In January, 2010, the TV show I Shouldn’t Be Alive aired a segment titled “Date From Hell,” about the experience of Gina Allen and Brandon Day getting lost in Long Vallet Canyon, and their subsequent rescue by RMRU. In early 2011, RMRU was contacted by the Cherie Sundae Productions about doing another story on the Allen-Day rescue for a pilot of a show called “Got Home Alive” on for The Travel Channel. I ended up working on the pilot, and subsequent on the show itself when it got picked up. My job varied by segment, but was always on outdoor location shoots. I was Safety, Rope Rigging, Medical, Rescue Consultant, or Mountain Expert at various times during the season.
Filming for the pilot started in May. The first segment was on a father and three children who got stranded in Death Valley. The outdoor scenes were all filmed near Coyote Butte, near Johnson Valley OHV Area, east of Apple Valley. This was a very small non-union crew, so I ended up helping out in lots of small ways. The crew would say “Here, hold this prop, but stay off camera.” Or I would pull on a piece of fishing line tied to a bush to simulate an animal in the bush. I even wrangled rubber bats on fishing line. Yes, I was a Bat Wrangler.
The second segment was on the Allen-Day rescue and I recruited Donny Goetz and Pete Carlson from RMRU to help. The whole thing was shot on Mount Baldy and we were to to do safety rope rigging as well as be one camera as rescuers. The crew was composed of wonderful people, but some were not very outdoorsy. Things like headlamps, bug spray, and warm clothing seemed to have not been a big part of the planning. Donny and I contributed lots of gear, the most popular being two huge hooded down parkas which the actors thought were heaven-sent.
I had already shot my scenes on camera and offered to butt-slide down a scree slope (part of the story) with a GoPro as POV (“point of view”) while the crew shot scenes with Donny and Pete. The director liked my footage enough to use it on the show and proclaimed me “Second Unit,” then “Butt Cam Operator,” but that was quickly changed to “Ass Cam Operator.”
The funniest part of the three day shoot on Baldy was a scene when a fake rock goes hurling past Brandon Day. We set up a blanket to catch the rock off camera at the bottom but, in order to reset the scene for multiple takes, Donny, Pete, and I had to throw it from person to person up the steep slope. Kevin O’Brien, Director of Photography, thought this looked so funny that he popped his camera off the tripod and filmed us throwing it.
Pete was interviewed on camera as one of the original rescuers and did a great job. All of us had a blast. Long hours, and I donated my pay to RMRU, but it was a fun thing to do once in your life.
Although the show never got picked up for a full season, the pilot aired and my scenes on camera were dazzling. I expect any day now to get a call from Spielberg or Landis.
