BELOW THE LINE PODCAST

Filming safely and efficiently during the pandemic is a serious challenge. My guests today are a trio of assistant directors — Emily Hogan, Chris Della Penna and Vince Duque — who return to discuss their experiences on set and share what insights they've gained over the last nine months.

For the launch of Season 7, I've reconvened some familiar voices to discuss how film production has not only adapted to the pandemic but appears to be booming. Join Katie Carroll (assistant director), Allison Choi Braun (costumer), Dan Fisher (property master), and Dave Tuttman (cinematographer) to hear about their latest projects, and what it portends for the Industry going forward.

Happy Veterans Day! Today, I'm joined by military photographers and videographers I served with nearly 25 years ago at the 30th Communications Squadron (Vandenberg AFB, CA). My guests - Jim Stayton, Bruce Dzitko, Fred Johnson and Al Pedroza - share stories from our days in uniform and how those experiences still resonate with us today.

My guests today — Johanna Vanderspool, Caitlin Alba and Claire Truman — represent the NonFiction “Union”, an advocacy coalition of non-fiction freelancers. We talk about the growth of reality television over the last two decades and how this segment of the Industry is responding to the pandemic.

My guest today is Eric Branco, Cinematographer for The Forty-Year-Old Version, the 2020 Sundance winner that is now airing on Netflix. We discuss what it was like to collaborate with Radha Blank (who wrote, directed and stars in the film) and the practical challenges of capturing a vision in black and white.

Season 6 resumes with a discussion of the protocols adopted by the Film Industry to protect the health and safety of cast and crew during the pandemic. That's been the focus of my personal efforts over the last three months, and my guests today -- Jill Maxcy and Greg Kaston Smalley -- are also working in this space.

My guests today -- Jen Bender (Executive) and Claire Benjamin (Casting Director) -- are from Central Casting, the largest employer of background actors in the Industry. We discuss how background casting worked before COVID-19 and how the process is changing in response to the pandemic.

This episode, we’re talking about Ozark, the Netflix streaming series starring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney, which recently released its third season. In a change of pace, I’m joined by two of the producers who have been with the show since the beginning: Patrick Markey (Executive Producer) and Matt Spiegel (Line Producer/Unit Production Manager). We look behind the scenes at the Atlanta-based show, and discuss the challenge of filming Season 4 in a COVID-19 world.

Today we're discussing the television drama Party of Five, which ran for six seasons on Fox (1994-2000). It was my first assignment as a DGA (Directors Guild of America) Trainee, and I'm joined by two of the assistant directors with whom I worked: Chris Della Penna (1st Assistant Director) and Vince Duque (2nd Assistant Director). It's a fun look back at the long-running series, and we have an interesting discussion about how film production has changed over the last 20 years.

My guests today -- Jason Melius (All Rise, 2nd Assistant Director), Mike Caron (Danger Force, Director) and Emily Hogan (Mythic Quest, 1st Assistant Director) -- all work on shows that produced new episodes under quarantine conditions. Each production took a different approach, and we compare notes on what it took to make these episodes happen.

This is the second of two episodes discussing John Carpenter's The Thing, and I'm once again joined by Dean Cundey (Director of Photography), Ken Diaz (Special Makeup Effects Coordinator), Dave Kelsey (Mechanical Animation Coordinator), and Bruce Humphrey (DGA Trainee).

Dean also shared a video demonstrating how closely the filming of the movie aligned with Mike Ploog’s original storyboards, which you can watch on our YouTube channel:  https://youtu.be/Pve-hRIJGWc

This is the first of two episodes discussing John Carpenter's The Thing, the 1982 sci-fi/horror classic starring Kurt Russell. I'm joined by crew from the film: Dean Cundey (Director of Photography), Ken Diaz (Special Makeup Effects Coordinator), Dave Kelsey (Mechanical Animation Coordinator), and Bruce Humphrey (DGA Trainee). Welcome to Season 6 of Below the Line.

This is the final episode of Season 5, and we're checking in with crew members from the season's first episode for status updates. Join Katie Carroll (assistant director), Allison Choi Braun (costumer), Dan Fisher (property master), and Dave Tuttman (cinematographer) for a discussion about how film production in both NYC and LA is responding to the ongoing pandemic.

My guests today represent the motion picture craft locals of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters: Tommy O'Donnell (Local 817 - NYC), Steve Dayan (Local 399 - Hollywood) and Lorrie Ward (Local 155 - Vancouver). We discuss how the pandemic is impacting their members, resources for those in need, and the strategy for getting back to work.

Earlier this month, Danger Force (the superhero tv show in its first season on Nickelodeon), produced and aired a special quarantine episode, and my guests today explain how it came together: Jimmy Brooks (line producer), Mike Caron (director), and Robyn Willey-Pratt (first assistant director).

Our series focused on the property department concludes today with a pre-pandemic visit to Independent Studio Services (a prop house headquartered in Sunland, CA, with offices worldwide) for a conversation with Gregg Bilson, Jr. (CEO of ISS) and Scott Buckwald (property master, ISS customer, and longtime podcast contributor).

If you'd like to listen to this episode while looking at pictures from our tour, visit our YouTube channel for an edited slideshow = https://youtu.be/5v34PMDnHLI

My guest today is assistant property master Travis Bobbitt, whose work on 2019's Avengers: Endgame was the culmination of a journey he started a decade ago on 2010's Iron Man.

Today I'm speaking with the legislative directors from IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, WGA-East and the DGA, who collectively represent their members at the national level through their participation in the Arts, Entertainment, and Media Industry Coordinating Committee (AEMI). We discuss their work to-date on behalf of creative professionals in response to the pandemic ... and what's still to come.

Ken Levin and Jill Parry join me today to revisit their time managing props for Wizards of Waverly Place, the Disney sitcom that aired four seasons (2007-2012) and introduced the world to Selena Gomez.

My guest today is Erik "Dr. Booty" Kieltyka, an assistant property master on the television show, S.W.A.T. (starring Shemar Moore), currently airing its third season on CBS.

Last week, we lost one of our own:  Larry Lerner, an assistant director with a film career spanning more than 35 years, passed away after contracting COVID-19. My guests today are fellow Directors Guild members who knew Larry, both on and off set.

Today I'm speaking with Jeff Butcher and Dan Fisher, the property team from 2008's The Wrestler (directed by Darren Aronofsky, starring Mickey Rourke, and featuring supporting performances by Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood).  

My guest today is Property Master Scott Buckwald, sharing his insights from the set of 2006's The Prestige (directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale).  This is the first of a multi-episode series focused on the Property Department. 

And just like that, we're back for a new season.  An assistant director, a costumer, and a property master meet virtually because of social distancing . . . this episode, my guests are crew members whose productions stopped filming due to concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19.  

Bonus Oscar episode! A hairstylist and a sound mixer walk into a bar . . . want to know what really happens at the Academy Awards? My guests today are hairstylist Yvonne De Patis-Kupka, who has crewed many an Oscar ceremony, and three-time Sound Mixing nominee Steve Morrow, who tells us about the red carpet, the after parties, and everything in between. It's a Below the Line look at the event itself from both sides of the curtain.