November 7, 2006
Back in office and trying to get to the bottom of my desk. Had a staff meeting at 8:30 and announced a big party at my house this weekend to celebrate the roaring success of the Resource Book. Record revenue and a mighty fine looking resource guide it is.

The video shoot for True West Moments yesterday at Old Tucson was successful although we didn't get as many scripts in the can as we had hoped. We had a big crew (7!) out of Tucson and they were quite professional. Of course, my driver J.D. (below, left) got us to the set right one time (7:45) and the first setup was in the Grand Palace Saloon to tape the opening of an Outhouse segement. The night before, J.D. and I met writers Will Shetterly and Emma Bull (below, right) at their favorite Mexican food restaurant Las Cazuelitas on South Sixth. I had never met them before although I felt like I knew them because we have been Emailing for a couple years or so. We had a great meal and J.D. told us about fights he got into with Mexicans. Ha. So diplomatic. ($75.54, includes tip).



For the "Does This Background Look Familiar" True West Moment, where I list all of the movies shot at Old Tucson, Jeff Hildebrandt (at right), blocked out the shot with the director Rick Rose. The crew, meanwhile waits it out in the shade (it was quite warm!). But before we could shoot anything, "the talent" had to have industrial makeup put on. that's Sandy from Chicago, daubing a certain ham's face. She is a talented gal.



Most of the time I worked off a teleprompter that is mounted right above the lens of the steady-cam camera (see just over the director's shoulder. The teleprompter is quite helpful, but, it did go down late in the day and I had to memorize two of the scripts (Oh, the humanity!). Then, it was time for lunch and we retired to Big Jakes for bar-b-que, paid for by the Westerns Channel (thanks Jeff).



Jeff's line producer, Patrick, wanted a photo taken of him next to the stagecoach we hired, so he could show it to his seven year old daughter in Denver. She's nuts about horses. The park closed at four and we shot until 4:45 and then they brought in the three trucks to load out. J.D. couldn't believe how much money "is wasted" for such small bits on the TV. "All that work for sixty seconds?" He shook his head all the way back to Phoenix.



I got up this morning and finished the Hickok shooting with Phil Coe. It came out rather nice. Here it is in sepia (it will run in color in the mag).



Stayed in the office and didn't go to lunch. Grabbed an apple out of the conference room and whipped this out. Still need to do my editorial and a variety of other things. Have another two video crews coming in this weekend. One to do a DVD supplement for a new DVD release of True Grit and the Outdoor Channel will be filming me and True West during the Wild West Days on Saturday. Lots of stuff to do immediately (if not before). I wonder what Gandhi has to say about that?

"The immediate is often the enemy of the ultimate."
—Indira Gandhi