Donnybrook Production Services

One of the more satisfying production assignments I’ve had, just over a year ago now, was producing a PSA for the ‘Sounds of Pertusis’ campaign.  It was an amazing opportunity, as I was able to work with a true sports legend in NASCAR champion (and, more importantly, father & Pertusis awareness activist) Jeff Gordon.  Jeff and his wife, model Ingrid Vandeboch, have two kids, and being parents has raised their own awareness to this frightening and debilitating epidemic among young children. They’ve since taken up the crusade against Pertusis, and hold this cause very near and dear to their hearts.

As a father myself, I can respect the fear and anxiety that comes with a sick child…even a minor illness can make a parent feel helpless, since it’s an inherent desire to want to do all we can to protect our kids. I was happy to stumble upon recent news on Jeff’s continued efforts, and reflecting back I’m immensely proud to have been even a small part in this ongoing movement.

Lately, I just can’t seem to keep my crews out of the sweltering desert heat…much to their chagrin, I’m sure. Halfway around the world, I’ve just recently had to put a band of creative and talented folks together in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, for an ongoing documentary style project for the RJC. The doc has already witnessed production days in Philadelphia, New York, Atlanta, and Boca Raton, and this latest round of filming abroad should round things out nicely. The footage is courtesy of the immensely talented Israeli DP Alon Grego, to whom I’m quite grateful. He and his guys have been amazing to work with.

Meanwhile, just halfway across the county, the weather-centric opponent was the ‘dry’ heat of the Arizona sun, where a 2-day shoot took place that spanned from Phoenix, through Prescott, and all the way out to Lake Havasu City. Lizard Land Productions was a tremendous find, and I’m anxious to find excuses to work with them more in the future.

Now, on to the nearest watering hole…

A recent move has landed me in-house for a stint with the politico-powerhouse Jamestown Associates, a consulting firm based in Princeton. And while I usually benefit from a bit of a ramp up, there’s also something to be said for the time honored tradition of trial by fire.  The embers are still glowing bright red, but I’m starting to settle in to a bit more of a groove since hitting the ground running last month.

Already in the still-early days of this run, I’ve assembled shoots in South Carolina, New York, Philly, and Hawaii.  The later would appear to be the first in what is likely to become a bi-monthly production routine in the Aloha State over the next two quarters or so…& I’m loving a few local island vendors already.  Sight and Sound Studios has been fantastic in a pinch, which is where I’ve been finding myself on most of these shoots, and seems to find just about every piece of gear I’ve needed to pull together.  And Terry over @ Pacific Prompters seems to be running a pretty healthy monopoly on teleprompters on the islands…good for you Terry (& thanks for the assist).

All in all, once you get past the inevitable rub of island hopping logistics, Hawaii ends up being a pretty nice place to film.  And as it turns out, it’s rather picturesque there as well…who knew!  Mahalo.

Already this year, I’m sensing that my blog-centric commitment for 2012 may be waning from the diligence witnessed in 2011…as it stands, I’m finding pockets of allowable down time fewer and further between this year already. I figured I’d take a second to offer myself a quick get out of jail free card, so that when I don’t update this site again all year I can say I saw it coming.  But alas, I digress…

I wanted to jump on to give a quick shout out to a very blog-worthy new vendor friend of mine.  Since coming on board last month, to take the active reins of production management for the Cartoon Network slotted kid’s show “Team Toon” (a joint effort between Larry Schwarz & His Band and Crook Brothers Productions), I’ve been lending a bit of my own particular style here and there.  Case in point, the K-Cup coffee maker was a big hit all around! And one new vendor in particular has been great, in every sense of the word.  The Brooklyn-based sustyparty.com is quite the enviable little do-gooder, and I’m proud to add them to the show’s growing vendor list.  Jessica and Emily both offer top notch customer service, and I’d be a fool not to take advantage of the geographical convenience of having their shipping center located right in the outer boroughs.  Especially since they ship their wholly sustainable products all over the world.

Keep up the great work ladies, and thanks for all of the help thus far…I can already see that carbon footprint beginning to diminish!

As of 2012, the Greater Philadelphia Film Office will be undergoing a pretty extensive overhaul, not only to it’s staple film.org website, but also to its professional listing service.  The GPFO will discontinue publishing their film guide, and will instead be transferring over all listings to a digital service.

The film office’s website has always added the amenity of a digital listing to anyone filing for a space/ad/listing in their annually published film guide.  But as of this year, the office will do away completely with the hard copy version of their guide, and instead rely solely on the website & digital listing.  Primary markets the likes of New York & L.A. have been moving in this direction as well, and secondary arenas such as Chicago, DC, Dallas, and North Carolina have adopted similar mindsets.

It will be interesting to see how smoothly the transition goes, and whether local crew, vendors, and production facilities offer push back or embrace the tech advances with open arms.  Regardless of the reaction, it’s my hope that the Philly Philm Market witnesses a surge in production activity this coming year, after sub par offerings over the past two years.  After all, someone needs to steal some of that tax incentive money back from neighboring Pittsburgh.  Here’s hoping that the production activity warms this coming spring in tandem with the weather.

So it’s looking like I’ll be traversing to the north end of the NJ Turnpike once again.  As of next week, I’ll be coming on board in a more official and full-time capacity as the UPM for the NYC-based Crook Brothers Productions.  I’ve been involved with the sibling duo behind CBP since wrapping the indie feature “Backwards” in October, when Line Producer Brian David Cange introduced me to Jeff & Josh Crook.  The Crook Bro’s, in tandem with Animation Collective, have been gearing up to get two shows into principal production since late summer, when a sizzler for their kid’s TV concept “Black Dawn” was picked up by FremantleMedia.  As it stands, I’ll be grabbing the production reins of their second kid’s concept, “Team Toon”.

The Cartoon Network bound ‘Toon’ is an amalgamated live action/animation concept that follows the scholastic-set adventures of a foursome of middle-schoolers, as they engage in daily adventures.  The show will pepper in contemporary, tech-infused components for a demographic of kids that are all too well versed in the digital arena.

The show’s principal filming location, and main production headquarters, will be in the small shore town of Lindenhurst, NY…just 30 or so minutes south of the Hamptons.  We’ll be bouncing back and forth between Long Island and the outer boroughs of NYC, as key supplemental locations have also been secured in the Brooklyn-based hoods of Greenpoint, Cobble Hill, and Park Slope.  So it looks like the chilly winter months will find me at the North end of the Turnpike…i’ll have to learn to circumnavigate those pesky Met’s fans!

It’s not every day that I stumble upon something useful while enduring the tortures of the MTA subway system, but apparently it’s not impossible.  The current print campaign for freelancersunion.org caught my attention recently, while standing elbow to elbow with some of the world’s most unwelcome travel partners.  Pasted squarely in a subway car corner, the ad seemed to beckon that I journey to the organization’s website.  Luckily, given the wonders of modern technology, I was able to do so right then and there from the ever-accessible controls of my trusty iPhone…a far more welcomed travel partner, even if it is the ‘Siri-less’ variety!

Providing a ‘platform for an independent workforce’, the Freelancers Union’s website offers access to information regarding health & medical benefits, investment planning for retirement, and local calls to action events.  Providing a unified voice for the likes of the self-employed, the organization provides solace to those that question whether or not they do indeed have a ‘real job’.

Lobbying efforts have been formed for far less worthwhile causes, so this seemed like one worth latching on to.  I joined later that night, since it was free (and as such rather risk free), so I’ll be exploring the benefits over the next couple of weeks/months.  Naturally, they welcome donations, so if you’re at a loss regarding what to do with that disposable income that’s burning a hole in your jeans, I can think of far worse ways to spend it!

This adage dates back quite a while, and is actually rooted in a more complex management formula too dizzying to cite here verbatim.  After all, I’m simply maintaining a self-serving and (dare I say) witty & entertaining blog, not crafting an outline for a management strategies handbook.  Nevertheless, there’s something about this maxim that has always resonated with me.  It was adopted and employed heavily @ Get-Kinetic, the Philly-based production company that I called home for several years.  And it’s stuck with me since journeying into the treacherous freelance terrain nearly a year ago.

Regardless of how solid and stable a relationship one might adopt with a client (or potential client), there’s no denying that vendors and employing firms/individuals will always find themselves at odds over this belief; with the later party nearly always pushing to secure all three of these things to their own selfish benefit.  Holding the line when it comes to this set of conditions falls squarely on the shoulders of the bidding party, and the delicacy with which it must be maneuvered is an art form in and of itself.

Being a relative ‘newbie’ with regards to the established world of self-employment (I kinda feel like a full fiscal year in the books is necessary to live down this title), I’m still trying to figure out how to get client-folk to swallow this typically bitter pill.  I have, however, been lucky enough to develop a number of solid professional relationships over the course of my first year as a freelancer…and I suppose that if 12 or so months down the road I’m still trudging along with my head above water (and still maintaining this witty & entertaining blog), perhaps I’ll have amassed a bit more worthwhile advice on the matter!

OK, so it’s Monday morning, and I have yet to resort to diving out of any windows in despair over the heart-wrenchingly early departure of the Phil’s from the 2011 Post Season.  That said I’m reeling, and still feeling more than a little frustration over the whole debacle that was Friday night.  It might’ve felt better if we got blown out…it might have felt better if we lost 1-0/2-1 in extra innings, given the pitching match-up…perhaps the frustration may have been rivaled if we goofed and blew some sort of huge, cushy lead.  But alas, none of those were the case.  Instead, we limped offense-lessly through a disparaging nine innings of torture!

My brother put it succinctly (as he’s often able to do with the Phil’s when I’m struggling to find the logic), when he addressed the fact that the Phil’s have never been a good ‘small ball‘ club.  And it’s true, they’re just not.  Rather, they’re at their best when exhibiting an awe-inspiring performance, and lack the steady attention to the fundamentals of the game.  In their recent playoff success stories, they rode the long ball all the way to the World Series for two straight years.  Since then, with injuries prevalent, they’ve been unable to capitalize on the basics and principals that make most baseball teams successful.  Now granted, two things are a given: 1 – I’ll feel a heck of a lot better if the Card’s ride their late season hot streak all the way to a parade, and 2 – I’ll be sporting my Phil’s caps all through the year, anxiously awaiting them to take the grass @ Citizen’s Bank in April.  I cant help it…I’m a lifer!

Having said that, and as I’ve often done this past season, I started to see correlations to the film production industry here in Philly…another often frustrating situation.  The fact of the matter is, all major film markets (New York & L.A. first among the list) witness a sustaining, year-round level of consistent ‘small ball’ production activity.  Episodic TV, reality-based TV, indie level feature film production, and big budget studio offerings all balance the slate.  Here in the CoBL, however, it seems we’re more ‘flash in the pan’ when it comes to our annual production docket, with typically only a handful of big-budget films swooping in for short stints before leaving the scene vacant for even longer stints.  And just like the Phil’s, with their impressive collection of Aces, Philly has all of the key ingredients to be a perpetually strong film market, making it all the more frustrating that it cant seem to capitalize on them.

I’m as loyal to the Greater Philly film region as I am to the Fightin’s, but sooner or later the draw up the turnpike will prove to be a sweeter temptation than I can ignore.  And while I’ll no sooner become a native New Yorker than a Yankees fan, there’s no arguing that the fruitful production-sustenance of the Big Apple is an appetizing proposition.

Having spent a part of this past weekend helping out with some loose ends on the indie feature “Backwards”, as they were back in the saddle for some pick-up footage, I’m hearing rumors that the film is coming together quite nicely.  And while it was fun to get back into the field with a collection of the department heads & crew again, I’ll admit to being at least mildly distracted by NLDS Game 1 (the Fightin’s were also hosting the visiting Card’s down @ CBP).

While balancing my UPM-esque duties with my addictive Phil’s fever, I was reflecting on the growing collection of local philmmakers that are proud to set their sticks in the Greater Philly region.  The gents over at the South Jersey-based Kphat Productions always seem to be up to something feature-film related, and have begun to amass an impressive collection of company credits.  Meanwhile, the Producer/Director team of  James Madison &  Nic Reader seem to be ready to take their Expressway Productions moniker to the next level, hot on the heels of their successful short film collaboration “Runner”.  And with the likes of Ben Hickernell’s “Backwards”, the environmentally conscious indie darling “Future Weather”, and the horror treat “Alpha Girls” all bound to hit screens in the coming year, we could be in store for a potential hat-trick of Philly-based philm fare witnessing some much deserved exposure.

As I ramp up talks this week with the philmmakers behind the comedy “Angus”, penned by local screenwriter David Greenberg, I remain as optimistic as ever that Philly will soon witness its full potential as a viable and sustaining film market.