Film Production Japanese Style Part II, from Author Ben Bryant

• Posted on 3rd February 2015
• in Entertainment, entertainment books, Film Production, Hollywood memoirs, TV Commercial Production
• by Ben

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, a

film production

house called PMC provides services for Japanese companies shooting in the U S. In 1979 George Braun, the owner, hired me as First AD for several shoots. Here’s an excerpt from Circumstances Beyond My Control, Chapter 20: The Japanese:

“Later that summer we did another Suntory Whiskey job – a night shoot on a residential block in the east eighties involving a hansom cab.

In the 1980s the position of parking coordinator (a team who sit in cars and facilitate the execution of film permit no parking zones the day or night before a shoot) had not yet come to be. In those days the movie cops put up the no parking signs twenty-four hours before a shoot and we hoped people wouldn’t ignore them. In this case that didn’t work out very well.

“The crew and Japanese entourage arrived at the location in the late afternoon to find both sides of the street filled with parked cars. The Nipponese freaked out but George maintained his equanimity. With the help of the movie cops we had most of the cars moved in an hour with a few stragglers taking longer. In Manhattan if one finds a parking spot on one’s own block it’s a minor miracle so locating the owners was not simply a matter of knocking on (apartment house!) doors. The cops had to read plates and/or inspection stickers, radio these to the precinct where calls were made to owners.

“Meanwhile the lighting and camera setup proceeded and by dark one lone automobile remained and it was right in the middle of the shot. Today a police tow truck would remove the vehicle but then that was not an option. Having exhausted all other alternatives only one solution remained. We had to lift the sucker and carry it out of the shot. Well in case you didn’t know this: cars are heavy, even small ones. Ten or twelve strong young men were unable to lift it.

“You’re probably familiar with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers’ motto, “The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer.” This also applies to movie crews (who, by the way, have a lot in common with the Corps of Engineers).

“We bounced the car … for fifty or more feet. Two or three guys got at each corner, pressed down in unison then released and, as the tires and suspension reacted, lifted, pushed or pulled (depending on our position) thus slowly moving the automobile down the street two or three feet per bounce.

“Once the car was safely out of the shot our Asian guests gave us a hearty round of applause.

“Coda: About ten minutes after this feat was accomplished the (very verklemmt) owner of the car arrived.”

Buy Circumstances Beyond My Control

Tags: George Braun, NYC, PMC