Skepticblog

It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about the production of The Skeptologists.

I wanted to talk a bit about what it was like working with what I’ve come to call “The Skeptical Dream Team.” I’m going to give you a (from memory) blow-by blow of the production days.

After we got all of the players together, made all the arrangements for the locations and set the production schedule, the ball was rolling, and the planes were in the air with cast and crew from all over all descending on Pasadena CA, our home base for the location production for the show. The Date, April 1, 2008, April Fool’s day, thankfully most everyone knew better than to try and pull any pranks on me this year. 

Pasadena was the nearest major city to most of the main locations that would serve as the backdrops for our show; They were; The Skeptic Magazine offices where the on-camera interviews would be shot, Mt. Wilson Observatory where the cast would open and close the show, The RMS Queen Mary where the ghost hunt would take place, O’ Happy Day, a quaint little health food store where some of the team would discuss and try wheatgrass juice and finally the Center for Inquiry where the team would assemble to discuss their findings and conduct experiments.

The first day was a flurry of driving, airport pickups, phone calls and directions. We had three production assistants criss-crossing LA to pickup up cast, and purchase last minute props and food for the shoot. There was insurance paperwork to get ironed out, schedule changes to accommodate, and vehicle capacity issues to get sorted. Most of our cell phones were rarely hung up. The next morning was to begin our production.

I had only met two of cast members in person prior to this meeting, Mark Edward and Brian Dunning. It was very exciting to briefly say hi and meet each person as they arrived. In between those new introductions, I worked with many members of my staff to arrange, re-arrange, and re-arrange again the ridiculous situation that was caused by the hotel room mix up. (got a bunch of double-bed rooms, instead of Double room suites.. Yikes!) There’s much to do, lot’s to confirm and the level of chaos that ensues the day before a production of this scale is always insane, however my crew handled it with ease and flair, and things were running great! Milena, Shawna, Chad and Brandon especially, were key players on this day.

We all assembled and had a great Italian dinner down the street at Bucca Di Beppo. It’s when you figure out how to seat 17 people (Which was about half our total production crew) that you start to realize that this is going to happen, and that the next few days are sure to be exciting.

I remembered to take a minute and look around the table, I saw the smiles and listened to all the exchanges of people meeting for the first time, talking about similar interests, common friends, and their excitement for the coming days.

As the director, it’s one of the precious few moments that I had to enjoy relaxing with the main cast and crew. Shawna, my good friend and coordinating producer, looked at me and asked, “what’s wrong” and my answer was that I was just taking it all in, and I was happy. The efforts of so many people had assembled a group that were there to do one thing: Get the skeptical message to a national audience in an entertaining format, and there we were, preparing to do just that! I think that I said a few words to the group and we talked about the production schedule and I answered a few questions about the days to come, then we all enjoyed each other’s company over pizza, spaghetti and warm bread.

I quickly learned that Phil Plait is a total ham, Yau-Man Chan is a true celebrity, pausing cheerfully to give autographs to his Survivor fans, and that Kirsten is one of the most giggly, energetic girls you’d ever meet. Steven Novella, as you would expect, is pretty quiet, reserved and likes to take in the situation before jumping into the conversation, but when he does, he really nows what he’s talking about. Michael Shermer was taking care of other business that night and so was Mark Edward, so we wouldn’t meet them until morning.

After dinner, we met up in the lobby to have a drink, and finalize some last minute details. My crew were reporting to me in only 5 minute intervals now, so I had a few minutes to go over last-minute ideas with Brian, who I could tell was mesmerized by the whole process, but was ready and raring to go.

The next day was an easy-start day. Pre-Production meeting in the morning over breakfast, then head to Michael Shermer’s Skeptic Magazine office to shoot the sit-down interviews and some extra shots for the intro.

Time to try and get some good night’s sleep before the production starts in earnest.

Stay tuned….