Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Today's gig

Right now, I'm working on what I consider one of my "hit and run" projects. The TV show Skins
will be shooting in NYC next week and today, I'm running around with the Director, Producer and D.P. (Director of Photography) to pick the places we'll shoot. I got the scripts three weeks ago, so I know what happens in the scenes we'll shoot, but I don't know enough about the show to put what we're doing in any context. I know that Cassie comes to NY from the UK because of some trauma she's suffered, but I don't know what the trauma was.

Guess what, I don't need to know. I've never seen the show, and odds are, I never will. I met the Brits yesterday and they're terrific. I'll enjoy working with them.

A note on the "hit and run" jobs: These are the short jobs where I'm hired for as little as three days (take us to some landmarks) or as much as a month (find locations for a one week shoot). Most of these don't make it onto my resume'. I'll get all my instructions by email, fax and/or phone calls. They'll show up as late as the night before we shoot. We shoot, get to know each other (kind of), trade war stories and then they go back to wherever they came from. In twenty years of doing this, I've never seen or heard from any of them again. Speaking of which, I wonder if the open invitation for a place to stay in Mexico City is still good. That dates back to 1996 from some guys who came to New York to shoot a commercial for a Mexican bank.

Anyway, time to go to work. I'll talk to you all tonight.

8 comments:

Janiece said...

Nathan, have you read Jeffrey Deaver's Location Scout Mysteries? I like Jeffrety Deaver's stories, I was just curious how accurate they were in terms of the whole "Location Scout" aspect.

Nathan said...

I've heard of Deaver, but not the books. It sounds interesting. What's the name of the first one?
I'd love to read it and then I'll report back to you.

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a very fascinating job. I'd imagine you know your city very well...

Nathan said...

Jeri,

This city is so humongous and constantly tearing down and building new things, that I'm always running across things I've never seen before.

That said, its more fun working on the road in places I've never been before.

Janiece said...

The first one is Shallow Graves.

Nathan said...

Consider it added to the list.

Shawn Powers said...

I've told many people that I would NEVER go to NYC unless I knew a person that could "take care of me" while I was there. I'm such a small town guy, that a busy supermarket is overwhelming for me. :)

So let me know when I've offered enough blogger tech support to warrant a tour, assuming I buy lunch. :)

Nathan said...

The "Welcome to NY" sign is on. Sure, you've earned a tour.

I don't especially like crowds myself. My preference is grilling in the backyard.

That having been said, I can power-walk through 2 million people in Times Square, without breaking stride.