Well, the USC Trojans feathered the Oregon Ducks
last night 35-10, and five Socal Film Members
including yours truly (Stage Manager),along with
Danny Grossman, John Hays (parabs), Tim Clark
(Timekeeper/Clock), and the lovely Susan Bays
(PA) worked the game for ESPN's televised coverage,
thanks to Mike Manning, Socal Film Group member,
contracting us while he was out of state working
another film gig.
Can I just say, Susan Bays, you kick ass? It was
so nice to see you in the sea of millions
when I arrived prior to my calltime, holding my
precious parking pass in your hand. What,
you worked about a 13-hour day, right? And from
what I could see and later heard from
Tim Lay (producer), they were very happy with
your work, especially that part where the
whole starving crew got to EAT because you found
someone who knew someone who's
sleeping with someone (something like that) and
made sure the food could get through
the pre-game tailgating partydom that is USC
(OMG, I had no idea - had I any idea and
tried to get into this school, muchless got in, I
would have never survived the parties, I
fear. Really made me miss college though,
Eminem's "One Shot" blasting through the
Colosseum, all the cheering and watching that
Trojan guy ride around the field on his
horse).
I froze my ass off, standing all night in the
booth (and loving every minute of
it) in the Colosseum rafters, where as stage
manager, my job was mainly wrangling talent,
solve any problems up there, and coordinating
with our camera and sound guy and
director and producer on headset (not too unlike the
assistant dirctor duties I've done previously on film sets). I
checked extra carefully to make sure our ESPN
announcers didn't have any boogers
sticking out of their noses or buttons undone,
that they knew where to stand and were
hooked up to their mics. Then it was a
combination of following the script in my hands
and listening to the director on headset to cue
the announcers with pre-prepped cards
that expounded on monitor information they were
referencing, or with any additional info
I was told to give them during the telecast. Lest you
think all this sounds like cake-walk, it's not, per se.
You HAVE to pay attention and be able to sort out
the chatter that doesn't apply to you (me, in this case)
and I heard Jonsey joking that we actually followed the
script more than they usually do (hmm, could have
fooled me! lol).
Stats were being walked through the tight
quarters of the booth constantly, and
we had a slight issue early on about where our
stage actually was - it's hard to manage a
stage if you don't have one. We ended up between
an Oregon radio show production and
CBS.
Once we confirmed our booth/stage, Jonsey (Mark
Jones) the director came up and Tim
Lay and I discussed our new idea for lighting
with him. Since we ended up being
UNDER the booth tent instead of out on the
exposed corner, we then could bounce our
lights off the tent ceiling for a really nice
chrome glow that flattered the announcers
with the crowd and field lights in the
background.
We also discussed the huge liability concerning
the net outside the booth above
the crowd. It wasn't stretched out or secured at
all, and that if a camera, 2x4, whatever,
fell over the edge, someone down below would
either be very dead or very rich, probably
both. Apparently this wasn't our issue to solve,
but I walked along the rest of the
production teams throughout the booth and made
sure they were aware of the potential
danger.
Earlier, Tim Lay warned me one of the announcers
was cranky after some pre-shoot
stuff so I was ready with butter when I met him
and we did just fine. The two
ibuprofen Susan ran up the stairs for me to give
to him helped too. Thanks, Susan!
And meanwhile, down below the booth, like a tiny
ant wearing a plastic bowl on
his chest at the edge of the field, I could see
Danny Grossman freezing HIS ass off
because he didn't bring a coat. He did this when
we worked the half-time Lingerie Bowl
show a couple years ago during the Superbowl,
too. Again, not sure where John Hays was.
I guess he's just the guy who is HEARD but not
SEEN. LOL! (John's a professional sound
guy in the biz when he's not making Socal Films).
I found it extremely fascinating and informative
to be on headset listening to
the director, Jonesy. He was the main voice in my
head (naturally) and I was just so
impressed how he stayed so organized while
watching the game in real time and then calling
the shots to be played (we were on 20-second
delay to the network) while simultaneously
calling future shots and still have a sense of
humor to go with his obvious love of the game.
And I LOVED the discussion going on
about the amazing reversal-of-the reversal play
during the game. Basically, one of the
Ducks caught a touchdown pass AFTER he'd stepped
back into the endzone (was riiiiiight
inside the line) and after another player's hand
flicked the ball. First it was ruled a
touchdown, but then USC challenged and Refs said
the touchdown was no good because
the Duck had gone out of bounds, so the call was
reversed. But then Oregon coach Mike
Bellotti challenged the reversal, and 16 minutes
later, after the play review showed the
Duck was back in bounds and was NOT THE FIRST
PLAYER TO TOUCH THE BALL (if he was,
the reversal would have stood), the reversal was
reversed, and the Ducks got their points.
Anyway, I've posted a few pics, but didn't get
any of John, Sorry I didn't
catch him - He must have been off Being Heard
again. I particularly like the empty
stadium pic I took from the booth and the one later
with 90,000 fans.
Nov 13 Addendum: Tim! So glad it was only a broken
foot. Hope the police got the drunk that hit your
motorcycle on the way home.
Tina Joellyn Anderson
