TV Commercial Production with: Loretta Lynn

Here’s a celebrity story excerpt from my

TV Commercial Production book,

Circumstances Beyond My Control.

“Among the many shoots I did with John [Smith] was one for Puritan Oil starring Miss Loretta Lynn.

Miss Loretta Lynn

Miss Loretta Lynn

“The year before Puritan had made a commercial with Miss Lynn which they shot on location in her actual kitchen. She and her family were not pleased by the disruption this caused in their household so her deal with them said no more shoots at her house. Therefore, for our shoot the art director had Polaroided and mapped her kitchen in detail so that it could be faithfully reproduced on a Nashville sound stage. Having never seen the real thing, I can’t vouch for the verisimilitude but Loretta herself was very impressed with the reproduction.

“John, a production coordinator, an AC and I went to Nashville where we met the DP, Dante Spinotti, who was living in North Carolina. Dante was well known it Italy and if you notice movie credits you may recognize the name because he went on to shoot dozens of features in the USA beginning in ‘86 with Crimes of the Heart and Manhunter and including The Last of the Mohicans, Nell, Heat, L.A. Confidential, The Insider, Wonder Boys, Bandits (one of my favorites), and Public Enemies. Terrific guy and a truly great DP.

“The rest of the (excellent) crew were all local and within ten minutes of walking onto the stage I was speaking as if I’d never left Tennessee.

“Considering the fact that she was used to singing in front of adoring throngs and had won every award possible for a country singer, I was surprised to realize that Loretta was both self effacing and shy. Maybe it was the ambiance of the sound stage as opposed to the concert milieu or all the people buzzing around her or that she was ‘playing herself’ but she was visibly uncomfortable. This ill ease hampered her ability to be natural and even to remember her lines.

“John is a Yankee and even though he is a gentle man and a good director he just didn’t speak her language. However I did. My ‘good ole boy’ persona was not entirely false. All my uncles were good ole boys and had I not escaped Dixie I may have become one myself. So it was effortless for me to slip into the role of translator. After all my title was ‘assistant director’ and in this case my assistance went in an unusual direction.

“I chatted with Loretta between takes and we shared stories of Tennessee. I asked her all about her kids, talked about my Grandpa and Grandma and their house with no electricity or running water. We laughed a lot and gradually she loosened up. I’m confident that John knew what I was doing and since it was working he left it alone. I never gave her any actual direction but I did help create a more relaxed atmosphere in which she could be herself.”

I must add that Miss Lynn was a gracious and humble lady. It truly was a pleasure meeting and working with her.

Click here to get Circumstances Beyond My Control.

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