Shooting on the Back Lots!
A series in preparation for my Seminar at Universal Studios on Nov 6th 2010.
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I have shot on the back lots in Los Angeles for years. It is a neat feeling to be in a place where history and possibilities exist all at the same time. It’s exciting to be there working on a project and to feel the energy of the place. There is so much going on.
Not just what you are doing but what others are doing all around you. There is an energy there that is hard to explain. You never know what will happen when you’re on the lot. Once Teri Hatcher came by to look at the location where we were working because she was going to shoot there the next day.
One day Mel Gibson and Danny Glover came riding by in a golf card and started to make circles around us as they did an interview.
Late one night a group of road warriors dressed in post apocalyptic clothing came streaming through our set on the way to their location. It was for the 5th Element movie.
It’s just a cool place to work. In November when I do my seminar they will be shooting Spiderman 4 (I guess) next door. Very Cool! I cannot wait.
This shot was done on Warner Brothers back lot. We had finished a shot for Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce and were on the lot. You have 24 hours when you rent a street so we stayed all night and did a western rain shot for me.
We brought in a horse and talent for the shot and started to light the inside of the buildings. We placed diffusion on the windows and set strobe heads in each room. Getting everything to work at once was a nightmare. We had rented a pumper truck to come in for the rain but he never showed up. It was two in the morning and we are scrambling to create rain with garden hoses and sprinkler heads we had brought as a back up. The raccoons were everywhere as we set up. It got a bit spooky quite frankly. We finally got the rain right and finished at about 5 a.m. in the morning. One of the crew slept in his truck in the old barn rather than going home. The next morning as he got up he found the street covered with people dressed in western gear and shooting a scene. He opened the door to the barn and drove away as people were yelling at him to get out of the shot. Its a crazy place.
