Happy Holidays Outtakes

Happy holidays and apologies for the long delay in updating this blog. I had a novel to write and Dug's been too busy workin' to give me a rundown on TV land. Here are a few "making of" shots from the Dug Production Sound 2008 holiday card.





I promise a giant recap of Dug's exploits from October through December including show pilots, divers in a blizzard, missing persons, dead bodies and behind the scenes in the Bears locker room (sorry, no hot photos, girls). May 2009 bring prosperity and change and be everything you hope it will be.

Dogtown

Dug has been living out in Utah, near Angel Canyon, for the past two and a half weeks, shooting Dogtown for The National Geographic Channel. He had a week off at home and now is back there for another month. Crews have been working there for 9 months, so episodes shot early in the year are set to air this month. Ads for the series are running on The Dog Whisperer.

Fortunately, Dug's a dog person, since they're exclusively shooting the canine angle of Best Friends. Our own Akita and our Shepherd mix forgave him for leaving them for weeks and then coming home smelling like a pack of rescue dogs. He's even full of useful new dog related information, like leads on some effective nylon collars that work like chokers, without strangulation risk.

He spouts odd catchphrases at random times like "Everything good comes from the muzzle." To which I reply, "Good luck with that, honey."

The scenery is breathtaking--literally-- after a strenuous hike with a few twenty-somethings on the crew, one of whom is a pro rock climber. That's what happens when you're 43 and have been letting toddlers set the pace for 7 years of hiking excursions. Dug's been having a great 2nd early adulthood and came home with scabby shins from a borrowed mountain bike. This time he's going with archery equipment for off days.

Most of the time will be filled with filming interviews, surgeries, trainings and rescue missions.
Word is, they eat at the same restaurant for most lunches and dinners. And the local movie theatre has one showing a day of one movie only, 4 days a week. So, for time off, aside from hiking, biking and enjoying the natural scenery, there isn't much goin' on. Still, they are between The Grand Canyon, Brice and Zion, so he's not complaining.

March-August 2008-Bulls Commercial,Kitchen/Bath Show, Pearson, Special Olympics,Farm Pilot,Best Friends

**Just a quick disclaimer: If a show hasn't aired yet, the blog info will be intentionally vague, but we'll update you when all that good stuff becomes public.

August--Dug is westward bound for Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah.

In July, he spent several days on a self sustaining farm, for an eco-friendly series pilot.

July--Dug also enjoyed working for The Big 10 Network.

This July commemorated the 40th year of Special Olympics which began in Soldier Field. Dug shot the opening ceremony for The Chicago Park District.

In July, Dug traveled back to Kansas--this time to tornado ravaged Greensburg which is doing a slow and aptly named green rebuild. The small town was desimated by an EF5 tornado that cut a diagonal path through the center on May 4th, 2007.

In July, the tiny town of Greensburg was inhabited by crews from Discovery, Weather Channel, TLC Extreme Homes, and The Science Channel.

Dug also paid a visit to The National Weather Service in Dodge City, where beleagered meteorologists have to dodge the old jokes about getting paid to guess wrong half the time. A grass roots artist in Greensburg has come up with a new one though, "Tornados blow, Fema sucks". M. G. Liggett's Kinetic art along highway 154 is inscribed with humorous political slogans. His art work and an interview with the artist can be seen in the documentary, What's The Matter With Kansas.

In June, Dale Levitski, of Bravo's Top Chef fame, was cookin' in his home town, Chicago. We have to be secretive about the details, but if/when it airs I'll post more.

In May, Dug shot for Pearson educational videos in several greater Chicago area schools, then flew to L.A. for a week.

In April, Dug worked for The Kitchen and Bath Show for SBC Digital of Southern Progress Corporation. The crew rented Rascal scooters to get around massive McCormick Place with their gear. They had fun while effeciently breezing by all the other crews humping their gear around. Work smarter!

In March, Dug shot a commercial featuring Bulls fans in the stand shouting "Love it Live".

March/ April 2008-Factory Made series for Discovery Channel

March/April 2008--Factory Made series for Discovery Channel

http://blogs.discovery.com/factory_made/

Dug spent the majority of March and April traveling for the Discovery Channel for their show

Factory Made. First, he flew to Providence, RI and shot segments about nail guns and hurricane nails http://www.popsci.com/popsci/flat/bown/2006/product_75.html in the Bostitch plant. Dug was impressed by the hurricane simulator machine, which put pressure on a plywood simulated wall piece until it cracked.

Then he was off to Sarasota, FL to interview scientists at Gemesis, who are creating diamonds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eun2c9dElc.

Next, Dug headed north to Spirit Lake and Okobogi, Iowa to the factory where Polaris Rangers and Victory Motorcycles are made.

The first week of April, Dug was on to bigger and faster things, with a trip south to Wichita and Independence, Kansas where Cessna builds their 2.6 million dollar Mustang Jets.

Dug thoroughly enjoyed flying in the Mustang that they filmed being built.

Camerman, Mark Niedelson, filming at Cessna in the paint booth

Dug's string of Factory Made episodes wrapped up back here in Chicago with a shoot in the Creators plant, where they manufacture popcorn makers and hot dog rollers.


April 2008--Equal Voice for America's Families

Dug traveled to Greensville to interview impoverished community members, so they could voice neighborhood concerns to Congress. http://www.equalvoice2008.org/.





On his way back to the airport in Memphis, Tennessee, Dug snapped a few quick shots of Graceland, the message wall, and Elvis' plane-The Lisa Marie.

March 2008--Drew Barrymore for World Hunger

March 3rd, Drew Barrymore arrived in Chicago to tape an appearance on "Oprah" and announce her generous million dollar donation to The United Nations World Food Program, WFP. Dug filmed her receiving a diplomatic passport at The Chicago Board of Trade. She was with her boyfriend, Justin Long-- "the Mac guy". Traders did a little mock trading with reps from the U.N. World Food Program to speculate how to make their money go farther and feed the most people. http://www.wfp.org/english/

February 2008-"Gangland" for The History Channel

Dug was "released" from Stateville, and went right back to gang territory, for a TV show for The History Channel called "Gangland". For a week he roamed the streets on Chicago's west side, interviewing gang members and crack heads. All the crew members used aliases and Dug was dubbed Johnny Chicago, after the crew discovered his uncanny sense of direction and insider parking tips. Beats being called the human GPS.

January-February 2008-- "Lock Down" for National Geographic

For three weeks, Dug trecked down to Joliet to shoot in Stateville maximum security prison for National Geographic. Our preschooler gleefully told her teachers and friends, "My Daddy's in prison." Fortunately his "incarceration" was short lived, since he said it was a bit depressing to go there every day. In the roundhouse, the last circular prison in the nation, the noise was overbearing. The residents yelled if they wanted to be noticed and make it on TV. And they yelled if they wanted the film crew to leave. Of course, all the inmates claimed that they were innocent. The "Nat Geo" Crew were good to work with and Dug's hoping his next gig with them is somewhere more warm and exotic.............where he can take his lovely family.............hint hint.

January 2008

In January, Dug started 2008 recording a play for The Albany Park Theatre Project. The sign pictured above, is from the play, entitled "Aqui Estoy", which detailed the plight of illegal aliens. http://www.aptpchicago.org/

December 2007--The Beast with Patrick Swayze

The month of December was spent shooting The Beast, a pilot for an episodic FBI show, shot here in Chicago. Dug worked with other IA476 union sound guys, David Obermeyer and Jimmy Gaudio. Unfortunately, the series is still up in the air after Patrick Swayze's recent diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. We wish him all the best medical care, little pain and fewer rumors of his imminent demise. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,335210,00.html

December 2007

November 2007-Vince Vaughn, Green Network, Shooting Texas children

Dug flew to San Antonio in November, with KRT, to shoot Texas school children (No children were actually harmed in the making of this video). Pictured above is camerman, Anthony Florez. Over the past few years, Dug has worked on upwards of 20 different videos for Pearson's educational series for teachers.

Dug interviewed Vince Vaughn and Rachel Weiss at the November premier of "Fred Clause", for Celebtv. Now that the "Fred Clause" DVD is out, it also contains interviews in the bonus material, that Dug did earlier in the year. http://celebtv.com/

Dug also continued to work for his long term, regular clients, Karl Productions. He has worked for them for over 12 years on local shows like "Crime Watch", "Connections", and shoots for the Chicago Fire Department.

He also worked for Production Craft, other long term clients. Dug has worked with them on shoots for MSNBC, the Board of Trade, Nancy Grace and CSPAN's "Book TV". http://www.productioncraft.com/

Dug shot new content for The Discovery Channel's upcoming proposed Green Network. He worked for two days at Green Build at McCormick Place, where hundreds of eco-friendly vendors networked. http://planetgreen.discovery.com/planet-green/discovery-communications-annou.php

Finally, Dug worked a press conference with Illinois Representative Bean. http://www.house.gov/bean/

October 2007-- "What's the Matter With Kansas" documentary

In October, Dug was back with Joe and Laura, documentary filmmakers with Owmyey. Dug's worked on "What's the Matter With Kansas" with them over a span of two years. These photos are from S.P. Dinsmoore's Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kansas. The cameraman avoiding the semi, is T.W. Li, fellow Chicagoan and teacher at The Art Institute. http://www.garden-of-eden-lucas-kansas.com/goe3.swf

This trip to Kansas was the last shoot before the documentary hit the editing suite. Laura was 7 months pregnant and has since given birth to son, Milo Cohen Winston on 12/27. Big congrats!