Making Movies in Chicago

Artbeat Chicago:
Making Movies in Chicago - Reel Dreams
Spring, 2000

(Fanscribed by Msmarylou -- Artbeat Chicago is a production of WTTW Channel 11 and does not belong to me in any way.)

From the Artbeat Chicago website:

It may not be tinsel town, but Chicago has a thriving, multi-million dollar film industry. Many big Hollywood features are shot here each year, as well as dozens of independent films made on a shoestring. Artbeat Chicago takes viewers on a tour of Chicago's movie industry.

We visit the set of the CBS series "Early Edition" and talk to a Second additional assistant director, Ken Bradley, who is an aspiring film maker. He takes us on a behind the scenes tour and gives us a crash course in movie making (from the gaffer, to the director of photography, to the stars). He's as tickled to be there as we are.

Segment Interviews:
Ken Bradley, Second additional assistant director, Early Edition
Kyle Chandler, Star, Early Edition
Mark Mamalakis, Location Manager, Early Edition
Peter Kuller, Camera assistant
Richard Muskal, Chicago film Office
Ron Ver Kuilen, Illinois Film Office

Fanscription Notes:
This presentation was very well done but unfortunately too much material was crammed into too short of a segment. It could have easily been stretched out for the full half hour. Scene after scene came on quite rapidly. In order to catch all of the scenes I had to set the VCR on slow play so I wouldn't miss anything as I took my notes. While they were showing locations and filming there was continuous narration.

In order to avoid repetition in my descriptions, I will mention here that in every scene filmed, there were very many crew members on the set. Also there were piles and piles of equipment. I'm surprised some of the stuff wasn't accidentally filmed. I rewound the tape over and over again and hopefully I caught every word correctly. I hope this will give you some information on how Early Edition was filmed. I have left out the portions that do not pertain to Early Edition.

Voice in background: "Film makers love this town"

Shows scenes from various movies that were filmed in Chicago. Then they show a scene from Early Edition, which is the only TV series covered in this special. They show a man with a camera filming "Blind Faith". Gary and Marissa are at the bar inside McGinty's.

Voice in background: "Mark" "We're Rolling"

CAPTION; MAKING MOVIES - BIG BUDGET LOW BUDGET - ALL OVER TOWN.

Voice: "We visit the set of the CBS series Early Edition."

They show Gary and Marissa inside McGinty's standing by the bar.

Voice: "and meet star Kyle Chandler who recently directed his first episode"

It shows Kyle on the set wearing dark glasses. They are filming "Blind Faith". Kyle is next to the bar.

Next, we see a close-up of Kyle, probably during a break in filming. He is being interviewed for Artbeat. He is wearing a black sweater.

Kyle: "Some little inner voice said , yea, I'd love to do that" (hitting himself on the head) "Before I knew what happened, I said, Oh, my God, what have I done".

Voice: "Action" (from off camera)

Shifting back to the camera man, we see him filming a scene but it doesn't show what he is filming inside the bar, we just see the man.

Next we see a series of scenes around Chicago like the train station, tall buildings, etc. A man off camera explains why filmmakers love this town.

Richard Muskal tells us that 1999 was the biggest year in Chicago with 43 projects, 16 thousand jobs bringing in 124 million dollars.

We see some more shots of Chicago.

After a general explanation covering all filming that is done in Chicago, we hear EE's theme song in the background.

CAPTION; EARLY EDITION HAS BEEN A BIG PART OF THAT INDUSTRY FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS. THE SHOW EMPLOYS 122 PEOPLE, 3 CATS, AND 1 DOG. THE CATS GET THEIR OWN FAN MAIL.

They show a scene from "Time" which contains a blooper. A lady back in the 70's is giving a tour to a group of students.

Lady: "After the paper is printed on both sides, and then carried to the conveyor ......to the......(pause) sorry".

They show a clap board / slate being snapped closed. Written on it is "Early Edition A17 27 A 2".

Lucius Snow, holding something in his hand, and another man are standing on the stairs (from "Time"). It looks like someone is telling him what to do next.

Ken Bradley, one of the directors, starts to speak. He is walking along side a row of trailers. There is a notice nailed onto a post which reads: "No Parking Tow Zone - month 2 Day 1 Time 8 pm effective through Month 2 Day 4 Time 6 am - Movie Location -Police Order- City of Chicago". ("until 6 am"- now I know for sure no one is making up the fact that they sometimes shoot all night).

Director: "OK, we are on location today at the Sun Times building downtown. We got your wardrobe trailer, you have the actor's trailers, the electric truck, you have the grip truck, prep? (I'm not sure of this word) service, props, camera."

You can see the Sun Times building in the background. A man is pushing a food cart. Equipment is everywhere inside a room, so much stuff I can't recognize what the setting is.

Marissa walks into her trailer, wearing sunglasses, smiling, and carrying roses, along with the director. The director looks very familiar. I check who I think he is. Yes, he is Pete, the bartender, in Season one. One of the episodes he was in was "Frostbit".)

CAPTION; KEN BRADLEY - SECOND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Ken: "I was an assistant director. I'm at like the lowest point. You know I'm just starting out really in the business. I take care of the first team which should be all of the actors. I make sure they get through hair and makeup, go to wardrobe. You watch what everyone is doing and the people that have been working in this business a long time. You watch what they do and it looks so second nature to them, and I just watch them, and I want to get to that point. Well, there is a lot of lingo in this business. OK. For example a best boy. A best boy would be either a grip or an electrician. I have no idea why they call it the best boy. Grips, they do a lot of the ground work and probably have the hardest job on the show physically. DP is the director of photography. He's the one that makes decisions on the lighting."

A series of visual shots are shown one right after the other. They are:
Men working on a camera setting.
Men at a table with equipment in front of them.
Inside the loft Gary is picking up the paper as a camera moves in closer to him.
Kids standing in a group surrounded by camera men from "Time".
A man is rolling something on a high small stand across the room in the loft.
There is another shot of the kids. They are in the auditorium where the kids had a fight in "Time".
Two men are making hand signals inside bar.

Voice off camera: "Rolling" "Rolling"

Ken: (continuing) "maybe as an assistant director. On this show we have a first AD, a second AD, a second, second AD, and additional second AD."

Voices off camera: "Here we cut" "Thank you" "Reloading the camera" "Camera reload"

(Filming scene from "Blind Faith")

Gary: "Well, listen, could you do me the favor of reading me the Sun Times?"

Vadim: "Absolutely"

Director Ken: "We just pick it up as we go along as you work. And sometimes you feel really stupid. What is? You are like being in business and say, what is this?"

Peter Kuller is holding a camera.

CAPTION; CAMERA ASSISTANT PETER KULLER KNOWS ALL THE LINGO

Peter: "My basic job is to keep the actors from getting bored."

CAPTION' HE'S BEEN IN THE BUSINESS FOR OVER 25 YEARS

Peter: "I have worked with dozens of some photographers who have either won or who have been nominated for Academy Awards and it makes you feel good"

A man is measuring the distance between Kyle and the camera with a long tape.

Peter: "It makes you feel as if you are playing on champion teams, but I think what gets a lot of us through our days is that we want people to respect our craft."

Gary and Marissa are standing at the bar as they resume shooting.

Voices off camera: "Camera set" "Ready and Dolly and Action"

Marissa: "Are you sure you are up to this?"

Gary: "Oh, yeah. Look, Marissa, he's just a little kid."

Marissa: "I know"

Gary: "Its freezing outside. Even if he only gets lost, missing today could mean dead tomorrow. Besides it's easy. The paper said he goes missing after leaving the hospital tomorrow at 10:30."

Marissa: "I should go with you."

Gary: "Look, I have the health inspector coming by. I need you to meet with him. Vadim is very capable."

We see Gary and Marissa surrounded by crew members filming this scene. Sometimes the camera is right next to their face. There are no extras around and they are using the empty tables to set equipment on.

Vadim: "So, which one drives? he he."

Marissa: "Oh, Vadim"

Vadim: "It's a joke!"

The three of them turn around to walk out the door (blooper ahead). Gary's eyes must be completely covered, because he walks into the wall by mistake. You can hear the crew laughing off camera. I personally think they should have left the blooper in. It was very funny, and probably would have happened anyway to a blind person.

Mark Mamalakis is driving a car.

CAPTION; LOCATION MANAGER MARK MAMALAKIS DRIVES THE CITY LOOKING FOR NEXT WEEK'S LOCATIONS

Mark: "Our worst enemy is time. You only have 8 days to prepare and you shoot a one hour show in 8 days also. So you have 16 days to do the whole episode. In a feature film you have maybe three months to scout and you then have 65 days to shoot a two hour movie."

Shows him taking pictures of a Chicago neighborhood.

CAPTION; KYLE CHANDLER IS THE SHOW'S STAR. HE RECENTLY GOT HIS FIRST CHANCE TO DIRECT

Kyle is standing behind the bar wearing the same black sweater, continuing his interview.

Kyle: "Yea, some little inner voice said, yeah I'd love to do that and before I knew, oh God, what have I done!"

Director Ken resumes speaking.

Ken: "We have a lot more people with a lot more experience than him who were telling him you have to do that, then all of a sudden we see his head snap (demonstrates) (quoting Kyle) "Oh, yeah?"

Back to Kyle's interview.

Kyle: "So it was a very interesting process because I was in every scene."

Next, they show Kyle in his room (the loft) reading a script with a robe and shorts on sitting on a chair in a goofy position with his legs twisted around, probably getting comfortable. Someone is standing over him and they appear to be going over the script.

Back to Kyle's interview at the bar.

Kyle: "My direction would go across, but when a scene was completed I would have to trust the camera man. I would have to trust my DP, I would have to trust my AD. I would trust the people around here who were my friends and say, did we get it?"

Director Ken resumes speaking.

Director Ken: "I think it's the glamour that people think is involved with a TV show, but once they're here then they realize there isn't any glamour to it. Sometimes it's very monotonous. It can be very boring. I heard an actor tell me one time, he said that the most exciting day of your life is the first day on the movie set and the most boring day of your life is the second day on a movie set. So that pretty much tells you right there. But when you are sitting home watching Early Edition you have such a different perspective because you have seen everything that goes on behind the scenes."

A man places the cat outside Gary's door. Joey Clams is standing in place outside the door waiting for his next cue during the filming of "Performance Anxiety".

Voice off screen: "You want him closer?" (referring to the cat)

Man handling the cat: "You want him here"

(They move cat)

Man, off camera: "Yes, that's very nice."

Voice off camera: "OK"

Director Ken: "You know that a PA is standing right behind the actors in a corner, like talking to the actors. He goes in or someone is lying on the floor giving a cue. You pull back and there are the fans and lights. You know people are standing behind doors, like cueing people, oh, things like that. That's the funny part."

Gary opens door. The cat and Joey walk into Gary's room. If you look beyond the camera and crew members in the foreground, you can see what Gary and Joey are doing while they are being filmed. Joey is walking up to Gary, and Gary shakes his hand.

Director Ken is walking outside by the trailers again.

Ken: "We've been together for 4 years and we know each other's habits. It's like a family, sometimes a dysfunctional family but you know it's like a family nonetheless."

Artbeat Chicago switches to another topic involving other Chicago filming projects.

When they return to the subject of Early Edition, we hear Early Edition's theme song again and we see the same scene where Marissa is walking into her trailer carrying some roses.

At the end of Artbeat Chicago, they tell the status of all of the filming projects that were covered in the half-hour. The original taping of Artbeat Chicago was done prior to Early Edition's cancellation.

Voice off camera: "Early Edition can be seen Saturday nights on CBS. The cast and crew will find out in May if the show is renewed for a fifth season"

After EE's cancellation, when the show was re-run, they said, words to the effect, "After four years Early Edition was canceled"

THE END

Fanscribed by Msmarylou -- thank you! :)

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