Chapter III. The Production Assistant

Right from the start, I wanted to do this project on my own, nuts to bolts. I wanted to prove to myself, and to others, that a single person could effectively put together a broadcast quality, effective documentary with today’s technology.

That was when I expected a single visit to Indonesia would suffice to tell the story.

This trip to Florida would be the fifth major trip for the program. And I admit, I was getting tired. Dare I say my age and lack of physical athleticism have caught up with me. I have a spinal injury that causes pain and numbness in my right shoulder and right hand. It’s chronic, and has become more of a pain issue in the last few months.

I decided to find a production assistant or two who could help me out. So I posted an ad for a production assistant through the University of Miami’s career development department. For the most part, the people who answered the listing were looking just for the experience of assisting with underwater video. When I wrote back in a mass email explaining that there was also topside service required, I received few replies back.

Only two people made the cut. First was Oliver, a graduate of Full Sail, whom I should have realized was not an American simply because he was exceptionally polite in his communication with me and had a true “go-getting” attitude. He lived in Orlando, but was willing to grab a motel on his own account just to be a part of my shoot. Honestly, how could I turn down someone with that kind of dedication to a project that isn’t his own?

The second was a girl who shall remain unnamed, who had no interest in diving but seemed extremely enthusiastic about the project, telling me in her cover letter that she had wanted to do a show on this topic herself but never had the resources. She also made it a point to tell me how reliable she was in terms of production duties. She seemed like a perfect addition to the team; but right at the beginning, I had to let her go.

Out of the blue, after several weeks of discussing the three days of production scheduled for Key West the first weekend, she changed her mind about traveling; the day before we were leaving; at diner time; by email.

I texted her immediately, and offered her the opportunity to speak about it. In that hour, I reached Oliver. Again, his enthusiasm was genuinely surprising. He told me he was willing to give up three paid days to work with me. Highly sensitive to the fact that he would be leaving a job, he assured me he had three or four names that could replace him.

An hour after I texted her, I decided to make Oliver my sole production assistant. She called ten minutes too late, and it went to voicemail, where her association with this production ended.

She has been to this site and might even read this blog. So please let me offer a few words of advice, since I feel people should learn from their mistakes. First, in this industry, it is common courtesy to give at least 48 hours notice if you change your mind. If it is under 48 hours, especially if it’s under 24, you do what Oliver did: replace yourself if at all possible. And finally, never, under any circumstances, cancel by email if you expect to do any work for that person; you do it personally or by phone.

But, on the positive side, Oliver was a great member of the team. True to his word, he was there the very next day, a few hours early. He had cranked down from Orlando bright and early, which left us time to get acquainted before packing everything into the rental car. His enthusiasm was certainly catching. David, without ever being asked about it, decided he liked Oliver right off and offered to let him stay in his second guest room. This made everything more convenient and kept me from feeling a little guilty about Oliver paying for his own lodging.

If you took a quick look at Oliver, your first impression might be that he is Hispanic, perhaps Dominican. He is a dark tan brown with dark hair and piercing green eyes. He’s been accused of being Pakistani or Arabic, and often Greek. Truth is he is Swedish, but originally from Poland. You would never guess.

The drive down to Key West was a great chance to learn more about my new assistant. One thing I was certainly curious about was his motivation to drop paying work to join me on my hairbrained show. He had an agenda in mind – his own documentary.

Turns out that Oliver is working towards putting together a film on shark finning. It’s a subject that he is truly passionate about, and is in the process of developing a trailer to help in the effort to find funding. He wanted to be part of an underwater documentary in order to learn how to do it for himself. In that case, he sure earned an education if he made a mental note of all the things I did wrong!

I’ve made the Key West drive on several occasions. At that time of night, US1 is a slow and lonely 100-mile roadway from Key Largo to mile marker 0. The temptation to open up the throttle is always sitting heavy on the toes, but the county sheriff shoots more radar down this road than a wing of fighter jets could, so patience is key. And good company helps.

Before long, we were talking drums, diving, music, diving, filmmaking, our respective projects, diving… he was also a bit of a musician and a photographer. The easy conversation made the miles slide by, even in the 35 mph zones. We were at the condo before we knew it.

Over the next several days, he proved to be an able helper as well, willing to take charge of equipment and SCUBA gear organization before and after the dive, and other basic tasks which I listed in he job description. It took me a until this trip to realize how difficult it was to set everything up while going through a pre-interview, and then operating the camera while making sure the subject had an eye-line to talk with. That sort of one-man approach paid off with mixed results.

For instance, all of Tom Goreau’s interviews have him looking from the lens to an imaginary eye line, back and forth, throughout. I had to stand on the other side of the camera to operate it. Not having a person to talk to, and having to imagine an eye-line can be very distracting to an unexperienced interviewee. So having a semblance of a team, even if it’s just someone to set up the camera and a reflector so I can concentrate on dealing with the talent, was a huge help.

I learned that I had to be careful going out with Oliver. He had a real love of something called a Jaeger Bomb, and insisted on sharing that passion during the evening bar runs. He’s also one hell of a pool player, the kind who has probably hustled his way cross-country at one point or another.

It’s a good thing we liked each other, because we spent ten days working and living in close proximity. Granted, we both knew it was one of the most choice production assistant gigs ever – the work was easy, demands were few, there was SCUBA diving plus plenty of sunshine and mellow days. The hardest thing to do was deal with periods of nothing while waited for the weather to clear. In fact, we wound up with several days with nothing to do.

Dave’s house is on a canal that leads out to Pennekamp state park, a collection of mangrove swamps and artificial beaches that had campgrounds and nature walks scattered about. Dave didn’t have a boat, but he did have a nifty, inflatable kayak that was made for near-shore diving, and was equipped to hold dive gear and two people. On several nights, we used the tie-downs to hold a cooler of beer instead of a tank and spent the late afternoon paddling through the mangroves and around the park, practicing out drinking.

Our first trip out, we passed under a wooden bridge and startled a rather large stingray that was chilling out in the shadow beneath the roadway. Admittedly, Oliver wound up doing most of the paddling. My shoulder was still bothering me, and I didn’t want to strain it.

There was a moment where I saw my own past reflected in Oliver’s actions. I was standing in the open door at Dave’s house, enjoying the breeze, when Oliver grabbed his camera and told me not to move. He started snapping away, with the resultant photo now my profile picture on Facebook. If I were wearing a shirt, it would be a professional portrait.

I asked him what made him grab the camera, and he told me that the light was perfect and he needed to capture it. I’ve usually been on the other side of the camera when that kind of inspiration hits. It was interesting being the subject for a change. But I knew just where he was coming from.

I had the chance to work with him as partners in a creative venture that was spurned on by my guilt at not packing the mustard well for Pete at Dry Rocks, and as a desire to do something interesting and creative to get over a raging hangover. The entire episode is outlined in the upcoming chapter, The Side Project. Oliver did some fantastic photo work for it, as well as showed off his Photoshop chops.

Ultimately, I made the right choices for a change. And I thank Oliver for all his hard work and effort on behalf of my production, as well as the great production stills he snapped when he wasn't on a task. He can be part of my production team any time.