TV Commercial Production Story

TV commercial production was my working life for several years. In 1978 one of my favorite directors, Jerry Prueitt, got a job for Kent Cigarettes and hired me as his producer. Since ’70 cigarette advertising had been banned on U. S. TV but not elsewhere in the world. These spots were for some South American country. This was a big production with shooting on multiple locations in NYC and several rural locations including a horse farm and a lake in New Jersey.

We needed a motor home and we didn’t have a budget for teamsters. The teamsters’ union kept a sharp watch on places where these could be rented and thus we employed some subterfuge. I had hired Mark Petersson (now a DP) as my lead PA and we had him and his wife, complete with luggage, pick up the Winnebago for their pretend vacation and drive it to our first New Jersey location, the lake. The ploy worked; no teamsters.

At the lake we were shooting a fishing scene and we had no luck at all catching any fish. To get the shot of the fishermen reeling one in we sent a PA to a market to buy some dead fish and put one on the hook. The actor shook the rod in an attempt to make it appear that the fish was wiggling. It never really looked real but it was a quick cut so the editor was able to make it work.

My favorite day on this gig was when we shot from a Tugboat in the NY Harbor and the lower Hudson River.

Empire State Building from Tugboat

Empire State Building from Tugboat

These behemoths are truly amazing pieces of equipment. Tugboat engines typically produce 680 to 3,400 horsepower. Larger boats (seagoing tugs) can have power ratings up to 27,200 hp. The engines are often the same as those used in railroad locomotives. The engine room of this one was so clean you could have eaten off the floor. And of all floating vehicles tugboats are the most stable of shooting platforms. Well, maybe an aircraft carrier is a bit more stable but tugs are damn solid. We cruised around the harbor and up the river all day and had a fine time.

The biggest challenge was Lincoln Center. We needed a shot of two actors strolling across the quadrangle past the fountain. You can’t get anywhere near Lincoln Center with a (professional) camera without hiring (well, paying actually) at least three members of the stagehands IA Local 1. At the Carole King Concert in Central Park (Circumstances Beyond My Control Chapter 12) they were the people who had left early after getting paid. Anyhow, I’ll do anything I can to avoid paying those guys and anyhow we didn’t have the budget for it. So we employed subterfuge number two on this job. We rented a third floor northwest room in the Empire Hotel across the street and setup a camera with a telephoto lens. Mark and a woman from the crew sat by the fountain with a concealed walkie-talkie to cue the actors who innocently ambled around until they got the cue then walked through the appropriate area of the quad. I think we got three takes before we were found out. They were enough.

The last night the entire crew and the lone Ad agency guy had a big dinner in a private room at a very fine restaurant. The meal was splendid and we had a lot of laughs. The best one came with dessert. The waitress touted the homemade cheesecake and several of us, including the agency guy, ordered it. It was quite delicious but when Mr. Ad Agency got to the bottom of his slice he saw aluminum. He called her over, pointed to the shiny metal and said, “This is Sara Lee”.

When she insisted that it was, indeed, homemade he said, “You can’t bullshit me. I’m a professional. I sling bullshit for a living.”*

I suppose that could also be said of all of us who worked in TV commercial production.

For more tales like this click here and get Circumstances Beyond My Control.

 

 

 

 

* This cheesecake story is actually from another Prueitt job in Connecticut but I just had to stick it into this post.

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