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Murphy's Law (Part Two)

Haste makes waste as the old adage proclaimed and it is especially so in television station building and in programming.  As we raced to the premiere date the construction of the facilities was at “warp speed”.  The concrete floor in the studio was poured and then the chief engineer reported that it was great for a cellar but not for a TV production studio - much too bumpy and uneven for the camera to make dolly moves.  Frank of course asked, Why did we have to make dolly moves…just don’t do them?  I left this with Bob to duke out.  Bob won after a morning of wrangling.  The fresh concrete was jack-hammed out and a special company from the West Coach was contracted to lay a “TV flooring” - a rubberized substance that when dried was absolutely pristine.  We could now call for a dolly shot - at an added cost of $75,000.  

While the studio was progressing I was working on filling it.  If we going to do a news cast we needed a “news set”.  I reported in our daily meeting that I wanted to bring in Tom Roberts from WHYY to design and build our set.  Frank replied WHY.  I have a friend I know that builds displays for the AC Convention Hall - a set is a display, right?  I met with the guy describing what I was looking for - a modern news setting and a talk show “Johnny Carson” style set.  Couple day later I approved (with trepidation) two rough sketches.  A week later two sets with furniture were delivered.   I had hired two camera persons away from NJPTV.  They would add a lot to the quality of our productions and they came for the same money.  I am sure the  lure of patronizing a casino and getting free drinks and food after work was the main reason they came aboard.  And this proved to be so as I crew in the months ahead became the TV “party animals” and were treated special in most of the hot spots in town.  

And then another semi-disaster happened.  With our new news director Ben supervising the crew pushed the new set into position - and left a inch deep scratch in our $75K floor.  Unlike the easy to move and store theatrical sets they were used to hauling daily, our “display” stuff literally weighed a ton.  This disaster took Bob two days to explain.  The Hollywood guys sent us some patch material and our display maven installed wheels on his masterpiece and both sets were not to be moved again.  Later in our first season we shot scenes around them!

What else could go wrong?  (Tune in again - to be continued)

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