Today In TV Land

November 18, 2011

Two to three weeks ago I worked on a Got Home Alive shoot on location at the San Gabriel River above Azusa.  The segment was about a fisherman that got his leg stuck under a rock in a river and I was fingered to be a ranger on camera since I was already working for the show as water safety/medic.  It was a very cold day in the water, but at least it was a sunny and warm.  Temperatures have dropped a lot since then, with nights getting into the low 40s.

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Day One on set. The DP that day, Kevin O’Brien, thought it was funny when I pulled a GoPro out of my pocket and started shooting him. Then he paused and said “Hey, send me a copy of that!” Photo: P. McCurdy

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Stuck In Quickmud (aka Snakes In A Lake)

November 14th, 2011

Got Home Alive has almost wrapped for the season, but I continue to get regular work as a Safety/Medical/Rope Rigging Dude.  This segment is about a hunter who got stuck in mud and almost died before being discovered.  All the outdoor segments of this show seem similar, but it’s cable.  And The Travel Channel is the low end of cable.  And it pays okay, so what the hell?

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Filming in Pasadena: The Stunt Stud

November 2, 2011

Since the pilot of Got Home Alive was a success, The Travel Channel contracted for a whole season of episodes.  Because of my work on the pilot, Grip Curt Pepper told the produced that I was a useful person to have on the crew for rope rigging, safety, medical, etc.  Based on Curt’s recommendation, I started working part0time for the show on the f=very first segment shot.  The work was quite sporadic at first, but picked up through the season to where I was pretty much full-time by the time they finished shooting the last show.  Toward the end of the season they needed more rigging/safety people, and I got Glenn Henderson hired on, too.

DP Kevin O'Brien On Belay. Photo: P. McCurdy

DP Kevin O’Brien On Belay. Photo: P. McCurdy

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On Set with Grizzlies

September 19, 2011

I’ve been working off and on for a TV show as a medical/safety consultant.  This is a reenactment/reality show and we were shooting a segment on a grizzly attack.

After a lengthy safety briefing from the bear handlers (including the admonition to get out of the way if the bear charged in you direction), they got the female out first.  Okay, big bear.  Later they got the male out.  Oh shit!  That’s a huge flippin’ bear!

See below for photos.

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On Location in Mount Baldy

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.

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Helicopter Rescue On Pacific Crest Trail

May 11th, 2011

At 2 p.m. the page went out for RMRU to respond to the Snow Creek trail head for a Pacific Crest Trail through-hiker who had been vomiting non-stop and was severely dehydrated. All my gear was in the garage drying off from Sunday night’s mission, but it was quickly in my truck and I was headed out to Snow Creek, where the PCT comes down out of the San Jacinto Mountains before heading up into the San Bernardino Mountains.

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