Big Conversations Band: [00:00:00] In the Desert Oasis, where stories ignite Skip’s Little Bar, a beacon of light from the Coachella Valley stars to cool. Every day Joes join Patrick and Randy let the magic near and far backed by the McCallum Theaters, grace, the Voices the shape this place.

Howard Hoffman, Announcer: From the coveted corner booth in a Little Bar at the center of the Coachella Valley universe, welcome to another Big Conversation with Patrick Evans and Randy Florence, presented by the McCallum Theatre.

Visit McCallumTheatre.org or reach the box office at 7 6 0 - 3 4 0 - 27- 87. Gentlemen,

Patrick Evans, Host: well, Howard, thank you very much. We are back here at Skip Paige's Little Bar in the coveted corner booth for another exciting edition. Big Conversations, Little Bar. My name is Patrick Evans and I'm joined by my good friend, my spiritual guru. The Buddha of Palm Desert.

Randy Florence, Host: Wow. That felt really personal. The, the, you know, I've been trying to take some

Patrick Evans, Host: of this off. The Dalai Lama of La Quinta, Randy Florence. How are you, sir?

Randy Florence, Host: Good, good. Thank you for recognizing me again this week. Absolutely. It's,

Patrick Evans, Host: it's nice to have

Randy Florence, Host: you here, have all, you've been here before, haven't you?

Uh, a couple of episode for some of these episodes. Yeah. Have all of our episodes been exciting and...

Patrick Evans, Host: Oh, uh, beyond exciting. I think anybody who's [00:02:00] listened to the entire library would tell you they're on the edge of their seat for the entire, if

Randy Florence, Host: they've listened to the entire library, they're on the edge of something they

Patrick Evans, Host: have seen or they should be,

Randy Florence, Host: and it's about to crash.

I'm glad to be here with you today. Again, most of them, and of course,

Patrick Evans, Host: our, our, well, most of them, most of them we're not gonna name names because that would implicate guests and we shouldn't do such a thing.

Randy Florence, Host: We might get a lot more listeners

Patrick Evans, Host: if we started naming. If we started naming guest names, like, yeah.

Yeah.

Randy Florence, Host: Let's not do today's guest though, because he is actually sitting here next to me.

Patrick Evans, Host: He is. Before we get to our guest, a big shout out to the McCallum Theater, our presenting sponsor. The McCallum Theater provides all kinds of wonderful entertainment. Their brand new season is coming up. The catalog is just out.

You can order your tickets right now. Go to McCallum theater.org. To get more information on the upcoming season at the McCallum. We appreciate their presenting sponsorship and of course skip page's. Tireless support of this. He gives us some great real estate in the [00:03:00] bar.

Randy Florence, Host: Is there a better recording studio in the valley than this?

Patrick Evans, Host: Well, KESQ television is, yeah, pretty good..

Randy Florence, Host: But you have to say that,

Patrick Evans, Host: but unfortunately, I will have to say that the bar selection at KESQ is far more limited. Oh, really? It's far more limited. Do they at least have sparkling water? Uh, they do not even have sparkling water, as far as I know. It's, no, it's, they really need to work on their craft services.

Yeah.

Randy Florence, Host: Did KMIR does

John McMullen, Producer: Battery Acid.

Patrick Evans, Host: KMIR doesn't even have water. Their reporters stop by our live shot location to get water, to get something to drink. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's, it's, it's tough over there. It's tough. Uh, they do have water at their Christmas parties though, I've heard. Oh, good. Their holiday parties.

Uh, today's guest is Alan Gitlin, who, uh, has been involved in film. I'm sitting in front of one of his scripts, star Trek Generations. This is what we're gonna talk about. No, but actually

Randy Florence, Host: for an hour, for, for the entire time we could [00:04:00] page by page. That's just like, yeah, let's start shooting. So tell me on four.

Patrick Evans, Host: Yeah. Well thanks for joining us, but we really brought you on because you have gotten very involved with the Palm Springs women in film and television. You serve on the board, but you are heading up, uh, the film lab, which was created by one of our previous very sating guests, Kim Waltrip. Very scintillating.

We love Kim, right? Yeah. Uh, and you, and actually this is gonna be, I feel like a lot of, of today's discussion, Randy's appearance in the, in the short film. Perfect. Which you guys just screened at, uh, the Mary Pickford, a very good film, a really nice script, really interesting film. Lots of fun. Randy, uh, ran away with the, uh, the scene that he was in.

I mean, I heard these, they've asked me to bring it back.

John McMullen, Producer: By the way, I heard that he's up for an award for, uh, hottest nostrils. Exactly. Hottest nostrils.

Randy Florence, Host: It was kind of weird seeing him up there on the, on the screen. It, it's, but you have to deal with that all the time. Have you [00:05:00] ever looked at yourself on camera and thought, oh my God, why did I wear that?

Patrick Evans, Host: Uh, it's usually not about the clothing.

Alan Gitman, Guest: No, no. Kenny, he's also not in a 40 foot screen either. Well, that, yeah, that's true. I

Patrick Evans, Host: mean, you

Alan Gitman, Guest: know, big difference. Well, maybe

Patrick Evans, Host: someday I have a 40 inch televis and that's all I can afford. You've been

Randy Florence, Host: on the big screen?

Patrick Evans, Host: I have been. I've seen No, you know, I think the things, when I look at the screen, uh, over the years, I made some very questionable choices about care.

As my hairline was retreating, I made some very questionable decisions about how to pretend like it wasn't going anywhere. Uh, but that's a whole, that's a whole different conversation. Let's

Randy Florence, Host: talk about Alan Gitlin. We think we should. He'd probably appreciate that since he joined us today.

Patrick Evans, Host: Yeah. Taking time out of what I know is a busy schedule.

Alan, uh, obviously I wanna delve into your Hollywood career 'cause you, you brought in some really interesting, uh, memorabilia, but let's start with. The present and perfect. Because this is your most recent project and your, your star is sitting right here. I hear there's a sequel [00:06:00] planned around Randy's character Exactly.

Perfect too. It's called imperfect. Imperfect, imperfect. Not even close. Wow. No, it's a tough crowd. Um, first of all, when, uh, when you decided to come out to the desert, uh, on more of a full-time basis, how did you get involved with, uh, Palm Springs Wound and Film and Top Peace with?

Alan Gitman, Guest: Well, uh, we bought this house out here, uh, probably about.

18 years ago. And my wife at the time was still teaching. She was a studio teacher.

Randy Florence, Host: And where, where's that

Alan Gitman, Guest: at? All the studios. So she would have the children on the set. So she was an employee, not only of the studio, but also reported to the Department of Education, the local. So it was a big deal,

Patrick Evans, Host: right? If kids are on set, they still need to get their school time in.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Not only that, but you know, also protective. So, oh yeah. Is this a dangerous. Stunt? No, we want, I don't feel comfortable. He, she could stop the company from doing it, and they could only work certain hours. So if the child was eight years old, he could only [00:07:00] work six hours and three of those had to be school, so they could do it in 15 minute increments.

So in between setups, you know, they'd do a relight, the kid would go to school. So that's what Barbara did. So that's really cool. Oh yeah. Let's tell you, I'll date her. Her first. Well, clearly you could go that far. Yeah, exactly. We actually met at the Alamo.

Patrick Evans, Host: Really?

Alan Gitman, Guest: Yes. We were doing a movie, I was living in Dallas at the time, and she was escorting a, a California kid that went to, um, the Alamo.

There's a facade outside of San Antonio that they actually shot the Alamo. So we were doing a TV movie with Brian Keith, uh, wow. James Arness. Raul Julia. Oh my gosh. David Ogden Steyers. It was a very well done piece, so. We met and we became friends and we were friends for a long time. And then four years later we started dating.

But Barbara's first foray into it was doing, uh, Luke and Laura on General Hospital. Wow. She was Jeannie Francis's [00:08:00] teacher. So that's how far back it dates. And we've maintained a friendship through the years. Her husband, Jonathan Franks and I. Worked on this film generations and then we did many episodes together of either Voyager or Deep Space nine.

Wow. How did, how did she get into that? She was a teacher and her husband at the time was a UPM at a B, C and did like Dick Clark stuff and he says, you know, I just paid a woman to teach the child, you should do it. And next thing she knows she was doing, you know, general hospital. So you have to be credentials.

Jeanie grew

Randy Florence, Host: or, oh yeah. She grew up on that show.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Oh yeah. She's still on it.

Randy Florence, Host: Yeah.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Yeah. You on it this week? Yeah, I'm on it. Have you grown up yet? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. She's the mayor of that town, whatever the town was.

Randy Florence, Host: I still remember. Luke and Laura. Is it? Yeah. Springfield.

Patrick Evans, Host: It's gotta be Springfield.

Alan Gitman, Guest: I, no, it's another name.

Yeah, it's

Patrick Evans, Host: uh oh. Springsteen. No, it's not. Stop it. [00:09:00] But you glossed over the fact that Jeanie is married to Jonathan FRAs, who is Commander Riker now. Captain Riker on Star Trek. Exactly.

Randy Florence, Host: I didn't know it or I wouldn't have glossed over. You didn't do your research?

Patrick Evans, Host: No, I, I, I, this is primarily all these two Bacca notes.

This is primarily a Star Trek episode. Exactly. Because Alan worked on a lot of, of that franchise. I mean, generations was, uh. Yeah, the transition from the original crew, captain Kirk to Wow, listen to this. He knows more about it than I do. Oh yeah. It was just a job for you. For me, it's a passion and it introduced the, the, you know, the stars of the next generation on the big screen it exactly was Patrick Stewart and that, and so it was the transition.

They actually got Kirk and uh, captain Picard together. And also remember who the evil also Kirk died

Alan Gitman, Guest: and who, uh, who was the evil? He died. He dies in

Patrick Evans, Host: this movie.

Alan Gitman, Guest: But doesn't he

Randy Florence, Host: come back? No.

Patrick Evans, Host: The, he's the one guy that haven't brought, which is by, by the way. It is, it's the movie. I, I, I enjoyed the film, but I hate it because they killed Kirk.[00:10:00]

I do not consider it. Okay. Now, who is Evil Emesis in this

Alan Gitman, Guest: movie?

Patrick Evans, Host: Uh, it was, uh, Malcolm McDowell. Yeah. Who played Dr. Sorenson. And I met Malcolm McDowell at the oh high end one day where he was sitting having lunch and I was too, and I went over and I said, can I get a quick pick? And he said, sure. And, and I said, of course, I, I loved you in, in clock regards, but I said, I'm still mad at you for killing Captain Kirk.

He just looked up for his lunch and he goes, oh. You're one of those.

Randy Florence, Host: That's a true story. Yay. Thank you. We got our first sound effect.

Alan Gitman, Guest: There you go. No, but it was, um, it was an amazing experience being on it. And when I worked on, I, I started on, uh, Voyager and I remember my first week, one of my other. Assistance. Camera assistant says, you gotta go to the Pasadena Convention Center.

They're having a convention this weekend. I said, I don't have time. We're working 65 hours this week. Right. You [00:11:00] gotta go. You're not gonna believe it. Okay. Same when driving the parking lot, and I see the people getting out next to me. They're all dressed like the people I worked with the night before.

They're all wearing the Star Fleet outfit with the little insignia and this and that. I can't believe it. I walk in and everybody's in costumes. I mean, a place was packed. Packed, and they're selling memorabilia, and I remember walking over and there's a stack of papers and it's call sheets. I. You a call sheet is what they give you at the end of the day.

This is what you're shooting tomorrow, this is what the advance is. Here's where we're doing this, and your call time and everything else. I would put those in my back pocket and wash 'em. They were getting three 50 a piece and they were flying off the table. I was like, oh my God. So then we go into a session where a director and one of the actors was doing a scene.

That I happen to work on. I sit down next to two women. Hi, we're doing this, da da da, and we're gonna show you a clip. [00:12:00] And they start the clip and the two women next to me are saying the lines on a scene that I worked on that I didn't remember what they said. I said, these people have to get a life. Scary, scary.

Patrick Evans, Host: Star Trek fans are our fanatics.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Yes. And we don't call 'em costumes, by the way. They are uniforms. Oh, excuse me. I'm

Patrick Evans, Host: sorry. I don't work in that department, but there's a little section of my closet that where I have several uniforms hanging. What uniform section? Are you serious? Oh yeah, yeah, of course. And my wife, like we were, she was looking at the clock.

She goes, what are all these costumes doing here? And I said, they're not costumes. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, no fans, the Star Trek fans. And so when you work on, and you obviously did a number of episodes, but you know, working on generations.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Yeah.

Patrick Evans, Host: Um, yeah. Anything that you could slip out of, off the set? The fans just eat that stuff up.

Oh yeah.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Absolutely,

Patrick Evans, Host: because you know, it's total contraband, like you can't get it. So we need it, you know, it's [00:13:00] like crack to fans. So

Randy Florence, Host: let's go back to Texas.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Yes. Where it all started. Where were you born? Uh, I was actually born in Chicago. Yeah, but raised in, in Dallas,

Randy Florence, Host: Texas. In near Texas. Yeah, but I was raised in Dallas.

You can fly there.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Exactly. I went to Chicago to ut same class. I started my degree in radio, television and film, and then finished at North Texas State and I was doing commercials while I was in college. Did Sue.

Randy Florence, Host: But you already knew something before you got the college. You already knew this is what I wanted to do.

Well,

Alan Gitman, Guest: actually I started as pre-med. I always wanted to do pre-med and then the Vietnam War started and I said, Uhuh, this ain't happening. Let's do something I'm gonna be having fun at. Yeah. So I started with, my background was photography, so then I got into motion picture, so I got to work with some great.

Great talents. Uh, John Alonzo is one who did Chinatown. He was nominated for an Oscar on Chinatown. He did Norma Ray, he did. Um, God, what else? Um, [00:14:00] God, I forgot. What was the first

Randy Florence, Host: time he saw your name On a, on a credit on the screen.

Alan Gitman, Guest: That's a very good question. Um, probably when I did the Alamo 13 Days of Glory, it was directed by Bert Kennedy, who was actually John Wayne's writer.

Wow. And when I remember showing up on the set, it was my first real movie. It was a minis series for NBC, and Bert comes up and introduces himself, and he's wearing the hat that John Wayne did with the. Picked up brim with the tassels hanging. He says, yeah, John gave this to me on one of our last pictures.

Like, wow, okay. I've made it, you know, this is real.

Randy Florence, Host: Yeah, this is, so John got his own writer.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Oh yeah. Well, at that time, anything went, if you were a big star, you wanted your own writer, you got him. So Bert was into westerns and he had a, a group of guys that always showed up on all these westerns and they were, you know, the wranglers and they were the guys that did the stunts and, um.

It was amazing to [00:15:00] see how this movie came together. Um. You know, shooting in the facade. Interesting point. The gaffer of this movie was the original pre rigg gaffer. On the original Alamo was like, wow, how does that,

Randy Florence, Host: what's a gaffer?

Alan Gitman, Guest: A gaffer is in charge of lighting. So you work closely with the director of photography and the director of photography says, all right, we're gonna shoot this part of the scene and we need to accent this actor and this background light and this shadow, whatever.

And the gaffer would then implement it. Let's bring this light over here. We'll bring this little light over here. We'll put a bounce card, whatever. So, um, that was pretty interesting to have the original rigging gaffer of the original Alamo now doing the gaffing on this miniseries. That's pretty cool. It was, it is.

It's, it's crazy about this business, you know, how, how it relates and interrelates of people and what they did before, [00:16:00] but, um. You know, early on I was taught that cinematography was a craft. It's like a painter, you know, you paint with light shadows, contrast, composition, and to watch masters do it, it was remarkable.

Um,

Randy Florence, Host: were you a huge movie fan growing up as a kid? Not really. No. No.

Alan Gitman, Guest: I did shoot like home movies. My la my senior year. I shot a movie for the graduating class and they put it in a time capsule. So when they opened the time capsule 50 years later, it was not like sand, you know, it all dissolved. Who knew?

Randy Florence, Host: They put it on a cassette tape. Yeah,

Alan Gitman, Guest: the cassette tapes didn't exist then back, that's right. Back when I shot the, so that was in 71. Yeah. So, um, no, but I got to do a lot of filming when I was in college, you know, did a lot of. Stuff. Um, commercials. I worked for a radio station there, the McClendon's, I don't know if you ever heard that name.

Uh, Bart McClendon. He had a big, um, radio, [00:17:00] uh, business back in the day and, uh, I would do his commercials. He had a drive-in, so we would shoot stuff for the station and then show it in the drive-in. So that was pretty cool as a young buck trying to start a career.

Randy Florence, Host: When, when were you first behind the camera?

Alan Gitman, Guest: How long ago? Actually, behind the camera? Well, there's different parts of the camera department. Okay. So it starts with the director of photography he works with. Yeah. Kinda walk us through this. Yeah. Good, good suggestion. So in the camera department, the director of photography works very closely with the director.

They've talked and prepped and they've done their homework and figured out how the scenes will be shot. So that's the head of the department. So then we do, the next would be the operators. The operator's eyes to the camera, operating, catching the action. Then with the operator is the first assistant he is pulling focus.

He is loading the cameras, making sure the camera [00:18:00] batteries are, are set that the aperture set, that the filtration set. 'cause in the days of film, you had to be very careful of how the exposures were done so that it was done both with aperture and filters. So if you're shooting a tungsten film outside during the day, you had to put an orange filter in front to.

To correct it. So that was always my responsibility as the head of the, the department, as the key assistant. Then I had a second assistant who would be responsible for the equipment on the set, where the lenses were, you know, in the middle you'd get asked for a lens. You had to do a lens change very quickly, or another mag the slate, the paperwork, and then you had a loader that was usually at the truck who was loading the film.

Especially if you had two cameras and most shows had two cameras, an A camera, a B camera. A camera was always the wide, the B camera was get catching a closeup, so then they would have it in sync and then they turn around and do the coverage in the, in the reverse.

Randy Florence, Host: So when I'm watching those [00:19:00] credits at the end of the movie and I'm seeing a thousand people on there, are they all doing something?

Alan Gitman, Guest: Oh, absolutely. But now with digital, you're seeing a lot of the artists that are listed. Right. And then, you know, like, um, a big effects movie, they probably hire five different effects companies. One in India, one in in China, one in Australia, and they're all allocated a portion that will then ultimately come together in the final cut.

Okay. So yes, they're, and,

Randy Florence, Host: and who's responsible for putting that all together? The producer.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Well, the producer will work with a line producer and a unit production manager. And they're responsible for the budget and the allocation of funds or the interface with, if it's a studio picture or an independent, depending on how the financing was set up, and they would coordinate.

And, you know, the, the real magic happens is in the editing room. It's one thing to capture good stuff. Yeah. On the set, get it in the can. But [00:20:00] when you start going through and you start telling the story in the editing room, it's magic. Just like imperfect. When we started putting together, you know, to be quite honest, I wasn't too thrilled about the script 'cause it was a competition, so people voted on it.

So it was kind of like, here's the script, make this a good movie. So, um,

Randy Florence, Host: Brandy's in it,

Alan Gitman, Guest: what can I say? But, um, I think you just did. I will tell you though, you're getting a spinoff. Your character

Patrick Evans, Host: is exactly simply getting a spin off. It's gonna be in the sequel. I'm working on a treatment of that right now.

Randy Florence, Host: Gonna have smaller nostrils. There you go. We'll shoot up on it. No, we're gonna fix it.

Patrick Evans, Host: God damnit. I told you guys we're, we're gonna fix that in post. Exactly. We're gonna industrial light magic their entire nostril. No, my producer

Alan Gitman, Guest: partner, well, he's the one who did all the effects and the other one ex exit interview.

Yeah. Where all those. There was some digital effects in that. Also, a

Patrick Evans, Host: great short, they screened both of these shorts and, uh, I mean two very different [00:21:00] movies, but that exit interview, a lot of, uh, pretty heavy special effects. Not

Alan Gitman, Guest: only that, how timely was that message? Yes, there. The day after, I think in the New York Times, there's a huge article about a, uh, embryo that had a birth defect and they corrected it and the baby was born normal.

Gene editing. It was like, oh my God. Wow. Art imitating lies. That's movie emotion. Yeah. So it, it was interesting, you know, and it made the festivals around the world and I think it resonated to. Impactfully, I think to people, people didn't want to face it. I had somebody come up after the screening and said, wow, that's, that's a, that's a scary thing.

Thing. It was just

Randy Florence, Host: too uncomfortable for 'em. Uncomfortable for

Alan Gitman, Guest: them. Yeah. It was like, well, you know,

Randy Florence, Host: and we try never to have a film be uncomfortable really. Okay. We don't wanna bring out any emotions in people. Uh,

Patrick Evans, Host: now with Perfect. Uh, you were co-director, correct?

Alan Gitman, Guest: No, no, no.

Patrick Evans, Host: Laura [00:22:00] Lee Lauralee and, and

Alan Gitman, Guest: Gina.

That's right. Gina was, Gina was, I forgot. Carter car, whatever. No, they were doing, we had another director and she dropped out and I, I convinced Laura Lee that, you know, with your journalist background, you've been doing this for 25 years, telling stories. It's the same thing. All you have to do, all you have to do is, is entertain.

I have your back. I know how to do the coverage, get the performances, and she did an outstanding job. I'm so proud of what she, she was able to pull off with Gina. Absolutely. It's great. Laura Lee Jackson,

Patrick Evans, Host: who, uh, worked, uh, at KESQ and does fill and work with us to this day is, and she's in the Coachella Valley Journalism Hall of Fame.

Oh, that's right. One of the most recent inductees. But she did a great job, uh, and I really enjoyed the movie. Um, it, it was, it was.

Randy Florence, Host: It was such a kick just being, being on a set. And I know you've been there [00:23:00] before, uh, on a movie set, but I felt like I had really lived the experience. 'cause I was there for 17 hours and worked for like eight minutes.

So I figured that's that's pretty much what it's like on most movies. A lot of hurry up and wait. Absolutely. A lot of hurry up

Patrick Evans, Host: and wait and, uh, you know, you, you worked for eight minutes. They shot eight minutes of film of you and, and 40 seconds of it ends up, I mean, a lot gets paired down in that editing process.

You talked about, you, you touched on it a little bit, but the editing really was where the movie, the story comes together.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Exactly. The pacing and, and the emotional connection with the audience. You're trying to engage an audience. You know, with a story and a performance, and it's a, it's a, you know, collaborative effort in all the departments to come together to tell this story so

Patrick Evans, Host: Well, it sure did on that set.

And so that film now will go onto the, the festival festival. Circuit. Circuit. So Randy, you're gonna be seen on screens across the United Well states.

Randy Florence, Host: Well, nostrils are gonna be

Alan Gitman, Guest: everywhere. [00:24:00] Well, like I said, the first big festival will be Holly Shorts in August in, uh, Los Angeles at Groman's. Yeah, it's a big.

Dog and pony show. When I went last year for exit interview, I didn't real, I thought it was just like short. I mean, they had the clea lights out, they had other shows that were being, you know, unveiled at this, this festival. It was like, oh my God. But I will tell you, it was interesting 'cause Kim and I had this interaction after we saw our competition, the younger thinking.

Projects that were shown there were like, oh my god, people really, my daughter got so upset about the, the tenor of couple of the movies. She's a dead. I'm outta here. I will see you later. I'm taking an Uber home. They were, so one was about a necrophilia sex in a coffin teaching. It was like, what? That

Randy Florence, Host: was our last podcast, wasn't it?

Alan Gitman, Guest: Oh,

Randy Florence, Host: no, that wasn't, that

Alan Gitman, Guest: wasn't the last podcast. Terrible thing to say about, so, you know, [00:25:00] yeah. It's interesting to, to, to think what your competition is. Yeah. With the younger, younger set, putting it together. But again, this was a competition. Stage 32 supports us and, um. We're gonna do it again. So we have another competition starting in July where we'll start looking for scripts and we get about 150 scripts to go through.

Randy Florence, Host: And where do they come from? Just are they local?

Alan Gitman, Guest: No, no, no. If you ever go on the platform stage 32. Oh two. 32, right. They'll say, alright, Palm Strings, women in film is having a competition. And if your script is picked, we will do a $10,000 production. So that comes under the film lab that I oversee now that Kim originally started.

And we will then put it together, pick the directors. And you know, I will tell you, uh, the people that handled our casting, Steve Ceron and his group outstanding. Yeah. On this LA we just did another one that I can't really talk about called the Last Tier. And, um, [00:26:00] Faye got an amazing actress to step up and play this role.

It was a very emotional story about a family dealing with cancer. Mm. And um. I was mesmerized. I couldn't believe the, the performance that we got.

Patrick Evans, Host: Wow. Well, and Steve's quite an actor himself. Yes, he is. He appears in a lot of different stuff every day. Every day we should get, we should corral him to come on.

Let's, let's do It's do it.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Absolutely. He'd love to do it.

Patrick Evans, Host: So how did you get involved with, when, when you, you, so you've had a place out here for a while. How did you learn about women in film and television? What, what drew you

Alan Gitman, Guest: to the

Patrick Evans, Host: organization?

Alan Gitman, Guest: Um, when I first got here, someone introduced me to Levi Vincent.

He does film permitting and mm-hmm. Extras work, Palm Springs inside Palm Springs. And, um, we met, we liked each other. He says, wow. He says, you really have some really good credits. He said, thank you. I said, so, you know, I'm on the, on the retirement direction and you know, if I can ever do anything, let me know.

So then he says, you know, I just got [00:27:00] on the board of Palm Tree Glen Women in Film. I think, you know, you should join it. So I checked it out. Okay. Another thing to do. So I did, so I was just a member and then, um, I think Kim saw my credits and she says, oh, I think maybe you should be on the board. Oh, okay.

It was a year later and, you know, um. One of my mentors was a gentleman named Jack Green. I think I told you that story when we did this. The Ion on the Desert. He was Clint Eastwood's cameraman for many, many years. A wonderful man, brilliant with lighting, I mean, just was he was nominated for the, for the Academy Award for Impossible?

No. Um, what was it? It was a Western that Clint did. I forgot. But anyway,

Patrick Evans, Host: unforgiven.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Unforgiven. Yes. Thank God he's a wizard here. So, uh, I did pickups with him before I got in the [00:28:00] union and I said, Jack, what a great time. You were wonderful. You were, you know, encouraging and, you know, we, we just got everything done and everything was efficient.

Thank you very much. And he says, well, you know, I like to see new talent. 'cause I wasn't in the union. I just moved to to la. And I said, oh, he said, when I first got in the business, he said, one of my mentors said that when you get, you know, you achieve success and you've come towards the end of your career, you have to give back to the community.

I. So that's something that I've always done. Even when I was in the union, I used to teach, I, I went and guest taught at Baylor University. I taught at USC. Wow. I taught at a bunch of different schools. I went to, to Hong Kong to teach. Um, I'm friends with, uh, several filmmakers there. So I just felt that it was, um.

Unique to have the opportunity to give back to see the younger, younger people coming up in the industry. And that's why, you [00:29:00] know, when Laura Lee Shanghai me to, to teach, uh, this is a way of giving back. Yeah. And I like to see when the sparkles off, see them understand what it's like to, to really become an artist and use the tools that you have available.

Randy Florence, Host: Was there, were you surprised at all about. The number of people in this valley that had some sort of a hand in the industry.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Interesting. My last series that I did at Warner Brothers was called American Woman, um, and the producer lived out here, John Rgi. Rigi, R-I-G-G-I. And he says, yeah, it's great. I run into everybody out here.

Yeah. Like, oh wow, okay. So yeah, he, he kind of clued me in. He said, there's a lot of people out here. I love the talent out here that live out here. You know, this is a great way to get away from, you know, I had to go to LA last week, in fact, to return the cameras that we did on the last film. And I'm in Burbank going, why am I here?

Three [00:30:00] light cycles to get past, you know, olive Street. It was like, can't wait to get home.

Randy Florence, Host: Yeah.

Alan Gitman, Guest: So

Patrick Evans, Host: well, that's what you're doing now, the, the Palm Springs Movement, film and Television, and, and Perfect's gonna start making the, uh, the festival circuit. Uh, we're gonna take a quick break. We're gonna acknowledge our presenting sponsor of McCallum Theater.

We'll come back. Let's, you mentioned you have a very, very long, in fact, I asked him about this and I Is, he goes, yeah, I did it. Is it like he can't remember all the movies?

Randy Florence, Host: I've looked at the, there's some big, big films on that list.

Patrick Evans, Host: There's some big, big films. We're gonna talk more about, uh, your work in Hollywood When we come back after this message from the McCallum Theater.

McCallum Voice Over: At the McCallum Theater, we believe in placing arts at the heart of learning. Since 97, our education department has inspired nearly 1 million students and community members through dynamic performances and immersive arts education programs. From the Palm Desert Choreography Festival to our open call talent project, we provide powerful platforms for emerging artists.

Experience how the arts contribute to personal growth and enlightened citizenship. [00:31:00] Your entertainment, your theater, the McCallum Theater. Learn more@mccallumtheater.org.

Patrick Evans, Host: And we are back with our guest, Alan Gitlin, uh, who has been involved, uh, on the camera side of Hollywood for many, many years. You were telling us a story, uh, you, you sort of hinted at it, but you were working on the film Titanic.

Alan Gitman, Guest: No, it was called, uh, this was a movie, a docudrama that, that, um, Cameron was doing called Go See Abyss. That's right. But we were a Titanic. You were, you were at Titanic. Right. And I got this close to going down to see it, but they replaced me with Well he went down, right? Oh, he would went down every day.

Yeah. They were two submersible. We were on the same ship that they used in the filming, the ish, it was a Russian research vessel and they had two submersibles. And um, Jim and his brothers designed these bots. That came out of a basket in the front of the [00:32:00] submersibles and he actually took them into Titanic.

In fact, we had a contest before they went in the water, and I forgot, I think one of the engineers came up with Jake and Elroy. Wasn't that the, the blues? Brothers. Brothers, yeah. So the blue one was Jake and the yellow one was Elroy. Elwood, yeah. Elwood. Yeah. So, you know, and Jim's on the controls, he's, he's like playing video games and he's taking it down the staircase and down around the, oh my gosh.

The, the ballroom. And he says, I feel like I've been there. Well, he rebuilt that, set it at 20th century, you know, so he knew where all the nukes and he's driving this thing and he's getting footage. That was like unbelievable. Amazing. And this happened

Randy Florence, Host: to be at a pretty historical time. Oh, absolutely. You wanna talk about that?

Patrick Evans, Host: It happened on nine 11. Nine 11. Were

Alan Gitman, Guest: there, well we were there for four weeks. Yeah. But, um, so on nine 11 he had already dove. So getting those in the [00:33:00] water is a big thing. I mean, they gotta pick 'em up and they put 'em over and they disconnect it and they get 'em aimed in the right direction. And it's two and a half hours down, just dead drop.

Wow. Two and a half hours down, two and a half hours, just straight. I can't even imagine. Straight down to the ocean. Yep. And it is interesting too. You see all this stuff, the Russian customs, so when you get in, they have a little box that you put your shoes into when before you get in it and they take 'em back and they put 'em in a certain spot.

On the ship until you come back like, ooh, that's a little eerie. But, um, you know, he had, um, two, two people to commandeer that, or not commandeer, but to, um, oversee the submersibles down there. Jim and his infinite wisdom had one of them that had a light on it, a big, like a 12 K light. It. So in other words, if Jim was shooting in one direction, like off the hull, the front hull of, of Titanic, he [00:34:00] would have it side lit with the other submersible 'cause it's pitch black down there.

Unbelievable. How well he did and, and getting this footage and, um, it was amazing. If you ever get a chance to look at it. He originally shot it in 3D.

Randy Florence, Host: Wow.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Oh yeah. It was, you know, when we were doing stuff on the ship where he was, you know, in conversations of, you know, we're gonna shoot this tomorrow, we're gonna shoot this, um, I would be pulling what they called convergence.

And in early A 3D capture, what you're doing is you're taking the two eyes that you're shooting with and you're trying to put the. Th where the 3D is in the p in the frame. So in other words, if I was shooting you, I would be looking at it and, and putting the two eyes together. So the 3D would be right on your eyes and you'd be in focus.

So this happened not only [00:35:00] on the, uh, down on, uh, at Titanic, but any of the, the top side footage that we shot. So it was pretty easy system. You're up on the boat. Yeah, I never got to go down. No. When he went down, we, we were, we were waiting. That's why I said I, I showed you the cups. Yeah. So we would do artwork and I happened to do that one cup that everybody did these cups.

It was a 16 ounce styrofoam cups. Show them to our camera. Okay. So when you. You finished your artwork, you would give it to the pilot who was, um, driving the submersible and you would put it on a little bag outside and it would be, um, so that was a 16 ounce cup. 16 ounce cup, so three times the size. So the pressure below the, the surface surface outside at 13,000 feet, it would compress the.[00:36:00]

That cup to that side. Wow. That's correct. And uh, I was just fooling around the day before, and then this went down at nine 11 and it came back up. So of course, you know, later in the night after everything happened, we're seeing, you know, satellite footage of the towers going down. They go, oh, here's your cup, by the way.

I was like, oh

Patrick Evans, Host: geez.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Wow. Okay. So you were kind of like in the middle of the ocean.

Patrick Evans, Host: Oh yeah.

Alan Gitman, Guest: And

Patrick Evans, Host: detached. So

Alan Gitman, Guest: how did you get

Patrick Evans, Host: the.

Alan Gitman, Guest: It's, it's a crazy story. First of all, Jim travels with security. You know, he's, he's well known. So he, he's definitely had a security detail with him. I think the guy was a seal. We all became friends.

Good guy. Um, but, um, we were, we were looking at footage and we thought someone was pranking us because we were, had really kind of crappy video coming that was like satellite stuff. But then Jim's guys are on the back. Do you remember where the old lady threw the ring off? Do you know? At [00:37:00] the back of their shift?

Oh yeah. The fan field, they're at the back. They're all on these FO guys. Something we should know about and they're talking to, to LA and this going on and they, whoa. So the thing was the executive producer was with us. He would shoot the second unit stuff and he said we were deciding, do we call Jim up?

You know, two and a half hours down, you know, it's another two and a half hours up. And they basically said, no, wait until he comes up. So later that night, he finally came up about seven 30 and Bill Paxton, who was the actor on this, went and met him. He climbed up the gangway to the submersible where the hatch was, where they would enter and exit.

And he says the Jim, he says The New York City was attacked. Two buildings went down and, and Jim is like, oh my God, really? 'cause we were supposed to finish at Titanic and go on and do the Bismarck [00:38:00] outta Southampton, and we canceled that part. So it was like. Jim says, all right, stop filming. We're gonna have to figure this out.

And we went into the mess hall and we started figuring out what was gonna happen. So

Randy Florence, Host: that's a crazy story. Oh,

Alan Gitman, Guest: it was, wait, a, a great story at the end of this. So we ended up going into Halifax to disembark. Yeah. They had all this equipment, they had a crane there to pull the, the special equipment off and stuff like that.

So we go into the cemetery where all of the people that were, they were able to gather. From the sea and recover and buried him there. The, the shipping company buried him there. So we're filming. I've been to that cemetery. Yeah, it's right overlooking the bay. Mm-hmm. So we're, we're filming and I'm right next to Jim and we're filming and he says, I want to get in before this I elder hostel group comes off of a cruise ship.

There were three cruise ships in line and, and. In the, in the Bay. And so we get in, we shoot da [00:39:00] so, and alright, here comes this first elder hostel group. And you know this, they're all 65, 70 year olds coming and Jim's filming them. And the, the tour guide was very flip about this. He said this, this tour guide's backs to us.

He said, and here's the grave of Jack, whatever. This is the role that Leo DiCaprio played. And he says, you know. Leo should be buried here instead of this guy. And Cameron says, what the F did he just say? And throws the camera at me and I like catch it. And he walks over and the guy doesn't see him walking over his back, Stu, and he taps him on the shoulder and he says, hi, I'm James Cameron.

Now figure there's 60. Elder hostel standing there and James Cameron comes over and taps this guy on the shoulder says Hi. Next time I see Leo I'll tell him what you thought of his performance and walk back. And he high-fives me when he walks past me and he says, that felt like Annie Hall. Remember when he that [00:40:00] Marshall McClellan wine?

It was like, oh my God. It only happened 'cause I was with Jim. That's crazy. That was.

Patrick Evans, Host: It's a very moving cemetery. I mean Oh yeah.

Alan Gitman, Guest: It's just, it's remarkable. And well, the family, the mother with the two kids. Yeah. There, it's like, woo. No, it's, it's a Let's tragedy. Well, lets go back to the,

Randy Florence, Host: to the films. What's the biggest budget film you've been on?

Alan Gitman, Guest: Well, I remember when I got hired to do Ali with Michael Mann, um, I remember we were at Panavision prepping the eight cameras and the rental. Agent came out and he said, this is the biggest budget camera department I've done in a long time. And he's look showing us. I said, okay, cool. But, um, that was a really uncomfortable movie to work on.

Michael Mann is a, is a very interesting guy. You know, it's, it's about him and. Whatever. I'll leave it at that, but No, but

Patrick Evans, Host: tell what, what made it uncomfortable, like,

Alan Gitman, Guest: well, he's, he, he had [00:41:00] his own guys, so I was kind of a, an extra guy that came in and I remember one time the ad says, all right, Alan, you're not working on this shot.

Get your camera in the ring in that corner and then we'll come, we're gonna hopscotch over and we'll come and shoot you. So we're waiting 20 minutes, 30 minutes. Here comes Michael in the entourage after they finish this other shot. What the F is your camera doing in the ring? Well, we were told to go there.

No, you weren't in the ad says, I never told you that. It was like, I mean, just stuff like that would go on instead of being on top of it. In fact, the studio wanted to fire the ad and Michael man says, you fire him. I'm going to, and it was like, oh, really? So it was just really uncomfortable. So I left that show.

Actually, uh, cameraman was, uh, Emmanuel Lebinski. Chivo. Great cameraman. Really good. In fact, I think he won an Academy Award for. The movie he did after that. But you know, I was pulling focus for Chivo in one of the ring [00:42:00] shots, you know, where Ali's sparring and he's got his phone in the ear, get me off this fucking movie and, and I hear Michael in the headsets.

You got him, Chivo, you got him. It was like, oh my God, really? So it was just, it was not pleasant, not, not a great work environment, not a, so I left the movie and I went on to rush hour two. Okay. So that to be a little more fun. Oh, so I was prepping rush hour two and everyone said, I heard you got fired off Ali.

He says, how long did you stay? I said, six weeks. And he said, oh wow, you, you made a record. So anyway, was that the

Randy Florence, Host: hardest set you ever worked on? Oh no,

Alan Gitman, Guest: not a minute. Hard, but when you know you're not in a groove. Where everything's just falling in place. It's very uncomfortable. You know, I'm there to do a job.

I have an expertise just like the next person, and I'm there to to, to make it work, to make sure the director gets what he needs, help the operator, help the director of photography. And [00:43:00] when you're kind of like looked down at, it's like, why? Yeah. You know, this is not brain surgery.

Patrick Evans, Host: Well, you know, on that said, you know, these are union shops for god's sakes.

Everybody's a professional. It doesn't make any difference, but everybody's

Alan Gitman, Guest: a professional.

Patrick Evans, Host: Everybody knows usually.

Alan Gitman, Guest: You know, like on Star Trek, everything played nicely. Um, it was a TV director that did this one. Yeah. Um, and Alonzo was like, you know, he needs some help. And I remember one day, Sherry Lansing walking onto the set and John did Chinatown with her and he said, you know, Sherry, he came up to me, he says, Sherry says, just babysit him.

Make sure you know. And there were times where John had to say, you know, I think if we do this, it'll play better. But I remember one morning, you know, we, we, we were already 60 hours into the week and the director hits the set and John says me, says, watch, he didn't do his homework. He's gonna ask me where to shoot.

What do you want to cover? How do you want to shoot it? All right. Good morning everybody. We're in. Uh, so John, how [00:44:00] do you wanna shoot this shot? We're on the bridge of the enterprise. And John looks at me and says, did I tell you? And John would say, all right, we'll start over here in a wide, we'll come over here, we'll do steady cam, we'll take Shatner around to the back, da da da.

You know David Carson was the director. Yes, exactly. And

Patrick Evans, Host: because so generations was when Star Trek, the next generation, that that crew got their big screen. Exactly. And the series had come to an end and they. And it was a swan song for Shatner and that crew, and not everybody came back. It was only Shatner.

And, uh, the guy who played Scotty, the guy who played Checkoff Checkoff and, and Scotty were in it. Yeah. Um, because they couldn't get either Nemo or Deforest Kelly to, because they were tiny little roles

Randy Florence, Host: really.

Patrick Evans, Host: Right. Yeah. And they

Randy Florence, Host: just wouldn't play 'em.

Patrick Evans, Host: No, because the, the main crew had a big sendoff in Star Trek six, the undiscovered country, and it was a really great farewell to that crew.

Yeah. Then they had this. I didn't love this movie for a lot of reasons. [00:45:00] It like they, they really shoehorned Kirk into it and then they kill him, you know, at the what? Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I haven't seen iter. It came out in 1994. Randy, it's not a spoiler point. It was, it was not. Spoiler alert. It was Q Yeah.

Really not a spoiler alert at this point. Uh, but yeah, and it was done through Paramount's television division. Um, wow. Look at you with

Alan Gitman, Guest: the details.

Randy Florence, Host: This, this, every time we stark and it's stuff that I know about show that I don't even

Alan Gitman, Guest: register

Patrick Evans, Host: to even say it. Yeah. Yeah. Rick Berman, who had executive produced the, the TV series was Yep.

Um, in charge of it. He was

Alan Gitman, Guest: very pivotal and Peter, um, what was Peter's name, but he was also riding shotgun with Rick, so they were all a team.

Randy Florence, Host: Do you have a sense for what you think your. Best work was

Alan Gitman, Guest: my best work. I did a movie with Michael Kane, Bob Hodgkins and, um, [00:46:00] called Go, um, go See Abyss. God, I'm I'm Wiped.

Um, world War II when Lions roar and it was the first time, hi-def was used to record. And film a story that aired on NBC as a miniseries. And they were not high def. They were still standard def, which meant it was a lower resolution that doesn't exist anymore. So it was, it had to be shot in a way because, um.

When it was, it had to do with the, um, Malta conference and it was Churchill, it was Stalin, and it was, um, F-D-R-F-D-R, and they would all play in their own environment. So, you know, like Stalin would talk to Churchill, why are they doing this? Da da da. So what we would do is we would film one of 'em. He put the TV up for eyeline and then they would perform to the [00:47:00] tv.

And then if he had the, using the footage

Patrick Evans, Host: you shot,

Alan Gitman, Guest: the footage we shot, we used it as eyeline. So FDR could see where to talk and it cut together beautifully if you ever get a chance to watch it. It was amazing. And I'll never forget, we did it before we did Star Trek Generations and I was with, um, Alonzo and we were in the bay.

Of off Santa Monica shooting the holodeck scene, you know, on the ship. You remember that at the beginning? Yes, of course. Yeah. And I hear get land, get over here. What? Get over here. That's why I run to the back of the ship. I got my camera. We're doing handheld stuff of the crew and everybody. He says they're gonna try and put the film.

Look on this. I can't believe it. We shot it a certain way. I, I said, John, I'm not, he says, but I'm mad. I said, okay, I get that. Thank you for telling, telling me. So then on top of it, the movie gets nominated for Emmy's. John gets nominated. The hair and makeup [00:48:00] for, um, the actors was phenomenal. Uh, the costuming, the sets were amazing.

In fact, we had Roosevelt's grandchildren come in. They said, wow, this is like, we're back in his White House. So anyways, the Emmys happened. John loses, but the lighting director that CBS made us use because we were on their lot. One is how in the hell I told him where to put the lights? How does he win? Oh my God.

I had to hear about that for a month after that. You know? It was beautifully shot though. You liked how that was. What are some of other, your favorite projects that you worked on? What else? Uh, mission Impossible. I got to do, um, second units on those. It was an interesting story. We were shooting, uh, what they call a double up unit.

So we were at the Rykoff building downtown off Alameda. I dunno if you guys remember, it was a big warehouse for grocery distribution was empty. [00:49:00] So we're shooting this big shoot him up scene. So Tom would be at first unit, they'd shoot him. Get done. Alright, we're relighting. Then he'd come to our unit and we would shoot this other scene and you know, finish that out.

Alright Tom, we're ready for you at first unit. And we'd go back and forth. We did this for a week, so that Saturday night I went out to dinner with some friends of mine. What are you working on? Oh, where's working on Mission Impossible. Oh really? Did Tom have the tent? I go What? What? I said, how did you know about that?

She says, I read People magazine. And he had a tent on the set that in between shots he would go to that he had his spiritual advisors with and was like, you know, we were told guys low key. No one knows about this and to be confronted with this, it's like, how did you know? I read People magazine, everybody knew apparently.

Oh, that's crazy. Oh, that's scary stuff. But you know, interestingly [00:50:00] enough, chill dude on set. Loves, loves the tech. Hey guys. Alan, what am I shooting here? Where are we getting? We're getting you here. Okay, good. All right. Do the shot. He'd go back over to the other side and you know, once they're in that environment, you know, they nurture those relations, the real pros.

Even Michael Kane. Michael Kane was like that too. You know, he wanted to know what are we doing? How are we, he would always come to me 'cause I was always on the camera, you know. So, um, Joe Sergeant was an amazing director. He got so many Emmys for so many different. Tv, movies and films. But you know, a lot of times the, the actors know that we, we have a rapport 'cause we're working.

You know, you need to help me if we're on a tight lens, don't do this. You know, just kind of so I can keep you info. So, you know, those were the ones that, you know, those were great experiences. You know, uh, John Lithgow would say, you know, Hey, what do you got on me? I do this. He knew it was a [00:51:00] cowboy. So, you know, it gives him a, uh.

Uh, comfortable feeling of knowing what, what they're doing. 'cause what's a cowboy? A cowboy is a waist up. What? Okay. Two t's. Alright. Middle chest. Yes. And then close up. Close up. Alright, so those are the little hand signals. You know, Randy, you want a lot of cowboy shots. That's what Exactly. That's what you want.

Randy Florence, Host: People have asked me not to be exactly my face, not to be in the scene.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Exactly. I actually did a small movie with Faye Dunaway. I did as a favor. John Alonzo asked me to do it for her. So she was directing, it was a 10 Tennessee Williams story. I said, okay, I got a week off. I'll, I'll help her. So we're working.

So I was the, the a camera operator on it. And, um, long, long hours 'cause you know, under budget, underfunded and, you know, they're trying to get it all done. So I'll never forget, it's four o'clock in the morning, I'm bringing this beautiful ingenue [00:52:00] down the steps, you know, very careful bringing 'em down. And I'm on what they call wheels.

You know, it's not point and shoot. It was, you know, you finesse it in so you don't see the moves. So we're on the third take roll camera. She starts to come down and here goes, I turn around. Kay swallowed. I mean, a Faye swallowed a tooth a a cap off of her front tooth. Big gaping hole. Oh my God. Four o'clock in the morning.

It was like, oh my god. So, you know, she goes, okay, I think that's a wrap for tonight, after 16 hours. So next day she came in, she had it fixed. But, um, you know, those are those little things. You know?

Randy Florence, Host: Who, who, who were your couple of your favorite directors to work with and why?

Alan Gitman, Guest: Well, Joe Sergeant was amazing.

He was really intricate in, in, uh, really evoking performances. You know, that was, that was a great one. Um. [00:53:00] Who else? Uh, Jonathan Franks, he's a great director. Not only that, he's an actor who knows how to get a performance, you know, and tho that's key. 'cause I think some directors come up through, through the ranks and they don't really know the interface that an actor has to go through.

Thinking of what, what he's having to deal with in front of all these people. Right? Trying to give a performance. So I remember one night we were on deep Space nine. We were, God, we had to be in our 14th hour and LaVar Burton was directing. So the steady cam operator, James, somehow, I don't know why he says LaVar comes out, did we get this coverage?

And it was it all good? And he says, Jordy, I think we got it right. He says, okay, good. And everyone Jordy, he responded to his character name. Wow. And he says, it must be late, because I responded. He says, next time you call me Kenta Kinte, he said, I'm not [00:54:00] answering. So, you know. Yeah.

Patrick Evans, Host: Frank's has become

Alan Gitman, Guest: quite

Patrick Evans, Host: a prolific, he very good.

Alan Gitman, Guest: I've, in fact, we've got a project we're we're trying to put together right now, so. Oh, very cool.

Patrick Evans, Host: Yeah. The other guy that I'm sure I know you worked with, 'cause he was on Voyager, uh, Duncan McNeil. Uh, he, Tom Paris, the guy who played Tom Paris. Oh yeah. He, he's doing

Alan Gitman, Guest: a lot of directing as well. Really? Yeah.

Nope. I, our pass didn't cross once I left Star Trek. Oh. So, you know, you never know. Um, anybody

Randy Florence, Host: you really wanted to work with, you just didn't get the chance, or have you worked with Everybody wanted to. You were on that

Alan Gitman, Guest: list

Patrick Evans, Host: and now he's worked with

Alan Gitman, Guest: you.

Patrick Evans, Host: Oh yeah. There you go. It topped

Alan Gitman, Guest: it off here. Can, you can retire

Patrick Evans, Host: now.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Well, someone who I've been very close friends with for many years is Linda Gray. And she's a wonderful actress and I can't say much, but I just finished doing a movie with her and she was phenomenal. Gave a riveting performance. Still has it, still has the chops and, uh. It's, it's [00:55:00] just wonderful to, to see somebody like that.

And we've known each other for a long, long time and it's, it's wonderful to, to work with someone like that. Yeah. So

Randy Florence, Host: another one we need to get on the show. Oh,

Patrick Evans, Host: absolutely.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Yeah. I always tell Patrick I'll, I'll, I'll, she has indicated she would love to do it when she has time, so Baby, we will, when we roll this movie out, you'll her, that would be the

Patrick Evans, Host: perfect time to get her on both on Eye, on the Desert, and on our podcast.

That would be tremendous. I'll keep you posted on that. Well, it is always, it's always special for me to come bring a guest in who has a long history with Star Trek. This is fun for me, but you have such a, a diverse history. But I love what you're doing with pwt. Uh, it, I think that's such an important idea.

Kim Kimel with a great idea. Because when she stepped in, she's like, we should be making movies and making our members Sure. Exactly. You know, learning how to do every aspect of it, and I think it's a really phenomenal project and it's terrific that you're involved. And thank you for, for taking some time to do this.

Absolutely.

Randy Florence, Host: It was my first [00:56:00] set and it was interesting to me how much of a presence. You had on the set.

Alan Gitman, Guest: Well, keep in mind these are people that have never really worked in Hollywood. Right. Or worked on a real set. And the object of the lab is to teach people about making motion pictures. Yeah. In fact, I teach a class twice a year to the PIF or the public called Sett.

What does an assistant director do? What does a gaffer do? What does a best boy do? There's a best boy in both the electric and the grip department. They handle equipment. Um, the, the staffing, the invoices, the timecard. So there's a lot of intricacies, you know, and I bring in a call sheet from a show that I did previously, and I go down the list.

This is the actor's information, here's the scene they're gonna be shooting. Here's the props we need. So it's, it's a real, uh, introduction as to what actually goes on, on a real set.

Randy Florence, Host: It's awesome for you to give back. Yeah, exactly. [00:57:00] Somebody who lives there first time. Thank you.

Patrick Evans, Host: Especially someone with the, the depth and breadth of your experience to impart that to these folks.

Oh, yeah. And they get to see what it really was like. To work, uh, on a, on a set in, in a Hollywood environment. And that's what you bring to the table and you brought it to our podcast today and we are greatly appreciative. Ali Gitlin, you can now look up his IMDV and you'll be amazed at all of the movies, a lot, a lot of movies, years.

Lot. Thank you so much for joining us for this edition of Big Conversations. A little bar, thanks to Skip Page and his team at Little Bar. Our thanks of course for the McCallum Theater, our presenting sponsor. Please be sure to get. The catalog and start ordering your tickets for the upcoming season. Uh, you'll wanna make sure that you have those tickets sooner rather than later.

Ready? You do such great research. You are the heart and soul of our research department. Don't make me cry. Actually, you

Alan Gitman, Guest: are

Patrick Evans, Host: the research depart. You did. You did an

Alan Gitman, Guest: amazing job. Very good questions.

Patrick Evans, Host: Oh good. He really does. And of course, our producer, John McMillan. McMullin McMillan. [00:58:00] Who's that guy? MacMulkin.

MacMulkin Mc. Let's not go down that road. That's a painful, painful memory. Randy, you wound me. You would. John McMillan, thank you very much. And we thank you our audience. Remember to subscribe.

John McMullen, Producer: I, I think that Randy should. His next movie should be as Nostril Dus Nostrils. Dus.

Randy Florence, Host: Yeah. And I can bring back my old porn name.

Rock Hard as Ouch. That's my new name. O really move

Patrick Evans, Host: right along. My understanding was you really couldn't bring that name back, that that's. You've been talking to my wife, we can edit this whole person out. Good gracious. Hey, thank you guys, all of you and, and again, Alan, thank you so much for taking time.

My pleasure. Thank you all. Remember to subscribe so you never miss another episode of Big Conversations Little Bar. I'm Patrick Evans.

Big Conversations Band: Meet your neighbors. Fascinating grand. Each conversation, a wave on the [00:59:00] sand. Raise your glass and join the where stories and dreams.

Conversations Little Boy brought to you by McCallum, our stars from staging tv. Delight. Join us for as captivating morning noon or night So gather round at Skip's Little Bar...