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Bay Area TV Projects Heat Up
by Tim Ranahan
Drawing of Tim Ranahan from about ten years ago, by his daughter, Erin, now 16.February continued with a strong upward trend for commercial work here in the Bay Area - lets keep our fingers crossed. If you've been watching the Olympics, you may have noticed that many commercials playing were filmed, partially or entirely, here in the Bay Area. This upward trend in production bodes well for our community and is a hopeful sign that the economy is making a slow rebound, even without the help of the US Senate. But wow, don't get me started on that group of !@#&%$#s...
Week 1: Greg Freeman of Freeman Productions is still on the road for a new MTV show named "If You Really Knew Me," 2-1/2 more months to go for them. Piranha Pictures and April Kimbrell/PM out of Nashville, Tennessee, came to town filming a NCAA spot at Stanford University, followed by LA/APC Cathy Chen and production company Non-Fiction filming a piece named "SYR2-aka the secret Ford shoot." Producer Susan Dwyer of Dwyer Production/SF had a one-day shoot for our beloved "SF Giants." Comedy Central was back for a second time this year, filming at KPIX studios for their show "Important things with Demetri Martin," let's hope they continue to make SF a location stop in the future. Producer David Lambert, PM Ryan Miller, and PC Megan Mulligan worked with Terri Timely/SF for a week on a "NRJ Mobile" piece. Week 1 ended with Zed Inc./LA producing a corporate event in San Francisco and Erin and Otis Ranahan celebrating B-days (sorry, plug for my kids, the former also supplying the lovely portrait).
Week 2 continued with most of the jobs from week one - gotta love long shoots! Mid-week PM Geoff Richcreek of Motiv/LA was in town for an "Eckrich" spot followed by a student project titled "Dragon Fly" with Hao Huang/Director and DP Randy Stift filming.
Week 3 started with a big three-day shoot for Comcast by Paydirt Pictures/LA and PM's Kyle Davis/LA, Maya Owings/SF, and PC Bob Henningsen/SF. Tuesday the 9th got a little crazy around the Oakland Film Center; Santa Cruz's Impact Media Group, with local grip Colin Ducey, had a one-day shoot. Moving Pars out of "beautiful Burbank" with local Amanda Steigerwald/PC, filmed a spot for the upcoming NBC show "Parenthood."
Speaking of "Parenthood," Open For Business/LA shot the pilot here in early '09 but then decided that Nor-Cal wasn't good enough and too expensive to set up shop on a regular basis - yeah, sure, LA's a much nicer and cheap place to work. Word through the grapevine is that an unnamed producer for the NBC show said that the crews in Nor-Cal weren't experienced enough, argh... Maybe there should be a law against impersonating the Bay Area or any other region. Personally, I'm tired of San Francisco being portrayed by Vancouver and other imitation cities. Oops, I Rantahaned.
Fiend Inc. out of Minneapolis and local Terri Burns/PM were in the Bay Area for a Thunder Valley Casino ad and rounding out Week 3 "Do it for Haiti," a one day event at Nimby/Oakland, with music, dance, and performance art. They were raising money and much-needed supplies for the devastated people of Haiti. Thanks to all who put on and those who attended this important event.
Week 4: Shooter Inc. out of Philly, PA was in town all week for Food Network show "Dinner Impossible," I heard they were hangin' out over at Pete's Coffee in Alameda. Bob Henningsen/PC was working with Independent Media/LA on a one-day shoot for "Lunchables" and, finishing out the month, Terri Timely/SF and the normal cast of production characters, David Lambert and Ryan Miller, had a one-dayer.
Hey folks, next month we're going to showcase the AD's - yeah that sounds fun! Until then, if you have a good one paragraph RANT, shoot me an email (), and maybe I'll throw it in the article. Cheers, Tim Posted on Mar 01, 2010 - 09:56 PM
by Tim Ranahan
Drawing of Tim Ranahan from about ten years ago, by his daughter, Erin, now 16.Week 1: Greg Freeman of Freeman Productions is still on the road for a new MTV show named "If You Really Knew Me," 2-1/2 more months to go for them. Piranha Pictures and April Kimbrell/PM out of Nashville, Tennessee, came to town filming a NCAA spot at Stanford University, followed by LA/APC Cathy Chen and production company Non-Fiction filming a piece named "SYR2-aka the secret Ford shoot." Producer Susan Dwyer of Dwyer Production/SF had a one-day shoot for our beloved "SF Giants." Comedy Central was back for a second time this year, filming at KPIX studios for their show "Important things with Demetri Martin," let's hope they continue to make SF a location stop in the future. Producer David Lambert, PM Ryan Miller, and PC Megan Mulligan worked with Terri Timely/SF for a week on a "NRJ Mobile" piece. Week 1 ended with Zed Inc./LA producing a corporate event in San Francisco and Erin and Otis Ranahan celebrating B-days (sorry, plug for my kids, the former also supplying the lovely portrait).
Week 2 continued with most of the jobs from week one - gotta love long shoots! Mid-week PM Geoff Richcreek of Motiv/LA was in town for an "Eckrich" spot followed by a student project titled "Dragon Fly" with Hao Huang/Director and DP Randy Stift filming.
Week 3 started with a big three-day shoot for Comcast by Paydirt Pictures/LA and PM's Kyle Davis/LA, Maya Owings/SF, and PC Bob Henningsen/SF. Tuesday the 9th got a little crazy around the Oakland Film Center; Santa Cruz's Impact Media Group, with local grip Colin Ducey, had a one-day shoot. Moving Pars out of "beautiful Burbank" with local Amanda Steigerwald/PC, filmed a spot for the upcoming NBC show "Parenthood."
Speaking of "Parenthood," Open For Business/LA shot the pilot here in early '09 but then decided that Nor-Cal wasn't good enough and too expensive to set up shop on a regular basis - yeah, sure, LA's a much nicer and cheap place to work. Word through the grapevine is that an unnamed producer for the NBC show said that the crews in Nor-Cal weren't experienced enough, argh... Maybe there should be a law against impersonating the Bay Area or any other region. Personally, I'm tired of San Francisco being portrayed by Vancouver and other imitation cities. Oops, I Rantahaned.
Fiend Inc. out of Minneapolis and local Terri Burns/PM were in the Bay Area for a Thunder Valley Casino ad and rounding out Week 3 "Do it for Haiti," a one day event at Nimby/Oakland, with music, dance, and performance art. They were raising money and much-needed supplies for the devastated people of Haiti. Thanks to all who put on and those who attended this important event.
Week 4: Shooter Inc. out of Philly, PA was in town all week for Food Network show "Dinner Impossible," I heard they were hangin' out over at Pete's Coffee in Alameda. Bob Henningsen/PC was working with Independent Media/LA on a one-day shoot for "Lunchables" and, finishing out the month, Terri Timely/SF and the normal cast of production characters, David Lambert and Ryan Miller, had a one-dayer.
Hey folks, next month we're going to showcase the AD's - yeah that sounds fun! Until then, if you have a good one paragraph RANT, shoot me an email (), and maybe I'll throw it in the article. Cheers, Tim Posted on Mar 01, 2010 - 09:56 PM
