and killed by an inmate using (are you ready?) a Bic pen.

“Saturday afternoon we began the interviews. Lifers in a place like this rarely have the opportunity to talk with outsiders so they were all loquacious. A few were even eloquent and we heard some harrowing stories. Practically all of them volunteered their tales of abuse so we had a sizable pool from which to choose our on-camera guys. The original plan had been to do the same at a nearby women’s prison and bring a couple of women to shoot in the men’s facility but the authorities decided that was not a good idea and so we hired a local actress and Betsy (a SAG member) came along as “talent”. She’s the white woman in the middle of the spot. (You Tube link below)

“Neither Elizabeth (then still Betsy) nor I will ever forget the last man you see in the PSA.

TomRoyalHis name was Tom Royal and he was in for armed robbery, kidnapping a highway patrolman and transporting him across a state line. If he ever got out of this prison he had another life sentence awaiting him in Oklahoma. But Tom was okay with that. He told Betsy that his work was in prison. He had discovered a book, Be Here Now, by Ram Dass that had changed his life. From this book he had learned to meditate and was now teaching meditation to other inmates. He was completely at peace with himself and his situation. A remarkable fellow. It was from Tom that I first experienced the phenomenon known as “jail-house pronunciation”. Having never heard Ram Dass’ name spoken by anyone else he pronounced it “Rammed Ass”. Even though he didn’t know the proper way to say the name, he certainly got the message of the books. …

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“Other inmates with whom we became acquainted were not so enlightened. We had as an inmate liaison a trustee named Terry, who had a Masters Degree in engineering. He, like many of his fellows, worked out with weights. He was in his mid-twenties, about six-feet-two, quiet and well muscled. He was eager to tell his story. Right after he finished grad school his girl friend was working in a convenience store. One night when he dropped by around her quitting time he saw her get into a car with the store manager. He followed in his pickup truck and when they parked at a make-out spot Terry took his shotgun off the rack and blew both their heads off. He seemed satisfied with the justice of this act and said that in the same circumstances he’d do it again. Aside from this little character flaw he was a very nice and helpful guy. …

CELLBLOCK1

“As we were loading into the cellblock on the shoot day we were trying to figure out how to get the scissor lift we’d rented (for a shooting platform) up the stairs. The thing was on wheels but it weighed almost two tons. Terry, who was always with me, noticed the problem and offered to help. He called five of his friends and they picked the thing up, carried it up the stairs like it was a baby carriage and began walking into the cell block with it. “Where do you want it?” he asked. I told him to just put it down, we could drive it from here. …

“One of several things we were cautioned about was our tools. All the technicians have tool kits with many potential weapons in them (Bic pens?) so we were told to keep a close eye on the kits. … But after the first ten or fifteen minutes of the shoot day we forgot all about the caution. The place was not locked down while we worked … so there were lots of them [inmates] just watching. It was not unlike shooting in a school corridor with the kids looking on except for the fact that there were cells instead of classrooms and our audience was comprised of seriously dangerous men.

“Other than the loss of freedom I think the worst thing about being in prison is the boredom. Every day is the same: nothing happens. Well, we were an event and the most interesting thing most of these guys had seen in their lives. So we had an enthusiastic audience and no problems at all.”

Here’s the finished PSA.

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