Leatherheads - YouTube and an "Authentic" Leatherhead - Ernie Nevers

I was doing a search on YouTube this morning for Leatherheads to see if there were and video clips from the movie. There were a couple of them. However, I found this "vintage" (or is it?) footage of a real Leatherhead from the 1925 era who played on Duluth and Chicago. His name is Ernie Nevers. This Youtube video is footage of a workout with subtitles explaining about Nevers and the beginning of professional football. According to the video Ernie Nevers became the highest paid player of his era





and here is a Wikipedia entry:


Ernie Nevers
Date of birth June 11, 1902
Place of birth Willow River, Minnesota
Date of death May 3, 1976
Place of death San Rafael, California
Position(s) Fullback
Head Coach
College Stanford
Career Highlights
Awards 1925 Rose Bowl MVP
Honors NFL 1920s All-Decade Team
Career Record 12-26-2
Stats
Playing Stats DatabaseFootball
Coaching Stats DatabaseFootball
Team(s) as a player
1926-1927
1929-1931 Duluth Eskimos
Chicago Cardinals
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1927
1930-1931
1939 Duluth Eskimos
Chicago Cardinals
Chicago Cardinals
College Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1963
Ernest Alonzo Nevers (June 11, 1902 - May 3, 1976) was an American football fullback who played for the Duluth Eskimos and the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League.

Nevers attended Santa Rosa High School, in Santa Rosa, California, where he excelled in football. In 1920, as a senior, he led the team to the NCS Championships. In 1925 the football field at Santa Rosa High School was renamed Nevers Field in his honor. In 2004, just in time for the homecoming game, a $2 million dollar refurbishment of Nevers Field was completed. The improvements included an artificial turf, an all-weather 8-lane track, new bleachers, a snack bar and ticket booth, restrooms, and lights for night games.

Nevers went on to attend Stanford University, where he was an All-American, and played in the 1925 Rose Bowl. Former coach Pop Warner called Nevers "the football player without a fault", and he was often compared to Jim Thorpe. Although Nevers excelled in several sports, including basketball and baseball (as a pitcher for the St. Louis Browns, he gave up two home runs to Babe Ruth in his 60-homer season of 1927), he signed a contract with the Eskimos. The Eskimos were a unique team, as they had no actual home, and played all their games on the road. After two seasons for Duluth during which he played almost every minute on offense and defense, he did not play in the 1928 season. However, he returned to the NFL to play fullback and coach the Chicago Cardinals from 1929 to 1931. During one game in 1929, Nevers set a record that is unlikely to be broken anytime soon. Not only did Nevers score every touchdown (6), but he kicked four extra points, giving the Cardinals 40 points over the cross-town rival Chicago Bears. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

Lowes Motor Speedway - My first brush with NASCAR

Each year in Charlotte in May we have a two week period of racing with the Busch Truck Series race, the Nextel All Star Challenge and the Coca Cola 600.

Last year one of my clients became the Director of Group and Club sales for Lowes Motor Speedway. I have worked with many of the major sports teams in the group sales area helping them with database marketing, customer relationship management and web strategy.

Since I live in the midst of NASCAR, I decided to learn as much as I could about it and began to look for ways to learn about it customers and the marketing of the sport.

Last spring, I helped with Lowes Motor Speedways booth at a carnival like event called "Speed Street" and helped to manage their booth. Hundreds of thousands of fans come to downtown Charlotte to be entertained by companies (Kellogg's, GM, Ford, Tide, Cheerios, Home Depot,and any others you would find on the hood of a race car.

For the Fall 2006 race, the Bank of America 500, there was a new opportunity to work with the Corporate Sales area as a concierge for their corporate suites. This was the perfect fit as I really had a way to see how the corporate side of NASCAR entertains their clients. I was responsible for suites for Bank of America (who was the race sponsor), Budweiser (Dale Jr.), 3M, and The Wallace Family (Kenny and Rusty's family).

This week, year I will be working for the races on the suite level and also working to help with areas of the Speedway Club (the dining club and area for its members). The Speedway Club a beautiful dining facility overlooking the track with a large ballroom and meeting rooms as well.

Since I enjoyed looking at the inside of making a film with Leatherheads, I decided to do a simliar thing my experiences working with Lowes Motor Speedway and Race Week when over 200,000 fans descend upon the track.

&nb
Some ideas for our screens and logos for LinkedtoCharlotte. This is a new local social networking site which is in private Beta right now. We expect the official launch in June

 
That's a Wrap --- Ginger (Costumer and fellow Charlottean) and Andy Kaplan on my last day in Leatherheads. Ginger had been working with me, helping with my costumes since my first day in Charlotte. Ginger worked tirelessly and with a smile helping extras to look authentic. This included such attention to detail as to how your scarf was set, whether your hat was being worn properly, etc. Ginger also was watching that our pants were pulled up, as back in the 1920's they were worn up a bit with the socks showing. When the movie comes out, take a look for those details. Thanks, Ginger

Leatherheads - Greensboro Spectators watching filming

 

Leatherheads - The Clooney Project and MediaMensch Link Up

One of the interesting things about writing a blog and being on this journey are some of the unexpected opportunities to meet people you would not ordinarily come in contact with.

One my blog and in my e-mail, I decided to experiment and create an automatic search for news on George Clooney or Leatherheads. Every few days, I would see an alert with a posting coming from a website called "The Clooney Project". The Clooney Project is a site which seems to do a great deal of research to blog or write about anything related to George Clooney.

After filming in Statesville, NC. I was quoted in an article regarding the film "Leatherheads". Also in the article were pictures from the film set from the newspaper of a police officer in the movie in authentic 1920's uniform.

When I went to The Clooney Project to read the article, it occurred to me that I have a great picture of George Clooney directing the film in Greensboro, NC. The shot has him looking through a camera to set up a shot where the fans are entering the stadium for a championship football game.

I contacted the editor/owner of "The Clooney Project" and told her it would be great if we could "cross-promote" each others blogs. One of my goals when I started blogging about six weeks ago, was to become a well known professional blogger. One of the secrets of doing this is gaining credibility from being linked to credible sites.

An article was posted on The Clooney Project with a link back...

Another step in the journey is complete.

Leatherheads - Blogging and NBC Universal PR/Marketing Strategy

My blogging life actually started with my company blog called www.eWarrior.com. At the beginning of 2007, I thought about raising my expertise and profile as a blogger. I set upon a journey to work hard to learn as much about blogging as possible.

At the beginning of the filming of Leatherheads, I decided to work hard to blog about my experience as a first time extra on the set of a major motion picture production. My inspiration came from a blogger and friend named Mindy Roberts who writes The Mommy Blog. Earlier this year, Mindy was invited to CBS for a blogger "press" visit to the set of the "New Adventures of Old Christine. They followed Mindy for the day and videotaped her visit and those of the other bloggers. Much of it was of all the bloggers, but some was specific interviews with Mindy. Soon after her visit, Mindy was presented with a video of her visit.

Wait hold the presses....I just visited her blog today and found this post -called "Scoff if you like, but we made the front page of the wall street journal". This idea was written up on the front page of the WSJ". about the bloggers trip.
Here is a link to the article itself on the WSJ website.

So with this strategy in mind, I am working to see if Universal Studios PR and Marketing folks may be interested in having us blog through the release date on December 7th. I would love to have permission to have the trailer and possibly some film of my experience in leatherheads on my blog. That's my vision.

Leatherheads - George Clooney Directing Outside Greensboro War Memorial Stadium May 3, 2007

 

Most of my blog has been about my experiences. However, I owe my experiences to the one and only George Clooney. George epitomizes leadership. He is focussed, surrounds himself with a talented world class production team and somehow keeps an even keel under what many would think would be extreme pressure.

This was one of the most positive experiences I have ever had in my life. For me, it was not just about filmmaking, it was really watching one of the most talented young directors early in his career. George Clooney has the ability to find humor and use humor not only within the film, but on the set as well. The people he hires are so positive and warm and make you feel like part of this professional team.

With my financial acumen, I was figuring on large shoots the 500+extra's alone must cost about $60,000 a day or about $5000 an hour. Camera's, cranes, special effects, costumes, rental of props and antique cars adds on to that. I don't really know anything about what the top actors and actresses are paid, but without those salaries, I am guessing we are talking about a budget of $300,000 to $500,000 a day. So having worked 9 days on the film, I probably saw between three to five million dollars spent.

George's directors whom I had a chance to meet were very accessible as well, Ian Calip and John Saunders were able to spend some time speaking with me as well on topics such as where they travel to next for their film to how to get a script or book made into a movie.

As I have written before, the casting director,the costomers, hairstylists, makeup, set designers, animal warngler, and sound engineers were accessible and provided such interesting insight about this film and other films they have been in.

Going back to George. In this shot, it was basically walking into the stadium...a few hundred extras, two dozen cars, about a houndred crew makes this happen. There is such an attention to detail to keep this authentic. I'll predict now there will be some academy award nominations for custumes for this movie.

Can't wait until we see the previews trailers in the movie theatres later this year.
Remember, I do believe just as you can taste or feel love in a home cooked meal, you will feel the energy of love and humor come from the screen.

Leatherheads - Day 9 - The Athletic Club Scene

Today we arrived relatively late at 10 am to check in. Today, I am one of about 20 extras who are here to work on the scene in the athletic club. We drive about 50 minutes to Statesville to the Statesville Civic Center. Inside is a large room which is the extras holding area. On each side of the corridor outside the room are the men's changing rooms, women's changing rooms, and hair and makeup.

Today, I am for the first time a real constumed extra from head to toe. I arrive at at wardrobe and see my familiar faces including Ginger who I have worked with since Charlotte. She is an amazing costumer with a great style, sense of fashion and always a smile on her face...(tough to do with all these long days). In my wardrobe I have a "onesie" or scivvy which is a white t-shirt except it also has the pants in it.. You actually step into it to put it on and then bring the top over and button the left strap. I also was given very thin 1920's era vintage socks and a pair of white suede shoes with red rubber soles. I was also given a pair of golden brown sweatpants.

Then we were taken to hair and makeup. A bench was outside the room

Leatherheads - Statesville with Makeup Artist Kristen

 

Andy Kaplan in 1920's athletic gear called a "onesie" with Kristen R. after completing hair and makeup. Haircuts and makeup are precise for all actors for the 1920's period.

Leatherheads - It ain't over till its over

Monday, May 14th, 2007 - Last week, the phone rang. It was Dan from the casting office. I had spoken to Dan a few weeks back to let him know of my cousin's Kosher Restaurant and Deli as some of the NY and LA types working on the movie may be missing some "ethnic" food like a good corned beef sandwich and a knish. (Most of these items come from companies in the heart of the Jewish community in Brooklyn).

We started talking about my blog and how it would be really great if I could get more work after the Charlotte filming. After I missed getting a part as a "fireman" in Statesville and finished Greensboro filming, I had called back to see if I could get any other role to just be a part of the Statesville, NC filming.

Well, a few days later (last Wednesday) my phone rang and he said there was a part as in a 1920's athletic club scene which called for some "larger" men. He said I would be working out and might be featured on camera including doing something like riding an exercise bike (I didn't know they had them back then). He also told me that George Clooney and Renee Zellweger would be in the scene. I had only scene Renee Z once back in Charlotte, so I am looking forward to this opportunity.

On Thursday, I went back up to the Casting HQ in Statesville, got my hair styled and trimmed even shorter since I won't have a hat on for this scene and the top which was kept longer needs now to be realistic. My eleven year old son took the trip up there with me as well. I met with Deborah B. again, one of the main costume designers who works in this expansive wardrobe warehouse. (She also comes on the set for part of the day also).

She took me back first to a box of "sneakers" from that period. Unfortunately, they ones in the box were Men's size 6 to 8. I wear a 10 to 11 size. I thought for a minute again. Well, I won't be in this scene now...however she said wait a minute and came back with a box of white shoes which look like golf shoes with rubber soles. She took out a pair and told me to try them on. My son was watching me try them on and saw the smile come back on my face when they fit.

I then was taken to a dressing room area where there was a table to the left and a rack with some clothes hangin on it. A white tee-shirt with thing arms that also had a bottom which looked a like the old bathing suits of that day. There was then a pair of tan pants (I guess we can call them sweat pants) to go over this.

The t-shirt which I asked Deborah about is called a scivvy or an all-in-one. The scivvy fit fine and again, I felt a sense of relief that I would be in the scene. Then Deborah took off the tan pants for me to try on...I noticed the tag that they were a lot smaller than my waist size. We tried two different styles. The length was perfect, the waist was about 4 inches too small.

Again, Deborah, took some measurements and then left for about 10 minutes. I thought she would be coming back with another pair of pants. Instead she came back with Maria V., the seamstress. I guess I had seen people sewing as I walked in earlier, but I thought they were repairing costumes or creating special costumes.

I put on the tan pants again, an Deborah took a scissor and cut the back of the pants about 8 inches down so they opened up in the back and then I could button them in the front. The seamstress, Maria, then looked at it took some measurements and then also looked and said we need to also drop the pants about 1 1/2 inches in the crotch too (phew I was glad about that..it would have been a very uncomfortable day)..She took them away and I believe she did her magic. I will find out later today when I show up on set at the Statesville Civic Center.

A Passover Story and the Charlotte Observer

For the past few years I have been hanging out at my cousin's store and deli called Gleiberman's Kosher Mart. Turned out when I moved to Charlotte over a dozen years ago, I had some relatives I had never met. My grandfather came over from Poland (near Bialystock) in the early part of the 1900's as a teenager. He made the voyage on the Aquitania (the same ship, JFK took to England just prior to WWII to see his father who was ambassador the England). He had a sister...but somehow there was a rift and the family grew apart.

Well, I took an interest in Kosher Mart. It was a unique business, getting foods shipped on trucks from Brookly twice a week. He was the only Kosher Market between Atlanta and Richmond, VA. My cousin Jeffrey is like an old Jewish man even though he is about 40 years old. He is brilliant about kosher foods and distribution and lvoes to talk to the customers.

After my first few years of visiting his store, when the internet/ecommerce time came I wanted to study and find out how one day this might be turned into an online store. Well this year after about $1 million dollar renovation of a new store near Shalom Park they opened up a beautiful deli and market with a full service restaurant. Passover is their busiest time of year as the kosher customers need to clear their homes of food that is not kosher for Passover and purchase food for the family dinners called Sedars which typically take place on the first and second nights. It is the celebration of the Jewish People's Exodus from Egypt.

Well, somewhere back in February I had told Robert (who manages the business), that I could help out if they needed it. Due to my flexible schedule I decided I could help from 10 am to about 2 pm each day. I basically ran the cashier and was Maitre d' for the restaurant on the days leading up to Passover.

I learned so much. Each day the orthodox rabbis would appear from the local synagogue to make sure every thing there was Glatt Kosher, the strictest dietary rules followed.

I learned things I never knew before. For example, when bagging groceries, dairy had to go into separate grocery bags from meat items, even though they were in their packaging. For some strict followers, food that was kosher (but NOT kosher for Passover) could not touch areas where the Kosher for Passover food was. I learned this when one customer held the grocery items over the counter and would not put them down..and asked me to scan them and put them in a bag.

I also learned I needed to wash my hands if I was stocking shelves in the area of regular kosher foods that were not Kosher for Paasover so again I didn't taint the Passover foods.

A few days before Passover, a reporter and photographer from the Charlotte Observer Newspaper came in and was following one of kosher marts customers for nearly a week to see how she prepared for Passover and what recipes they used. The reporter happened to be the food editor (I found out later). They snapped a few pictures and then there was one of the grocery cart overflowing with items ready for checkout at my cashier. They told us that the article would be in the newspaper on April 4th. I figured it would be a n article inside the paper somewhere tucked inside a lifestyle section.

On the morning of April 4th, I went outside to retrieve my newspaper and brought it in and put it on the kitchen table. I usually skim the front page, read the sports section and then look at the editorial pages and letters to the editor. I never saw the article. I started my work day and made some calls and did some writing. At lunchtime, I made a sandwich and sat at the kitchen table. I flipped open th newspaper to see what sections I hadn't read. To my surprise, their was a complete section called "Food" and the picture of the customer with me at the register was taking up about one third of the front page. This was publicity I never sought and never thought about...most of Charlotte must have seen the picture because friends from all over town told me for weeks thay saw me.

As I tell my children and most people I meet, Take a road less travelled and enjoy the journey. (Notes of interest: By the way, what cashier has a high definition television 6 feet from where they work...and that was approximately $450.00 worth of groceries.)

Is there "Space Available"?

I have been pursuing the idea of helping some friends and associates with producing their books, screenplays, treatments and other concepts into film, radio, internet tv, and anything else appropriate.

One of my fellow Lake Norman Toastmasters has had an interesting journey of his own. Sid Davis showed up at one of our meetings at the old Holiday Inn in Cornelius, NC one Wednesday night a few years ago. He was a USAirways airline mechanic during the day and a writer and former radio disc jockey. He also is a low handicap golfer, something that helps in the land of golf courses of North Carolina.

In Toastmasters, it in so many ways becomes the catalyst or foundation for a new life's journey. In Sid's case, he started to take on the role of JokeMaster to warm up our club at the meetings and then ended up giving some very funny and well written speeches while moving through the basic manual speeches of the ice breaker, organize your speech, using your voice, show what you mean, etc. Sid also worked hard and stepped up to the plate to help the club.

Over time he began to give "humor workshops" to our fellow Toastmasters both in our club and at other clubs in the region. He then due to some unforeseen situation with health issues and career issues of our current leaders, became the President of our club (after only being a member for less than a year).
He came in just after me which at the time were tough shoes to fill as I had just been awarded the Helen Yandle award for being the Top Club President in the state.

Over the next year, Sid started to take comedy classes at the Comedy Zone downtown. The combination of his training in Toastmasters and now in comedy made him the perfect candidate to emcee the comedy zone shows. (He started the weekday shows).

At the same time, he began to write a book about his experiences based upon his behind-the-scenes experiences as an airline employee and the concept of identity theft. The book he wrote was called "Space Available"

Leatherheads - Day 8 - How Filming is done out of order

May 3, 2007 - We are now in the parking lot filled with old cars. The stadium is adorned with the red white and blue banners you see hanging in stadiums during the world series. In front is a banner that says the name of the teams playing in this game.

Even though this is 5 days later in Greensboro, the filming is actually the beginning of the game we filmed in Charlotte. The scene we will film shows the fans walking into the stadium. The stadium looks so realistic with the 1920's cars in the parking lot and all the extras in costume.

We do shots from a few different angles walking into the stadium. I am walking with my buddy Rick and we learned from Charlotte that walking slower gives you more camera time and more time to react and create different gestures for the scene.

George Clooney in in his white t-shirt and pants as director this morning. He is not in this scene. As the directors tell the production assistants, you hear the familiar loud refrain "Pictures up, Rolling, Action, Background Action". When they say background action, that is when the extras start their movement. We then move to the edge of the road to walk in from the street. I am about 20 feet from George Clooney as he peers into the camera to make sure he has the right shot.

After this we go to break and head back to the Extras Holding area in the white tent.
Before we get in, Michelle, one of the production assistants says "I need nine men, for the next scene". Again, this is sort of a being in the right place at the right time. Christian K. and I volunteer for this and we are led back to the stadium.
Now we see a contraption of pipes that makes rain and we are told we will get umbrellas and walk under the water. However at the last moment a decision is made to hold off on that scene and we are told to hangout in the stadium There are the 9 men, the "vendors", and a family.

Now we walk into the stadium and are told to take a seat anywhere. Surprise!....this is a baseball stadium with a beautiful green manicured infield. We realize no football plays will be filmed here.

We wait around for about an hour or so and nothing is happening. We realize they are filming scenes outside the stadium There is a giant construction crane. We understand now that it has a hose and somehow is dumping water on the top of the stadium to make it look like its raining outside. I wonder if computer graphics are going to put people in the scene.

We then wait around even longer and then we see activity inside the "tunnel" leading into our section of the stadium. Cameras are being set up on te concourse area and also looking down our gate area where you enter to get to your seats. We now see George Clooney in a tuxedo and John Krasinski also. They are filming their entrance into the big game. They both are again about 20 feet away. This is really the first time I saw John Krasinski close up. The basic scene are the two stars of the football game signing autographs.

We watch as the production crew raises a white background. It is a giant sail inside a rectangular metal structure about 20 feet by 20 feet. It is held down and tied down by four technical workers. I ask what it is used for. They tell me it helps to cut down the wind so the wind does not get into the microphone. I thought it was a background for filming so you wouldn't see the baseball field. I just learned another new detail of production

Now finally after waiting for about 2 hours, we are told to come back down toward the front of the stadium. However, when we reach the end of our area, we are told to hang out by the concession stand. They line us up to buy the old peanuts, souvenirs and other paraphanalia. they give some of us replica One dollar bills from that era.
They put us in three lines to make our way to buy our conccessions. However, when they set up the shot, the assistant director and George Clooney realize they can't get a clear shot of the souvenirs and food and other replica items.

They then tell my line to move out of the scene and down out of camera range. So we then think again, we missed the shot or scene after sitting around for 2 hours. After about 5 minutes of the director and cameraman setting up the shot. Ian Calip, the Asst Director, is at my shoulder and then George Clooney walks up to the other side of me and turns and tells our group he wants us to cut through the line to make our way to other sections of the stadium. Well, to me it seems like what happens as you push your way onto a New York City Subway car. They adjust the people in line to put a little space between them and at that point when action is said, we push our way through the line and make it past them. We are about 5 to 10 ft from the camera. We are talking and saying "excuse me", "coming through", "trying to get to my seats", etc. some are pushing back or blocking us to make it look realistic. When we finally make it through they are still rolling so some of us are sent back into the scene and told to get in line and try to buy some concessions. We do about 5 takes of this scene. On the last take, I get in line and still have the dollar bills in my coat pocket, so I then get back in line and wave my bill in the air as I try to get the vendor to sell me some peanuts. I grap my bag of peanuts. The conccession vendor takes my dollar an they yell "Cut". (By the way George Clooney was directing from behind us to the left of the concession stand. He was about an inch from me on about 5 different occasions)...He even jokingly said to Ian "Your fired" and was also joking with a young boy who is a main part of the scene.

As we walk out of the stadium to go back to Extras Holding George Clooney is walking past us. A women who has been shooting since Charlotte says to George "You are so much better looking in person", George turns and smiles, I then say to her within earshot of George "What about me?", he smiles again.

Time for the lunch tables. They are setup outside the tent...chicken, macaroni and cheese, lasagna and vegetables. We grab our stuff and walk into the tent to take our seats.

At the end of lunch, the casting director's production assistant Michelle starts to yell that we are "wrapping" for the day for many of the extras. She calls out different groups, woman and children "Get dressed , time to go home, thank you for coming today", all self dressed actors "Get dressed, time to go". Press people "stay". Well, I consider myself "press" from the other scenes in Charlotte so I wait around. It is now about 3 pm. I am torn about leaving and staying...hundreds of extras make it through the lines outside back in their regular close...the transistion for the woman are the most drastic as they go from bobbed hair hat and elegant clothes to jeans and a t-shirt.

Well, we think we are going to get one last scene as press for the day. However they finaly say "Press, time to go home, thanks." Well, this means a lean payday today since every hour past 8 hours we get paid overtime (time and a half)...I figure with gas and my two hour drive time, I probably have made about twenty bucks net for 12 hours of work and drive time..."Great work if you can get it" (lol).

Well I guess this is the end of the road for my leatherheads career. I was not able to fit into the fireman's outfit they wanted for the night time filming in Statesville, NC. This day turned out to be fun and interesting. Almost like a reunion since I didn't think I was coming back after Charlotte. I was able to get some great pictures with the costumers, hair and makeup and the "concession vendors".

Well that's a wrap!! It was a great ride. I guess George Clooney is getting ready for the Cannes Film fesitval. He also just signed on to do a comedy with the Coen Brothers.

It is now about 2 pm and we head back to the extras tent to eat lunch

Leatherheads - Day 8 - New location Greensboro, NC (May 3, 2007)

Wow, this is early, especially for someone who is a nightowl....I wake up at 4 am and get on the road by 4:45. I drive 90 miles to Greensboro using mapquest directions to find the parking lot in front of a church. Ah, this is not such a nice part of town and the directions send me in the complete opposite direction. Luckily, one of my strong points is that I have an amazing sense of direction (and I never stop to ask directions either)....so after driving about 4 miles in the wrong direction I turned around and drove back about 6 miles.

Wow, the shuttle bus driver was the same guy who was in Charlotte blaring Jimi Hendrix on the radio..I think its just some sixties music now. He drives us to the War Memorial Stadium. This time there is no permanent building. Just a very large tent for extras holding and two tents for wardrobe and a makeup/haircut tent.

I grab some breakfast and they keep us in the tent for a long time. There are dozens of first timers here today getting fited. Finally, they allow our table to go and get dressed. I go to the table to check in and they had been flipping out a bit because there were no clothes under my 3532 number ((brown coat, flat hat that I wore in Charlotte)...I was now #5001 and had a completed different look including a fedora. The amazing thing was that within three weeks time the costumers had dressed almost 1500 additional people (5001 minus 3532).

I made sure I had my camera phone with me and took pictures along the way today in wardrobe, makeup and hairstyling. It is now about 8 am and time to start the day.

I have the same expectation as day 1 in Charlotte of just being a fan in the stands. I show up in front of the stadium and find over 20 vehicles cars, trucks and even and ice cream truck from that era.

Time to for shooting. I walk up to the set and find one of my "buddies" from Charlotte and stand next to him. I think we are just haning out waiting for the directors to give us instruction of where to stand. Ginger, the costumer, who I got to know well in Charlotte, smiles at me as she straightens my hat and scarf and says "You always find a way to get into the shot". I smiled as I realized at that point again, we would have some camera time.

Ian Calip - Assistant Director and Andrew Kaplan, Chicago Photographer

 

During lunch in Charlotte, Andy Kaplan and Ian Calip has a chance to discuss film making and directing.

Andy Kaplan with Leatherheads Concession Vendors in Greensboro War Memorial Stadium (5/4/07)

 

Leatherheads Costumers Julia Rusthoven (r) and Rachel Goodman (l) with Andy Kaplan

 

Andy Kaplan in Makeup Chair Outside War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro (5/4/07)

 

Leatherheads - The day before Day 8 - New Costume, New Haircut, New Location

The phone rang again. It was Wednesday,May 2nd. The casting director called to see if I could come up to their offices in Statesville, NC to be cast in a different scene in Greensboro, NC to be filmed the next day. They also called back to ask if I could play a fireman in a scene being filmed a week later.

I told them I could be up at their offices to meet them and get fitted for my new wardrobe. I was given an appointment time of 2:20. I drove up to their offices in an manufacturing complex. I followed the signs into a warehouse door and up the stairs to a casting office. There were 3 casting people working the phones. DJ who had called me earlier the day introduced herself. I had expected to go to wardrobe to get my clothes. To my surprise, at the end of the hall was an office with 5 chairs outside and 4 chairs for hair. Three hairstylists were inside. After waiting outside for about 5 minutes, I was signalled into the third chair. The woman who I believe was named Mary, looked at my hair. I thought I might get a small cleanup, however 15 minutes later she completed my styling...(a complete new haircut -short all around)...We talked about where she was from (Tennessee) and that the 3 of them travel all around doing movie productions..she called herself vagabonds.

After my hair was cut I proceed down the stairs to the wardrobe area. I passed by the wardrobe including a box of muddy football cletes from the Charlotte filming. I walked up to the table and checked in. I was given a new number 5001. I asked if that meant you had 5,000 people in the film and she said they had 5,000 different outfits so far since they begain filming. I told her that I was here to be a fireman for next week. She looked at me and said, I am sorry I don't think you can be a fireman...(ah...my mind wandered back to Kindergarten when most boys wanted to be firemen or policemen)..I gave a fake cry. she smiled. I was too big for the firemen outfits they had. We did however get a new wardrobe for being a fan. It was a light brown twill coat and a tain Fedora and a mulitcolored brown, tan and maoon scarf. That was to be my outfit in Greensboro the next day.

After that I drove back home with my new haircut...ready to get ready to start my day at about 4:30 am.

Leilani Munter - From Nascar to Indy

Leilani Munter and I met up at the Corkscrew last summer after we connected on LinkedIn. (I had been searching on LinkedIn for NASCAR contacts in my geographic area). Leilani intrigued me after I read and saw her professional blog as she her background, interests, political leanings matched up with mine.

She was an up and coming driver in Nascar, but still under the radar screen compared to Danika Patrick. Leilani has a diverse background being a biology major in college, then she was a model and stunt double (she was the stunt double for Catherine Zeta-Jones) in the movie Traffic. In addition, she was starting to get noticed by fashion magazines and even secured her position with Hostess (the twinkie) company to be on a poster called the "Hostess Diva". I also found out when we met that her brother in law is Bob Weir from the Greatful Dead who now plays in a band called RatDog.

Over the next few months Leilani raced but was looking for a sponsor to help her race full time. There is a catch 22. In order to be on tv more, you need sponsor money to race more frequently and at higher levels.

We both decided that our paths and interests (NASCAR, blogging, media, internet tv,and branding) coincided and that we should keep in touch to see how we can help each other. I wanted to help find a sponsor or other media outlets for her with some of my old connections in cable tv.

Well, last week I called Leilani to see if she wanted to meet and she told me she now was an "Indy" driver and had just signed on with a major race team. I also found out she was in the April 15th edition of Sports Illustrated as one of the top 10 female drivers in the world.

Congratulations, Leilani!!! Your hard work and determination are paying off!!! I know how much you love to race!

Elvis and me - 1st time - NBC Radio Summer of 77

Elvis was is an iconic figure who seems to somehow enter each person's life throught the sheer magnitude of his impact on our culture. My brush with Elvis up until this point happened on two different days.

I was working at WYNY FM (NBC - 30 Rock) as a summer intern. It was August 16th, 1977. The summer was about to end for me and a new team of people let by a young 23 year old Bob Pittman from WMAQ (Chicago) which was transformed into a country music station were hired to run WNBC Am working to being a long term transformation of WNBC AM which had some of the top disc jockeys in the world such as Cousin Brucie (a legend in NY in the 1960's and 70's) and Imus. Down the hall I heard shreeks and screems from down the hall near the studio "Elvis Died, Elvis is Dead". I remember a young disc jockey named Ellie sobbing and crying.

I ran outside my office and toward the studio and people were embracing each other, consoling each other.

Leatherheads - A Dog's Life

On the set of Leatherheads, there was a team mascot. After filming one day, I had the opportunity for a picture as they were putting him into the van after a day's work. The people were the owners. I also met the person who's credit I always saw on movies with animals called an animal wrangler.

I just think of the old west movies with horses, cattle,etc. I think of a wrangler with a rope trying to lasso a steer.

Well, I went to High School in NJ with the mascot of a bulldog. I know Univerity of Georgia has a bulldog mascot named UGA....This bulldog was name Rocky.

Leatherheads - Day 7 - It's a Small World and the final shots of the Game

Today is the last day of shooting in Charlotte and I am again standing on the sidelines of the visiting team..(not sure if I can divulge the name). The Coach of the team is Wayne Duvall. a larger than life character. I had been near him all week but did not want to bother him as he was one of the "actors". I finally just reach out my hand to him and said "My name is Andy Kaplan" nice to meet you. We then got into a discussion which I guess happens often on film sets..."Where did you grow up", I asked. He replied "Silver Spring, MD". I told him my sister now lives near there and I asked where he went to High School (it was a leading question). When he told me he went to high school there as well. I asked him if he knew Dickinson College. He then smiled and said, "Yes". All my brothers children went there and I am going there for my nieces graduation in May". I told him I founded and was chair of the Dickinson Club of Charlotte and was the 2006 Dickinson Alumni Volunteer of the Year. Well, it is a small world.

All morning they were filming the final scene of the game and perfecting some of the shots so the editors will have more interesting shots to work with. Camera's are set up in the far stands to get a distant shot of one of the important plays of the game. This time I am running down the sideline (as directed by John, Assistant Director) and just by luck end up at the end of a crowd about a foot from George Clooney who is playing a football player. Knowing this may be my last minutes as an extra, I have now learned to find the camera and make sure I can be seen clearly. I am not sure if this will be a far shot or they zoom in.

One interesting shot of the day were 3 football players laying on the ground together and the cameramen were up on stepladders shooting down at the players as they rolled around. Another shot of interest was when a single camera was pointing up to the sky (it laying on the ground) and George Clooney and one of the crew were tossing the football like a "hot potato" over the camera dozens of times.

At the end of the day, we did a scene where the game is ended and we walk off the field. We did about 6 takes of this walking in all different directions and at different paces. In each take about 50 of us walked from different places and did about 3 different walks. I walked from the side of the stadium to the middle of the field to the director in what I call a "New York Walking pace" and then we turned around and walked reguarly back to another part of the sideline, then I decided that as a "sideline photographer" it would be authentic to be running so the two of us ran back into the field. At that point the director named John, directed us to walk very very slowly toward the corner of the endzone continuing until we hit the wall. This I guess will look like we are exiting the stadium Our educated non-professional guess is that this may be the last scene in the movie where the credits are rolling. Again, only the editors will know. Maybe it will be me and my buddy walking into the sunset instead of George Clooney.

There are still three more weeks of shooting in Winston Salem and Statesville, NC. I live about 40 minutes from Statesville and 90 minutes from Winston Salem. I am hoping for a part in Statesville, so I can restup...I had about 45 hours of sleep in the last 9 days.

Leatherheads Day 6 - The play of the game

Most of htis week is filming of a football game. As you can imagine like most sports films we have important plays in the game. Today, they worked on the final play of the game all day. I started in the end zone on the home team side next to some "band members". I reminded me of a smaller version of the Stanford Band. A friend playing a police officer was also nearby. I was basically just background at this point as the play was taking place way down the field.

I have learned from the assistant directors that movement is preferable in a scene so I walk up the sidelines once they yell action. You actually hear the words,
Pictures Up!, Rolling, and then "Background Action" to know when it is time to move about in the scene.

As the play moves up the field toward the endzone of I move with it and by the end of the morning end up next to the cheerleaders 3 men and 3 women and end up doing my pantomine talking and photography.

They continue to move fans in the stands around behind us as fillers. They fill in the first 5 rows of the stadium in about 6 sections. We have a long hot morning.
Ginger who is one of the wardrobe people, comes up throughout the morning to work on extras to make sure they are authentic and their scarves, hats and coats are on correctly. She has straightened my hat a few times. Our pants also need to be hiked up to show our socks...think of an old man pulling his pants over his belly and that is what a lot of us had to do during filming. Of course this was hidden by our overcoats.

Ginger, who has a resemblance to Carmen Diaz was really in her element as a wardrobe expert. She was really a stickler for detail and even noticed the little things such as whether we wore the same tie each day or how our winter scarves were tucked under our coat. As far as my brown jacket, I would have these wardrobe experts tie a square knot to make it look authentic.

Most of the day was fairly uneventful, except it occured to many of us it is taking 6 days (60+) hours) to film these scenes. George Clooney is all over the field that day. He is a player on one of the teams. Both teams are on the filed for most of the day. Some are professional actors such as Ed Miller (who is from Los Angeles), others are from local casting.

The players were having to do many of the scenes repetitively while camera's and audio folks captured a variety of shots from closeups and dialogue to shots from a distance...This is a romantic comedy, so there were a couple of scenes that had George Clooney laughing right after shooting.

The players on both teams were playing in the "elements" (which I can describe in detail, we'll have to wait for the film promotion to start) and they had "heaters" on the sidelines to warm them up when they were done shooting.

We are told they need an extra day to shoot so we will be back on Tuesday...

Leatherheads - Day 5 - George Clooney Directing

Friday morning, I woke up at 5 am and arrived at the set at 6:30 am. I figured at this point I had only about 20 or so hours of sleep this week, but was still excited with anticipation of the days activities.

We park our cars at the lot near Bobcat arena and take a shuttle bus over to Memorial Stadium. The bus driver has a large jar i the front of his bus for two police officers slain in the line of duty in Charlotte a few weeks ago. He asks for donations to the almost full jar.

When I arrrive, I go to a table where the casting director's staff has us fill out our daily forms or timesheets with name ss@ etc. At the top of the form it says we are working on Leatherheads from Speakeasy Productions.

By the time I am dressed, coiffed and put my sunscreen on, I arrive at extra's holding at about7 am. I have my food and then sit with others and talk about today's activities. We are told they are adding an extra day of shooting on Tuesday.

In the morning, my first shots are fan in the stands. We end up cheering, booing etc.
The day is fairly uneventful until the end of the day. The last shot of the day I am a photographer again on the visiting team sidelines. I am at the 40 yard line standing near the sidelines. One of the assistant direcots comes up to me and tells me to move back behind the team bench about 10 feet off of the firld. He places other extras in specific places as well. I am thinking I will be more of a background player again.

Then all of a sudden, he places the Head Coach of the team to my right and the team mascot and trainer are nearby as well. The Head Coach, played by Wayne Duvall (Robert Dubal's cousin)is a fiarly large man which a deep luud voice you would expect from coaches.

The next thig I see are the two cameras in front of us with all the direcors sitting in back including George Clooney as he is not in this scene as an actor. Tape measures are run from the cameras to us to measure the focial point so we will be in focus. There is also a camera on a golf cart type vehicle that will be going down the sidelines. Now I realize why we were put back behind the benches. It needed the space to ride inside the sidelines.

We then do about 4 or 5 takes of this shot. In one of them the coach takes the old camera I use as a photographer and starts to look at it and pretend to talk to me.
I realize now that this is even a better chance for me to appear in the movie with a close up from 3 camera angles. I turn to the actors to my left and say..."it doesn't get any better than this".

Leatherheads Day 5 - End of the day surprise

Friday, April 20th (pm) Today went along rather uneventful. In the morning we were doing reaction shots as "fans" in the stands. The directors and production crew had to get us to realistically react to a football scene.

The walks hundreds of us out to the stadium and bring us down aisles. With only a few hundred extras (I think there may be around 500 now), they bring us down the aisles of Memorial stadium and start to get up to fill up the first 5 rows of the stadium in about the first 3 or 4 sections from the endzone.

Our job as fans is to react in a variety of ways to get very good action shots. There is no actual game going on. We are looking out on the field at camera's, production crew, microphones, carts, etc. I assume the guy in the movie credits called the Grip is somewhere out there as well, but still want to find that person as for years I wondered by a key grip is.

All the production crew are on radio freqnencies to each other (including different channels depending on what job you have). The directors and production assistants continually talk with each other throughout the day to coordinate everything from who should be taken from Extra's holding, to when they are ready to shoot the scene to where to place the actors in the scene.

I am sitting in the 2nd row next to two women, both dressed in those beautful 1920's hats and clothes. On my left,(in real life) is Jody, a real estate agent who lives just West of Charlotte. On my right is Sharon who calls herself a "Jill of all trades". She teaches Swing dancing, creates antique jewelry, does photography and interior design. While waiting around Jody takes a call on her mobile phone she pulls out of her 1920's purse. It is from her 9 year old son, who is also an extra in the movie sitting somewhere else in the stadium.

The directors now tell us to be ready and describe the scene we will be looking at and how we might want to react (cheering, booing, bored or like nothing special is going on).

The first scene is a play that is a big play for the other team. So our reaction is to be upset at the defense of our team for letting up a big play. In the stands also the prop people have handed out props from that time period such as buttons, game programs and cigarettes.

One of the things we also have to do is to have some fans start standing, but not all at the same time. The directors instruct all people with a birthday in April, Stand up. As the plays develop on the field the rest of us will stand to cheer or boo the play. Today we also do some acting like talking to the person next to us, pointing at the play, or congratulating each other after a big play.

After that, they moved us to the endzone for more shots. However, the asst director said anyone on the sideline needs to be out of the shot. I left to go to the sideline as a photographer again. As I moved from the stands to the field I stopped by to see the propmaster. He let's me pick my camera (a 1920's vintage camera) from the prop table. I enter the field and we are instructed to go to the place where we were standing previously. For me that was on the 45 yard line right next to the cheerleaders, coach and trainer in front of the team bench.

I am standing on the sideline and all of a sudden I am told to move back off near or behind the bench. There are now about 20 people behind the cameras with two cameras pointing at me. One is from the left at about 10 o'clock the other is straight ahead at noon..The third camera is down the sidelines to my left at about 2 pm.
The production assistants take a tape measure to measure the focal point.

The director places Wayne Duvall (Coach) to my right) there is also a trainer with the team mascot nearby as well as well. When they call for action, I realize at this point it doesn't get any better than that. This might be my moment as we are looking at a play on the field and reacting to it. Could this be my close up? Only the editors will know. It was a great way to end the day and start the weekend.

Leatherheads -Lunchtime - The "Cast(e)" System

Each day the extra's are provided breakfast, lunch, snacks and water and gatorade. Our food for lunch is what I would call "upscale cafeteria food". We have salads (regular or caesar), fish, pork, beef stew and chicken (fried, baked or bbq)..We also had fruit salad, mac and cheese, vegetable lasagna and regular lasagna.

We enter the "Extra's holding" each day at appoximately 1 pm depending on how the shooting was that day. The women and children are given priority to enter the building. We wrap around the sidewalk as there are hundreds of us in our 1020's wardrobe. We walk up out of the stadium and find ourselves walking further up a hill and out the gate so we can enter in front.

As we enter the old building, we are in the main hall, the line snaking around. Finally we walk down the stairs and there is a very efficient operation. One of the Production assistants named Michelle is waiting at the bottom of the stairs and letting us move toward the buffet tables at about 10 people at a time. There are 6 tables with actors going down both sides.

We then proceed to the white table clothed tables.

The directors, actors and film crew however on Thursday had chinese food delivered on a cart to the field. Some were carrying out egg rolls. On Friday, Pizza was delivered from fuel pizza.

As far as snacks, we had a smorgasbord of things from one of the warehouse clubs, slim jims, twizzlers, granola bars, pretzels, etc.

The crew had snacks that were a little more upscale at times. There were coolers filled with drinks on the field. Two of them were filled with gatorade, water, coca cola, etc. This was marked in big magic marker "Not for Extras". The other had bottled water. it was marked "Extras".

Leatherheads - Day 5 - Getting ready for the day

I woke up at about 5:30 am with around 5 hours sleep and arrived on the set for my usual (oh it's routine now) visit to the Extra's table to fill out my paperwork and a visit to hand it off the Maryann who is always smiling (she said her father is a dentist) as she takes the paperwork to allow me to go into the wardrobe tent.

I walk into the Men's wardrobe tent. It is one of 3 tents that are setup in a parking lot outside the stadium (women's wardrobe, men's wardrobe and makeup/haircutting. In the Men's tent are about a 5 large rows or racks of clothes. Each of the actors/extras has their own # to identify where their clothes are. My place is at the end of the aisle on the right. There is a plastic divider with my name, cast ID#, and a list of wardrobe that has been provided to me by the wardrobe department, a brown coat, a cap, and a scarf.

I exit the Wardrobe tent and then stand in a line of about 20 Men waiting to enter the makeup/haircut tent. People in these departments are walking down the line to see if anyone needs a trim or haircut to keep us in the style of the 1920's. Short on the sides and back of the neck. They also check to see how clean shaven we are since in the 1920's it seems that men shaved very close, so the face is smooth.

A production assistant is playing traffic cop within the tent. On the far wall are about a dozen hairstylists. Some specialize in men, some with women and some with children. The women really have a lot of work done each day to give them the hairstyle of the 1920's. I am signalled to get my haircut. The women who does not cut my hair but styles, combs and puts mousse in it. She has a dollar bill pinned with a saftey pin to her lapel. I ask her what that is for and she tells me it is her birthday. We have a conversation about being on the road and working on a movie production.

I then leave the chair and have to be checked by makeup. They tell me that I need to shave this morning. I sit at a table near the entrance to the tent. It is a giant makeup mirror with 3 or 4 electric razors to choose from and some spray lubricant (that is essentially like shaving cream) so as to not cut up your face. As I sitting there shaving, the makeup artist next to me is applying "blood" to a soldier who is appearing in the movie.

The last step is to apply sunscreen. The sunscreen is a very important part of this process. On Monday, I thought it was just to protect us from the sun. Now I realize it is for a few reasons - to keep us from tanning and there for looking different in each shot (since all week we are shooting the same football game)..It would not be realistic to get a great tan from the 1st quarter to the 4th quarter, although many of us would love that.

i walk down a long road between the stadium and production trailers to the building (in real life called the Grady Cole Center), but for our purposes it is called "Extras Holding". Although it is only 7 am, hundreds of extras and actors have been madeup and fully wardrobed. We walk into the front door of the building and down the stairs to a large room which in real life is a 50 year old gymnasium with a converted basketball court. There are about 30 or 40 long tables with white or blue plastic tableclothes. The white tables are for the extras sit at for lunch and the blue tableclothes are for the crew.

Caterers who have been preparing the breakfast have a buffet set up each morning with Cereal (Raisin Bran, Special K, Cocoa Puffs), danish, and then grits, oatmeal, sausages, hash browns, and scrambled eggs. For drinks there is orange juice, coffee or water.

Looking out among the three hundred or so extras dressed in costumes from police officers, referees, league commisioners, soldiers,cheerleaders, football players, team trainers coaches fans ad press, someone commented that it looked like a soup kitchen from the great depressiion (although the clothes are much too nice).

This room reminded me of my train commutes from Stamford, CT to Grand Central at that time of day. Some people are talking, some are reading their newspaper and some are sleeping. I have a relatively late start time. Some extras have to be there at 4:30 or 5 am to get dressed.

At about 8 am, a production assistant makes an announcment and helps to wake us up a bit. From the large stage at the end of the room he begins to call for various grops of people to assemble by the door leading out of the "extras holding" to the football field. By now most of us have specific groups we are in, Sideline Press or people on the home team side, sideline press for the away team, Fans, trainers, football players, etc.

They call for sideline press and we exit the building and walk about 50 yards to the entrance of the stadium.

They are not just paperclips -

In 1998, a small town in the hills of Tennessee started on a journey to learn about the Holocaust. What they ended up with inspired the world.

On Sunday, April 8th, I was invited to hear a talk at my synagogue with David Smith, the Assistant Principal of the Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee. His talk was about the journey of collecting over 26 millon paperclips to remember the Holocaust. The story was made into an award winning documentary called Paper Clips.

This was an amazing story of a small rural town where a small school project grew into a worldwide campaign to create awareness remember the holocaust.

How did a town where there were no Jewish people, 100 miles from where the Ku Klux Klan was founded, no knowledge of the holocaust, become a worldwide inspiration and experts on the subject. David Smith told our group he attended an education conference in Colorado. One of the things he learned was how to bring a program to educate students on the holocaust back to his town. He understood that being in a poor rural town which is less than 100 miles from where the Ku Klux Clan was founded he would need to include the parents too.

An after school class was given on the holocaust and the parent's of the students needed to attend also. Over time they met and discussed the topic. At one point in the discussion, a student said he could not imagine what six million looked like.
They studied how Norwegian's would put a paperclip on their lapel during WWII to remember the Jewish people they knew who were taken away by the Nazis.

So, the students decided they would collect six million paperclips. Most people including teachers might have discouraged this as "chasing a dream". So they decided to start collecting..Initially they spent time collecting and received around 300,000 paperclips in the first year. They realized it might take them a lifetime to collect 6 million. All of a sudden, a reporter from a major newspaper came to do a story on the school and the story was picked up in Newspaper and press around the country. One day during spring break, the assistant principal, got a call from the post office and told him he better bring a truck to get the mail. There were over 16 cartons of mail from around the world. This continued every day for months. Eventually, the school collect over 26 millon paperclips.

They needed a place to show ro store the paperclips and they sought out an actual "rail car" from Germany. This again was an adventure to optain the rail car and it finally made its way to Whitwell, TN, where today it has become a holocaust museum.
It is now about eight years since the start of the project. The students, who never had a chance to travel or go to college are not asked to fly to various events around the world.

More projects were inspired around the US and around the world and a second documentary movie is in the works on these.

I have told David Smith, that I would help him with some of the technology I work with as part of my eWarrior and to help bring Toastmasters to his school and town.

Leatherheads - Day 4 Fan in the Stands

Arrived on the set at 6:30 for the wardrobe and makeup...yesterday a winter scarf was added to my wardrobe. Every day, I had my hair done and then before I can leave one of the makeup directors checks my face and tells me to "shave closer". There is a table with 3 electric razors. I was told in the 1920's era men shaved close.

Each day I am more impressed with the level of detail that goes into this film to keep it authentic to the 1920's. There is an incredible team of wardrobe people that are on the set each day making sure every single outfit on the extras is authentic an being worn correctly.

One of the things we have to do is "hike up our pants" as men back then had their socks showing and the pants had no breaks in it. The woman on set have the most gorgeous hats...A hat seems to be a very common item for adults and kids in that era.

In the morning we went out to the stadium and sat in the stands as the directors wanted to get audience reaction shots. As one of the production assistants ran up and down the field we practiced our cheers and boos. We also just sat there an looked bored and then restless. I could relate well to this scene as I envisioned being at a Carolina Panthers game (I am a rabid fan..part Panther fan, part NY giant fan)...so I know how o cheer and boo! and act bored.

Across the field another director and team was filming a scene with Renee Zellweger. All I can say is "She has a good set of lungs".

Later we completed that and I ended up in some shots as a sideline reporter again. We then broke for lunch late today.

In the afternoon, we basically stayed in the holding area. We spent time talking, reading playing cards and waiting to go back out. I signed up to continue as an extra for future shoots after Monday in some other cities such as Winston Salem and Statesville.

Also today a photographer came to "digitize" some of the extras. I lined up in front of a screen while having my arms outstreteched slightly. The photrograper too my picture facing directly at him. The turned us to each side adn took a picture. This digitized version of me may end up in the film (although I am cluesless to what level of detail.

I also want to note today that there are definitely interesting people as extras. I met a woman who runs a company related to Monarch Butterflies, a historian and antique collector, a sports anchorman who does voiceovers,. , and we also killed time with some amateur comedy and singing.

Some musicians came to try out for another scene in the movie and one of the extras did a great job singing some 1950's tune while they played.

We had a nice surprise of a relatively early release today as it started to rain late in the day. As we were waiting for our shuttle bus to take us to our cars, George Clooney walked past looking glad to be done with another day of filming. Some young kids from the movie tried to chase him down before he made it to his trailer.


Off to bed -- 11 pm here. ...have to be on set at 6:30 am again. This continues to be an amazing experience.

Leatherheads - Day 4 Fan in the Stands

Arrived on the set at 6:30 for the wardrobe and makeup...yesterday a winter scarf was added to my wardrobe. Every day, I had my ahir done and then was told to "shave closer". Thre is a table with 3 electric razors. I was told in the 1920's era men shaved close.

Each day I am more impressed with the level of detail that goes into this film to keep it authentic to the 1920's. There is an incredible team of wardrobe people that are on the set each day making sure every single outfit on the extras is authentic an being worn correctly.

One of the things we have to do is "hike up our pants" as men back then had their socks showing and the pants had no breaks in it. The woman on set have the most gorgeous hats...A hat seems to be a very common item for adults and kids in that era.

In the morning we went out to the stadium and sat in the stands as the directors wanted to get audience reaction shots. As one of the production assistants ran up and down the field we practiced our cheers and boos. We also just sat there an looked bored and then restless. I could relate well to this scene as I envisioned being at a Carolina Panthers game (I am a rabid fan..part Panther fan, part NY giant fan)...so I know how o cheer and boo! and act bored.

Across the field another director and team was filming a scene with Renee Zellweger. All I can say is "She has a good set of lungs".

Later we completed that and I ended up in some shots as a sideline reporter again. We then broke for lunch late today.

In the afternoon, we basically stayed in the holding area. We spent time talking, reading playing cards and waiting to go back out. I signed up to continue as an extra for future shoots after Monday in some other cities such as Winston Salem and Statesville.

Also today a photographer came to "digitize" some of the extras. I lined up in front of a screen while having my arms outstretech slightly. The photrograper too my picture facing directly at him. The turned us to each side adn took a picture. This digitized version of me may end up in the film (although I am cluesless to what level of detail.

I also want to note today that there are definitely interesting people as extras. I met a woman who runs a company related to Monarch Butterflies, a historian and antique collector, a sports anchorman, a few computer programmers, and we also killed time with some amateur comedy and singing.

Some musicians came to try out for another scene in the movie and one of the extras did a great job singing some 1950's tune while they played.

We had a nice surprise of a relatively early release today as it started to rain late in the day. Off to bed -- 11 pm here. ...have to be on set at 6:30 am again.

Leatherheads - Day 3 - My big "break"

I arrived at 7 am for wardrobe and hair. For most of the day the sky's were overcast and gray, but it was still somewhat warm. Already, there is a bonding going on between cast, crew, directors, extras. This is a very warm and friendly set as I am seeing George Clooney's fun and relaxed but professional imprint on this film.

I grabbed some breakfast and sat with a few of my "new friends". I definitely now am not a "fan", but I am now officially part of the on the field "Press". I spent most of today as a photographer carrying around a camera from the 1920's. The most fun part is being a sideline sports photographer, allowed me to have some freedom to move around as long as my actions were realistic.

Most of the morning was spent in the end zone. I am learning the subtleties of how directors set up the shots. In most cases, I believe we will be just seen as motion and maybe a person walking and or talking in the background.

This was the longest day of filming for me so far. I was out on the field from about 8:30 am to 6 pm with about a 30 minute break for lunch.

The end of the day was the highlight. In the last 90 minutes of the day, I was able to sit behind the directors including George Clooney and watch them set up the "shots" and actually do the filming of one of the major scenes in the movie.

I can't divulge details, however, I will say that the last scene filmed for the day was one in which I was right smack in the scene and many people there think it will be in the final cut of the movie. All I will say is that I was a photographer about a foot behind a team bench. I was paired off with another extra where we had to pantomine talking and where I then started to take photos of some action.

I also had a chance to speak with some of the directors including Ian Calip, who worked on the movie "Rent" and Seabiscuit.

Someone famous said part of being successful is just showing up..Today was one of those days.


Time for sleep now... have to be on the set at 6:30 am.

Day 2 - Leatherheads

Today, I arose after only about 4 hours of sleep last night to arrive on the set at 6 am. We went down to have some breakfast first as I was scheduled for hair and makeup for 6;30 am. Had some oatmeal, eggs and OJ to start off the day.

Day 2 was more settled. After breakfast, I was led over to the costuming tent and my brown jacket and hat were waiting under my #. I arrived back at the holding area around 7 am after some hair and makeup. My makeup was just a closer shave with an electric razor and some sunscreen.

The waredrobe people checked out my attire and fixed it throughout the day. They have been meticulous with detail of the costuming and hair.

The women coming from hair and makeup look stunning and what I consider "geisha-like" with bright red lipstick and a pale flat makeup. Each woman is also wearing a unique hat. I am not sure if these were bought as antiques or reproductions or created by the wardrobe team.

I have settled into a role as a sideline reporter for the Chicago Team. One of the first shots of today had me walking from the 10 yard line to the 40 yard line as the teams entered the field. I was the only one walking up the sidelines during the filming. However it may be far in the background since the cameras were beyond the endzone. Later in the morning I was put at the 40 yard line of the opposing team
There were two of us standing there and 3 cameras, so there is a good chance I am in the shot.

Later we were moved into the stands for some cheering and booing of each of the teams. We then broke for lunch. After word we moved to the other side of the field (actually the Chicago side)...Because I had been in an earlier shot on the other sidelines they asked me and a few others to go up into the stands to be in a fan shot with a few hundred others. The cameras in these scenes were on a track which looked like a ladder laying flat.

We had a great lunch of chicken and fish. Snacks all day looked like a raid on Costco or BJ's with Slimjims, chips, cookies, powdered gatorade, Doritos, etc.
It got extremely hot, so I drank lots of water.

In the afternoon they began to film some of the game scenes. I was not in any of those and spent time with some of my "new" friends as extras and talking with the production crew.

In two days we have spent 24 hours together, so friendships or the feeling of comraderie builds fast. I really am enjoying this journey. time for bed..If I am lucky I will get 5 to 6 hours sleep tonight.

Leatherheads - My first day

I arrived for my 6 am call for extras and rode the shuttle bus over from near the Bobcats Arena to the set at Memorial Stadium. This is a "closed" set, meaning no pictures and things need to remain a secret as far as the movie is concerned.

Once I arrived as a first day as an extra, I was in a line for 'wardrobe'. This movie takes place in the 1920's so I was fitted with clothes of that period including a hat and a large brown coat. The costume team made sure that all the actors and actresses were dressed in that period.

After that, I went into a tent where they do hair and makeup. In this tent were about 15 or so makeup artists and stylists working on the cast. Although I had just had a haircut last week and I thought my hair was relatively short, they cut it to fit the 1920's era.

I then asked about makeup and was told I only needed to put "sunscreen" on. (I was to find out later that this is so the actors and extras don't start tanning).

After that I walked down to the "holding area" and eventually made it out to the football field where they were filming todays scenes. I had expected to be just a fan in the stands. However, I found myself, in a role as a "news reporter" standing on the sidelines....the pad I was to write on was "authentic" from that era also.

I did get to see George Clooney from a distance as he is both director and actor in the film. Renee Zellweger was also there and some of the extras (not me) got to be in some scenes near her.

The field was windy today as a large storm had just come through the Carolinas and was wreaking havoc on the East Coast. Our fall football attire was perfect for today's weather.

We were served a buffet lunch and after I spent most of the afternoon sitting with other extras and making it a point to meet some of the production crew. Most were from the Charlotte area and some were in from LA.

At the end of the day, they had a raffle of items and I won an "Ocean's 11" poster (another George Clooney film).

We then checked out and I finally arrived home around 8 pm (a 14 hour day). I was told to return to the set at 6 am tomorrow.

MTV Redux - New Networks

In 1981 a few of us ventured into the land of MTV, The Movie Channel, Nickelodeon as part of a company called Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Company. Over the past year many of those executives who spent the last 25 years building that company and lauching shows such as Spongebob SquarePants, Rugrats and networks such as NickJr, NickatNite have recently left to form a new company called New Networks. The plan is to have 101 internet channels of special interest. Herb Scannell, former, President of Nickelodeon and Fred Seibert, former head of Hanna Barbera and CEO of Frederator.com have teamed up.

Herb Scannell and I worked closely together at the Movie Channel including teaming up on the Star Wars "Robot Giveaway". Fred was learning his way around creative areas of on air promotions. This New Network is going to an interesting laborator to watch.

Leatherheads starring - George Clooney, Renee ZellWeger and Me

Well not exactly. The phone rang a few days ago. The person on the other end of the line said in her "southern accent", "I am calling from George Clooney's production company about Leatherheads, a 1920's football movie. Will your schedule allow you to be a paid extra in our film over the next few weeks.". I said yes and then she spent the next 10 minutes explaining the role and with a list of everything I needed to bring.

She explained "We will be filming in an older football stadium in Charlotte called Memorial Stadium. Your part will be to be a fan in the stands. There may be closeups and ther shots so you need to bring and where the same clothes for those days."

Filming starts on Monday, April 16th for these scenes. This is the first time I have been on a movie set running multiple days. A close friend of mine was an extra recently in the Ricky Bobby movie with Will Ferrell filmed here and was in the movie for about 10 seconds at the bar. I know my years of a Knicks, Rangers, Giants and Carolina Panther fan will now be paying off.

A white dress shirt
A dark tie
A Fedora (hat)
Dark Pants
Plenty of water
Books and other things to occupy my time.


I am looking forward to this mini-adventure.

Racers - Start Your Engines

Over the past year, I have decided to focus on learning more about NASCAR and building relationships within the "industry". There is a convergence of the "old or traditional" and the "new" happening with the media being the new and the "drivers and their families" being the old/traditional.

At the Bank of America 500 week at Lowes Motor Speedway (Concord, NC). I worked as a "concierge" supporting the corporate sales group for the week of pole night, the Busch race and the Bank of America 500 over a 3 day period. Working on the corporate suite level, I had a chance to mix and mingle with companies such as Bank of America, 3M, Anheuser-Busch. I also got to see Dale, Jr. and was able to meet and get to know the "Wallace Family" of Rusty and Kenny.

On two of my nights, I was teamed up with someone who worked in the ticket area of Las Vegas Speedway. I also discovered that some of the managers of the food service company (Levy) actually travel to NASCAR circuit to serve the tracks owned by Bruton Smith, who owns Lowes Motor Speedway.

On the technology side, I was able to meet a person at track-scan (www.track-scan.com) which supplies the radio devices to let fans listen to conversations between the drivers and their race crews.

This is an interesting adventure for me, as I am also working with Leilani Munter (wss.leilanimunter.com) who is an up and coming female driver on the NASCAR circuit to help find her a sponsor. Learning about race teams and independent racers such as Leilani is also an interesting adventure. The role of women in NASCAR is also something I will be learning about first hand.

I look forward to writing more about this experience.

Viacom and the Nicest Guy in the Biz - Tom Freston

In April 2005, I picked up the Wall Street Journal to read about Sumner Redstone, Owner of Viacom (CBS, MTV, Paramount, Simon and Schuster and a major radio group) which detailed the plan to spin the company off into two distinct companies in order to increase shareholder value and position these companies for the future. One company was to become the "new Viacom" and the other would become CBS. The new Viacom was expected to be the fast growing part and CBS the traditional broadcast part.

I was fascinated by this and actually contacted Tom as I saw this as the ultimate area to really combine the new Web 2.0 and what I consider "eWarrior" company. Onvergence of two areas that I saw as significant, mobile computing and building an audience (or a network) on the web. Also what fascinated me was the idea of the future of digital and high definition. As I dug deeper and I found really the imprint of Tom Freston on the company.

Now for my reminscence. I met Tom early in ny career at The Movie Channel. Although, I was relatively young (24 years old), I had already worked for 4 years in college radio and sports broadcasting and had 2 years under my belt at NBC's flagship radio stations NBC AM and WYNY FM. In addtion, I had already had about 2 years of experience at HBO (I was about the 250th and one of the youngest employees) and had worked both in marketing and finance where I had a chance to work and read the corporate business plands an interact with senior executives, so I had a pretty good vision of the early "pay televion" marketplace.

Tom and I would have lunch on a regular basis (one of my memories is at the famous Cafe 1 2 3 (un, deux, troix), an intimate Frence cafe style restaurant. We both enjoyed brainstorming and discussing the industry and where it was going. Althought I did not really recognize it at the time, we connected because we were both passionate about the business and the combination of the creative aspects. It was an exciting time. The Movie Channel had about a dozen employees specifically asssigned to run the channel. So some days my job would be to track movies so we could amortize their costs properly as we played them on air or working with the programming and promotions group coming up with creative contest and promotional ideas.

Tom was right there in the thick of things...I left to go back to HBO in 1983 when the major partner American Express pulled out. Tom and a few people stayed on. He helped to oversee some of the major changes in cable and broadcasting. MTV, Nickelodeon and The Movie Channel have now grown worldwide to over 125 different channels in places like Europe, South America and even China. Nickelodeon exploded when the company decided to move heavily into animation and developed cartoons like Beavis and Butthead, Spongebob, Dora the Explorer. Licensing revenues exploded and wehn then Viacom bought Paramount, so now these characters, such as Johnny Neutron could be in full lenght movies. Licensing is so pervasive for the products I even bought a bag of carrots and hit was a "spongebob" brand.

Tom was there in the thick of things. He also was very generous and loyal having many of the people I worked with early in my career such as Judy McGrath (Chairman of MTV) and Herb Scannell (former head of Nickelodeon) move up the ranks with him.

Well Tom when Viacom went public at the beginning of the year, Tom was named Chairman and he was leading a very visible "public company". Every move was scrutinized and written about as the new Viacom and MTV were looking to do deals to postion them for the future and protect the "franschise.

Well, I am not sure what the catalyst for the early exit was, but Sumner Redstone fired his star movie actor, Tom Cruise from Paramount in a very visible and suddent way in late August. He then fired the heart and soul of Viacom, Tom Freston.

Could it be that Sumner Redstones ego got the best of him when his "octagenarian" counterpart Rupert Murdoch was able to acquire MySpace.com...perhaps ego may have played a part. It looks like the new Viacom will become more like Microsoft, acquiring companies that are more of technology driven Web 2.0 firms in areas such as social netowrking, and online/personaized content.

I wish Tom Freston well and can't way to see his second "quarter" century.

Ovitz - Inside Story of Hollywood's Powerbroker

For the past year, I really have been interested in the power of being interconnected and how what we do can influence others.

I was visiting our local library and they had a table with a few books for sale. One of the books was on Michael Eisner of Disney and the other was about Michael Ovitz.
As much as I was familiar with Michael Ovitz as an "agent". I picked up the book "Ovitz" - By Robert Slater (McGraw Hill) to learn more about how he came be become one of the most powerful forces in Hollywood.

This book resonated with me on many levels. It is about taking risks, overcoming seemingly insurmountable hurdles (not taking no for an answer), empowering others to reach for more than they thought possible. It also can be distilled into some basic facts that are the building blocks of my other background in CRM or customer relationship management - making the sales by focusing on benefits to the other party and completely keeping the customer(in this case actors, directors, screenwriters, movie moguls) by asking "How can I help you?" or by "showering gifts" upon them they they will deam valuable.

Ovitz had a vision and a plan. He early on did not try to power his way to the top by buying people off. He powered his way tot the tip by an equal partnership with 5 other agents from William Morris who could complement his skills and provide some level of a client base. He had been a "natural" leader by providing an uncommon vision and then working harder than the others to become the "leader".

He empowered people to think beyond of what they could accomplish on their own. He did this by buiding relationships and being meticulous. He also worked on setting up systems including redundant systems to manage the work flow so he could be out of the office, but still maintain levels of control.

He is tenacious on getting deals done and providing the "chemistry" for some of the most successful movies and television shows of our time. Rob Reiner, Sidney Pollack, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Bill Murray, Sean Connery became some of his early clients. He was able to reignite careers or provide more spark to some of those careers who needed a 2nd act such as Paul Newman and Sean Connery.

I have found this biography to be surprising, inspirational and intelligent on so many levels. Turns out to be great read.

The Devil Wears Prada and Me

Once in a while along comes a talent for producing movies. Wendy Finerman is one of those talents to be able to put together a dream team to direct the movie, do the costuming and play the lead roles.

How can you get any better than Meryl Streep using all of your acting talents to make Miranda a realistic character and avoid turning the movie into a cartoon. The street scenes, office mania, dialog are also incredibly realistic and believable at some level. I was missing New York and remembering back to my early career at HBO and The Movie Channel.

Well, here it is again. There were about 10 of us that helped to put together the Movie Channel, I was one and a young women from Wharton was doing some analysis of Movie acquisitions across the hall. She was smart and analytical and generally very nice to be around. It turned out that young woman was Wendy Finerman.

It is very amazing to fast foreward to day to realize how much she has grown up in the movie industry, survived and prospered. One day I would love to catch up with her and here about her journey.

It also lets me know that we had some amazing people back then including the founder of MTV, the current chairman of Viacom, the CEO of MTV, former President of Nickelodeon among those 10 people.

Well, I am still on my journey and enjoying the prosperity of my old colleagues.