4 or 5 months ago Mike Shoemaker came to me and said, “You know that vacation time we have in August? We don’t have it.” That was how I found out that Jimmy Fallon would be hosting the 2010 Emmys. That was how I got to direct the show open this year.
Some details as they come to mind. In no particular order.
- We shot the dialogue scenes in 4 hours on Friday 8/27.
- We shot the music sequences in 5 hours on Saturday 8/28.
- Charlie Haykel is an awesome guy who wears classy shirts.
- I think it’s my best steadicam work to date, and that’s a straight up boast. Deal with it.
- I love Chris Tartaro (the editor) and Amy Ozols (the writer) with all of my heart. In the past year I have pulled literally 9 thousand all nighters with those two clowns, and it’s basically like having a high school sleepover, only in an edit room.
- Thank you to Canon USA for loaning me two XF 305’s to shoot this. The cameras performed beautifully.
- I use autofocus when I’m on steadicam. It really works with the 305’s. They have face detection!
- Joel McHale scream-sings from the heart.
- Robin Antin and I share an awkwardness at parties which translates into dancing.
- Thank you Bruce Springsteen for doing most of the work for us.
- I bet there is a Jewish gentleman somewhere named Bruce Springstein, and he always has to correct people and say “It’s Spring-STINE”.