Five-0 Books Me!

I suppose most people think it was a done deal, that I would get the job, but in this business there are no done deals anymore--at least not until they ARE done. I was interviewed by the new production designer and producer on the 3rd and offered the job on the 4th. I start work next week but as of now the "where" isn't known. They are currently working out of the same hotel as "Pirates" which is convenient for those who are staying in the hotel but not for much else. "Off the Map" has the lease on the film studio even though their show is more about remote jungles and not Hawaii--but ABC had the facility first with "LOST." so it looks like Season 1 will be housed in warehouses or empty buildings somewhere. Given the talent and resources behind this show, I'm sure wherever they wind up we'll make it work. The original 5-0 started without a facility as well.

Thinking about it, this would seem to be the biggest revival of a show in television history. Other shows have been revived certainly, but none that ran 12 seasons. I like to remind people that the original show premiered 42 years ago and ended 30 years ago so not to expect guys in coats and ties, big hair that doesn't move, or shoot-outs in Iolani Palace! I guess that means no disco shirts, no million dollar ransoms, or even an atomic bomb in a refrigerator being delivered to Aloha Tower. You will, however, learn more about Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams in the pilot than you learned in the 12 years of the original 5-0 and some of the best dialogue I've ever read in a television script. Of course the sets will be so wonderful, you may not notice what the actors are saying! (guess I'd better say lol in case anyone else reads this)

Aloha, Rick

No News is........well, no news.

It's been great hearing from lots of people about the pilot being picked up (including 5 former art directors I've worked with), but so far no one has offered me a job yet! There is no "obvious" in this business and I will have to jump through the usual hoops regardless of my previous experience or great job I think we did on the pilot. I was very pleased to see they kept the original opening credits and added a few "C.S.I." grid graphics while boosting the drums a bit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLKdYXyQa90&feature=email Also the trailer looks good as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmbrWOzvJDE

Not getting much publicity yet is the new ABC show called "Off the Map" about the Doctors Without Borders team. I did a couple of episodes dealing with them for "E.R." a few years back. They will be keeping the Hawaii Film Studio since they held the lease from "LOST" for the past 5 years. I suspect it will be your basic jungle clinic and tropical settings--again not "Hawaii." The humanitarian work these people do is amazing and there should be no shortage of exciting, ORIGINAL plots on this one. They shot the pilot already in the Caribbean. Also Steven Spielberg is supposed to be doing some sort of future/past series on the Big Island which probably means lava fields and fern forests and not much set decorating. "Pirates of the Caribbean" (12?) starts filming their water work this summer. Given that it is a franchise film (with major budget cuts) that already has much of their dressing, they are mainly hiring just to assemble and move things. The news makes it sound like there is a lot of work, but again, the reality remains that most of the jobs are filled in L.A. and with the exception of the 2 series, they will be over and gone by the end of summer.

In the old days they used to shoot pilots as MOWs (movies of the week) and air them before decisions were made. Given the expense of shooting a 90 minute or more show, they do the pilot and make an internal decision and just go for it. So you won't be seeing the pilot for 5-0 until it airs this fall on Monday nights with the series to follow. Other than their names and ethnic backgrounds, there is no attempt to replicate Jack Lord's famous rigid hair style. Interestingly though, both characters are of Irish descent. Makes you wonder if they ever revive "Magnum, P.I." if Thomas Magnum would have a moustache? Speaking of descents, I did work for a week on the George Clooney film "Descendants" as a shopper/buyer. No, George and I never had lunch together--in fact I never even met the decorator I was working for! They were all on Kauai filming and I was here taking pictures of potential set dressing and posting them each day. I was already involved in a roof extension project and garage sale when they wanted me back so it just turned out to be the one week.

Hopefully posting some actual (GOOD) news soon!

Aloha, Rick

Thanks for all your emails and comments!

The production office for the "Hawaii Five-O" pilot shuts down today here and the wait to hear something from CBS begins. Pilots are sort of like a difficult birth with too many doctors in the delivery room. Everyone wants a successful birth, but between trying to use forceps, a knife or just plain PUSH, it's a pretty stressful operation. In fact, the labor pains lasted 3 weeks for a 50 minute pilot! Usually with pilots, the production team put together to do it seldom follows it to series. In fact, there are those who just specialize in doing pilots and often normally do features so the pilot is quite different than doing regular episodic work. They used to do 90 minute pilots that could be shown as a movie of the week (MOW). That way the studio or network could recoup some of their expenses whether the pilot was successful or not. I can't imagine anyone not liking what we did--unless they are expecting a repeat of the 1970's which this version is definitely not.

Haven't heard anything about a Magnum revival of any sort. I didn't know (but not surprised) about a 5-0 website but I made mention there. www.hawaii-five-0-fans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=205&t=2022

Thanks for all the good wishes and I'll keep you posted.

Aloha, Rick

Even Happier New Year!

Ok, my thanks to whoever is doing all that praying or whatever on my behalf because it's been working! After being ignored for the decorator job on a surf film about Bethany Hamilton and then turning down a 2 week job as their shopper buyer, I was asked to be the art director for a national Capital One ("What's in your wallet?") commercial with those wild and crazy visigoths. You'll probably be seeing the commercial in a few weeks. I worked 11 days, hired 9 guys, filmed 2 long days for 30 seconds of air time. We were based out of the same hotel as the surf movie and even another Capital One commercial for the Canadian market. It was a completely separate commercial and crew but for the same client. It's funny that several of them said how spoiled TV people were because commercials are so fast paced now. Then TV people think film people are spoiled because TV is so fast paced. Film people think TV people are spoiled because they don't have to worry about all the details of "The Big Screen." My take is to just shut up and do my job.

Right now besides "LOST" there is a George Clooney film, an Adam Sandler film, the surf film, and early rumblings from "Pirates of the Caribbean" filming here this summer and my phone wasn't ringing at all. Then 10 days ago I got a call to interview as Set Decorator for a new pilot for CBS's "Hawaii Five-0" Wow, that will teach me not to believe rumors. Lest you think I was a shoe-in because of my experience here, wrong. It wasn't until I was able to show my work online at www.flickr.com/photos/rick_romer/ that I was seriously considered. Then it took some discussion and another meeting before I was offered the job.

This is just the pilot. It has not been pre-sold or picked up yet--or so we are told. However, the script is absolutely amazing and riveting. Remember, I did another 5-0 pilot in '96 or '97 that never even aired (although it probably did help Gary Busey's career on Celebrity Rehab) so I am cautiously optimistic on this one. Daniel Dae Kim is going right from "LOST" into 5-0 as the character Chin Ho Kelley. Well, if they can revive "Hawaii Five-0" can a revival of "Magnum, P.I." be too far behind? There was only a year between the series after all.

I wasn't going to, but I got talked into seeing "avatar" in 3-D imax. I don't often say OMG, but OMG! I was ducking under those palm fronds in front of me during every chase scene. Nothing stayed inside the screen, it was right in front of me. I decided that it wasn't a film at all. It was an event. I came out of the theatre covered in popcorn and wanting to keep my yellow 3-d glasses on for the rest of my life. Go Blue People!

Well, Aloha from the only state that didn't have snowfall this weekend. I do assume there is snow on top of Mauna Kea, though. You have to drive up 14,000 feet to see it instead of outside in your driveway.

Aloha, Rick

Happy New Decade, Gadgets, Job Hunting

Welcome to another decade of the Magnum Blog--well, that's Hollywood for less than 1 - 1/2 years, but it IS another decade. Come to think of it, this posting will probably bump the last actual set photo and that wasn't really even from "Magnum" so this is hardly a Magnum blog anymore. I guess if you know to go back to earlier posts you won't be disappointed--I still think there has to be a stash of photos I haven't found. That's what happens when you don't move for 25 years and have "stuff." Maybe that's why my 2 favorite shows are "Hoarding" and "Hoarders" which, of course, I'm not! It is interesting to hear the excuses the people use, however, since I have a tendency to keep objects that have memories attached when the reality is the memory is independent of the object. I haven't actually put that newly arrived at observation to the test in getting rid of anything yet--but it's still early in the decade.........

The COSTCO Santa brought me the new Nikon digital camera I should have asked for years ago when I had more sets to take photos of. Speaking of photos, my flickr page has gone from over 400 views a day to less than 200 views now that the Macy's Christmas tree photos aren't as popular. The 2nd most downloaded photos are from the marijuana greenhouse set we did for "LOST." I don't know if they find it by looking under "marijuana" or under "LOST." It was a pretty accurate depiction, though. (or so I was told)

One of the many anonymous followers asked a question about gadgets in the previous post. I am assuming the reference is to one used on "LOST" since we didn't have GPS back in Magnum days--we had giant surveillance vans and my Amiga computer and once in awhile the data storage room of the JAIMS Center in Hawaii Kai. That was about the extent of the electronic gadgetry which would mostly have been props and not set dressing anyway. In case you haven't heard, "LOST" is going to auction off all the stuff from the show instead of filling up the landfill here where most of the stuff would go if it hadn't been associated with "LOST". Imagine what a broken pair of glasses held together with rubber bands will go for just because they were worn by Sawyer in the series? As with most personal props, there will be several back-ups so they will be sure to make even more money with that show. I would not be surprised if it eventually comes out that it was the most financially successful show (worldwide) in the history of television and that is before the next 20 years of re-runs. I haven't seen it since my "Welcome back, Happy New Year, We love you, You're fired!" talk 3 years ago this week. I wonder if they will finally be battling aliens from outer space in their final season--the only area apparently left untouched after smoke monsters, time travel, and island moving. Meow.

Since 2009 brought me 3 weeks as a backstage dresser on "Mama Mia" and 2 weeks supervising 93 Macy's merchandising Christmas trees, my new (almost) full time job is to find a job to start out this decade. While 2010 is also the 26th consecutive year I have been on unemployment at least part of the time, I would actually like to have a job where I can complain about only having 2 weeks of vacation instead of 20 weeks (or more) of unemployment each year. I am now a "Designer," "Consultant," or "Project Manager" although I'm still pretty good with a bottle of Windex. I'm afraid the "Set Decorator" title got left behind with "Flirting with 40" in May of 2008. Time to move on. And time to go feed the animals......

Aloha,

Rick

P.S. President Obama didn't stop by to view his boyhood mentor's home, but I still had a great Christmas!

Updates, "LOST" Interview, Mele Kalikimaka Time....

Holiday Greetings 72 Followers and "others"!

I went to our film and video association Christmas party last Saturday night and ran into a lot of people. Since there has been almost no work this year for anyone, "What are you doing" seemed to be the common greeting. I ran into the man who had interviewed me for "LOST" and he has posted it on you tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF-h_t_Or-o (or just put Rick Romer in the search window) I laughed when I saw it again because I couldn't believe some of the things I said. It took the producer 6 months to get permission from "LOST" and he had to submit the questions ahead of time. At least I didn't have to submit my answers ahead of time. Oh well, my 12.5 minutes of fame will live on in cyberspace. I got a lot of strange looks from people at the party while having a glass of wine with the co-executive producer on "LOST," Jean Higgins. It's been 3 years since they dumped me and living on a 40 x 60 mile island does make carrying grudges difficult. The reality is that she is still the most knowledgeable film person I've ever met and I will probably get more Christmas cards that she does. Ultimately, I doubt I will ever know the reason behind my dismissal.

Yahoo!'s flickr gives me daily accounts of each picture viewed and a 28 day viewing graph for the totals. There were over 12,000 views the first month and I average about 400 a day! The views seem to be more seasonal than career related, however. My thanksgiving table has now been surpassed by Macy's Christmas trees as the most popular views of my 30 year career! I recently helped a woman by putting in the lights for all of the Hilton Hawaiian Village trees and managed to cram 4,300 lights in their main tree alone. Against my advice, the hotel workers plugged it into the overhead chandelier which promptly blew out. The chandelier is so big that a worker climbed inside it to drop the cable down to the tree from a new circuit they ran. Unfortunately he used 14 gauge Romex wire instead of 12 and the load kept tripping the plugging strip because it was carrying too high a load. It was nice not to have to be in charge on that job and just put in the lights. Now I'm doing my own Christmas stuff--which I swear I just put away.

The Hawaii Film Office didn't quite shut down. They did fire the director and all of the staff except for one--not unlike chopping off all your fingers except for one. The former Maui film commissioner (each island/county also has a commissioner) is the head of the division that is above the State Film Office so she has been asked to fill in. I tried calling her yesterday and her cell phone message bank was full and she hasn't answered my email all week so I think she may really be swamped. Not a surprise. (UPDATE: She did call, did come over for my Christmas party, and yes, she IS swamped--but they are handling all film permit requests!)

Lately I've heard more rumors of the "5-0" film than the "Magnum" one. I wouldn't put any money on either one right now. George Clooney is going to do a feature here starting next month. The decorator will, of course, being in his/her entire crew and even the job of shopper/buyer will be going to someone else here locally. The politics involved in giving out the local job calls take precedent over actual experience, ability, or the full page ad I have in the Media Index Guide. Their loss--my unemployment extension (again) kicks in next week.

Maybe a little unrealistic of me, but I invited President Obama to visit his boyhood mentor's home (just happens to be the one I live in) when he spends Christmas here later this month. I doubt that it will happen since the mentor is a pretty controversial figure. I know he lived in my house because of the address in his FBI files! Still, if he and Michelle want to pop over one night with 10-12 secret service guys, I could whip up some egg nog or something.

Well, nothing really "Magnum" related to report--in fact, nothing even Set Decorator related to report either! Maybe I should just change the title of this blog so I can ramble more about my exciting life??!!

In case nothing more exciting does happen in the next 2 weeks to report, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season! On the other hand, if I have a picture of me and the President standing in front of my fireplace to post, I will!

Mele Kalikimaka and Hauole Makahiki Hou,

Rick Romer

See Post from May 10 about Omega Station - Interesting new comment

Post Halloween Greetings!

I receive an email when someone posts a comment (which is something I think you can sign up for).  Anyway, I just received an interesting comment from the May 10, 2009 post about the Omega Station from someone who was still working there when it closed.  I thought it had actually closed earlier than 1997.

His comment brings up an interesting thought.  With technology changing so quickly in the past decade or so, data storage space getting smaller and smaller, digital having replaced analog, etc., how much of this former technology is actually being saved or preserved?  I realize there are at least 2 schools of thought on the practicality and purpose for saving anything outdated--those for and those against!  As a set decorator we always have a problem with both current "high tech" as well as retro-outdated technology.  Wanting current high tech means it is most likely being used which means having 100 film technicians around tends to be a bit disruptive.  On very RARE occasions they used to let us film inside the FAA headquarters inside Diamond Head Crater (now moved) which looked like a James Bond film set with all the radar screens and scopes glowing in the distance.  We sometimes filmed a Magnum episode at this high tech Japanese / American business place that had those old giant reel-to-reel tape storage machines the size of a refrigerator.  Those old giant machines with all the dials and switches and red lights made for great background set dressing.  It wasn't even all that difficult to rig something up with parts from Radioshack and some stainless steel Formica back then.

Set Dressing would also get stuck with surveillance van interiors as well.  You know, giant reel to reel tape decks, mixers, amps, dangling wires, headphones, clip boards and coffee mugs that barely fit into a large milk truck.  I think the last time I was asked to do one I said, I hate to tell you but an entire surveillance van would now fit into a briefcase--that's how long ago that was.  Today, it would probably fit into an i-pod along WITH the i-pod.  Now in the films and CSI shows, they seem to use a lot of plexiglass and projections and strange colored lights in the background as an attempt to make up for the formerly clunky hardware that actually did something in the background other than glow mysteriously or flash strange computer generated charts and graphs.

The bigger problem is finding the old technology when you want it now--particularly in Hawaii where we don't have basements or old warehouses to store things, but do have salt air and rust.  There are a couple of prop houses in L.A. that carry some of the old technology items for retro sets, but as a society, we generally embrace the trend towards miniaturization and advanced technology.  Even the collection of 78's I have are waiting to go onto cd's so I can get rid of the records.  Given that my last Cuisinart coffee maker only lasted 3 years, the new one broke after 3 weeks and I am about to buy my 2nd weed wacker this year, it's probably good that we keep moving forward since so much of the craftsmanship now doesn't allow for much permanence anyway.  Anyone remember having to go to the drug store to test a tube from the TV or radio that had already lasted more than a decade?

So just some ramblings about technology sets.  I haven't posted on my flickr site for awhile, but I got carried away with visitors and Halloween and looking for work.  

Aloha,  Rick