# So, Anybody Got Any Tips In Regards To TV/Video Productions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704 "2005-12-15T07:22:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/1 "2005-12-15T07:22:49Z")
I was down in Nashville taking a look at the Tucker that’s being restored there, and the owner of the place that’s doing the work would **love** to have the whole process filmed as the car’s being put back together for either a documentary or “reality tV” show (and he’s got at least one, possibly more Tuckers headed his way for restorations, plus all the other cars that he normally does) and he can’t get any of the local production houses off their butts to make any kind of a commitment (he’s been in talks with one of the country cable networks that’s local, and they’re interested, but again, aren’t really moving on the whole thing). It’s really bizarre that he’s having such trouble, he’s been contacted **once** by the head of the Tucker Club (who does keep in touch with Coppola to some extent) about putting together something on the Tucker (as it turns out, next to the guys currently restoring the Tucker, it appears that little old me knows more about the cars than anyone else, which I am utterly shocked to discover), but neither he nor I have been able to get the club president to respond to our emails or phone calls. I realize that Tuckers are a niche market, but there’s almost **nothing** on the cars, and this is apparently the first time a Tucker’s been stripped down to it’s bare frame since they were **built**. Not to mention, he’d like to do a whole series showing people how to restore a car that ordinary folks could afford (classic Mustangs, Firebirds, Camaros, etc., etc.), so that they wouldn’t be fumbling around in the dark and do something utterly stupid that would ruin their car (and you’d be surprised how often some well meaning idiot botches the restoration process). So, knowing that a couple of Dopers have had experience in video production, I’m hoping that somebody can give us a few pointers on the whole deal. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/2 "2005-12-15T08:02:15Z")
**Tuckerfan** - Check with **Johnny L.A.** - he’s both a car enthusiast and a video guy. He’s doing a movie now, I think. StG ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/3 "2005-12-15T20:44:31Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > **Tuckerfan** - Check with **Johnny L.A.** - he’s both a car enthusiast and a video guy. He’s doing a movie now, I think. > > StG I hadn’t forgotten about **Johnny** , but he’s been out of L.A. for a couple of years now, and I don’t know if he still has any contacts there or not. (Plus, there’s at least one other Doper who’s mentioned that they’ve done work in the industry, who might be able to help.) ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/4 "2005-12-15T20:57:57Z")
Only guy I know out that way lives in San Diego. He does everything from documentary work, corporate stuff, news, etc… Are you looking for a one-off thing, or a whole series? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/5 "2005-12-15T21:14:11Z")
I’ve got a girlfriend who produces stuff for Tower Productions. They’re the company that does some of the crime investigation stuff on A&E as well as _Weird Homes, Storm Stories_, and some other stuff…all of which she’s produced pieces for. I can contact her if you’d like. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/6 "2005-12-15T21:28:11Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Only guy I know out that way lives in San Diego. He does everything from documentary work, corporate stuff, news, etc… > > Are you looking for a one-off thing, or a whole series? Ideally a whole series. The guy completes a car in an average of 100 days, and he doesn’t specialize in any particular make or model, so there’d be the potential for a large variety of cars. Presently, in addition to the Tucker, he’s working on a couple custmized Chevy Caprices, a 51 Caddy, a Kaiser Frasier (one of the strange twists of history is that they’re both sitting close to one another in the guy’s shop), a Shelby Cobra, a 60s Thunderbird, and a couple of classic Dodge Chargers, to name but a few. He’s getting swamped with work, and is planning on massively upscaling his operation (it presently sits on 13 acres), so there’d always be something happening. **Kalhoun** , if you don’t mind, I’d greatly appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/7 "2005-12-15T22:15:41Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Ideally a whole series. The guy completes a car in an average of 100 days, and he doesn’t specialize in any particular make or model, so there’d be the potential for a large variety of cars. Presently, in addition to the Tucker, he’s working on a couple custmized Chevy Caprices, a 51 Caddy, a Kaiser Frasier (one of the strange twists of history is that they’re both sitting close to one another in the guy’s shop), a Shelby Cobra, a 60s Thunderbird, and a couple of classic Dodge Chargers, to name but a few. He’s getting swamped with work, and is planning on massively upscaling his operation (it presently sits on 13 acres), so there’d always be something happening. > > **Kalhoun** , if you don’t mind, I’d greatly appreciate it. Do you have any formal info other than what you have here? Not like a whole proposal, but a bit more than what you’ve posted? She also does independent stuff. No clue if she’d be interested, but I’ll ask her. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/8 "2005-12-15T22:26:55Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Do you have any formal info other than what you have here? Not like a whole proposal, but a bit more than what you’ve posted? She also does independent stuff. No clue if she’d be interested, but I’ll ask her. A bit. I also have the contact info for the guy doing the restoration (phone #s, email addy, etc.) so if she (or someone she might know) wants to get in touch with him, she can get hold of him. He’s told a number of things in confidence that I can’t really share, but I _can_ tell you that he’s going to be gearing up to produce a brand new Tucker (no foolin’, it’d be a limited edition $250K car) in the near future. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/9 "2005-12-15T22:36:19Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > A bit. I also have the contact info for the guy doing the restoration (phone #s, email addy, etc.) so if she (or someone she might know) wants to get in touch with him, she can get hold of him. He’s told a number of things in confidence that I can’t really share, but I _can_ tell you that he’s going to be gearing up to produce a brand new Tucker (no foolin’, it’d be a limited edition $250K car) in the near future. I copied the info from your first post into an email to her. I think she’ll be able to determine from that if there is at least an interest for more info. I’ll post back here when I hear from her. (Fingers crossed!) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/10 "2005-12-15T22:56:50Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I copied the info from your first post into an email to her. I think she’ll be able to determine from that if there is at least an interest for more info. I’ll post back here when I hear from her. (Fingers crossed!) Thanks. Ideally he’d like to do a range of things across various media from books, videos, to DVD-ROMs, etc. so there’d be plenty of potential for “synergy” as it were. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/11 "2005-12-15T23:32:44Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Thanks. Ideally he’d like to do a range of things across various media from books, videos, to DVD-ROMs, etc. so there’d be plenty of potential for “synergy” as it were. Okay…here’s what I got back from her…not the most encouraging, but it’s a start! **Kalhoun – what an incredibly cool idea! I dashed off a quick (but compelling!) e-mail to the head of development where I work and asked if we might pitch this to either The Biography Channel or The History Channel. It’s an enormous long shot, but who cares? Of course, I’ll let you know if I get any response. Do not, under any circumstances, get your hopes up. There’s some incredible ratio of shows that are pitched vs. shows that are produced. The numbers are downright discouraging.** I’ll let you know. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/12 "2005-12-16T00:54:24Z")
Thanks again, and like I said, there’s a _lot_ he’s told me about things that he’s working on, I can’t really discuss, but I’m sure the owner wouldn’t have a problem mentioning it to anyone in a production company. I can tell you that when he’s finished getting everything in place, his operation will blow away everyone. (He’ll make Jessie James look like a piker when it comes to gear, and I know what Jessie’s got, and that’s saying something.) ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-anybody-got-any-tips-in-regards-to-tv-video-productions/335704/13 "2005-12-16T01:12:41Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Thanks again, and like I said, there’s a _lot_ he’s told me about things that he’s working on, I can’t really discuss, but I’m sure the owner wouldn’t have a problem mentioning it to anyone in a production company. I can tell you that when he’s finished getting everything in place, his operation will blow away everyone. (He’ll make Jessie James look like a piker when it comes to gear, and I know what Jessie’s got, and that’s saying something.) Cool. As soon as I hear back on the initial bite, I’ll let you know.