[quote name=\'opimus\' date=\'Sep 6 2004, 04:41 PM\'] How many people does it take to pull this off every day? It's about time that the crew behind the scenes deserve some props. [/quote]
An unexpected question on a board better known for discussing obscure music cues, Bill Cullen's eyeglass frames, and trying to discern Bert Convy's cologne. ;-)
In addition to Executive Producer Mr. Felsher and Senior Producer Ms. Dawson there is usually one other producer simultaneously out at one of the locations. Each of the two shows also has production personnel from LA - folks with experience running the gamut from the classic Mark Goodson shows to the new reality shows - about 5 or 6 - doing the daily work: everything from scheduling and getting prizes, printing price tags and graphics, directing the music, lighting and sound effects crew members, operating the keypad software and doing the video switching that feeds the big screen monitors. The show relies heavily on custom software, and props go to Matt and Scott who tame the PC beast.
The models are hired locally, as are another couple of young ladies who handle details such as dressing the prop prizes and grocery products for appearance.
There's a full stage crew of about 10 to 12 people hired at each location. The era of the cigar smoking Teamster is over. These are 20-something guys and girls who usually work the concerts that roll through town. They love Red Bull and vodka, Harleys, tattoos, and will sit on top of the frame of the TPiR big doors during rehearsals to get a better view of the models. They love the business, and share stories of climbing the tall rigging at outdoor concerts without a safety belt, or mixing audio for some hot rock act I've never heard of. They're damned inventive when it comes to a last minute repair for the big wheel's pointer or chase lighting, and take pride in being able to strike "Race Game" and set "Hole In One" faster than the crew in the previous city. They learn the cues quickly, create some great lighting effects, and are perfectionists when it comes to revealing the car at the precise second that maximizes the drama, or getting a camera shot of the players as they are called to "Come On Down" from the audience. They're real pros who respect a well staged show, and are a great audience for the fooling around we do in rehearsals. "TPiR-Live" has been blessed with great crews in each city.
The venue provides an engineering team to handle the show's engineering needs. They visit the show at previous venues to assess our needs and make showroom and backstage modifications at the next location. Harrah's also assigns a promotion team to do everything from signs in the casino and on the marquee to blanketing the local market's TV, radio and newspapers. Harrah's also provides a bevy of local folks who do everything from registering each guest via PC (names, seat numbers and assigned keypads must match so I can call the right names to "come on down"), to dry-cleaning for the talent, to setting snacks for the crew, to selling TPiR merchandise (even more logo items than I remember seeing at TV City), to working with the 40 or so winners from each show in fulfilling the prizes or issuing the cash vouchers so the casino cashier can hand out the cash winnings.
That's just some of the stuff I see. When it works well, the guests have no idea that there is an army at work to make TPiR-Live the funniest and fastest 80 minutes. ;-)
Randy
tvrandywest.com
