Transcript
Speaker: Hi there! Just a quick note, Keeley won't be joining us for this episode, however she will be here next episode. And also, the audio quality on my end unfortunately was pretty bad. It was due to microphone troubles. I sound like I'm using an early OTS phone on speaker in the car, and as you can tell I have a new microphone, so thankfully that won't be a problem going forward. So without any further delay, delay here is the newest episode of the UEO Tavern.
Speaker: All right, so today on the UEO Tavern, we have with us Mark Bradley. Mark worked on C Quest second and third seasons in the art department as a graphics designer. ah So anything you see on the show that was assigned, lettering, a new logo and new patch design, or a paper prop was Mark's handiwork. Welcome, Mark. Hi there. Great to be here. So um how did you get involved with C Quest?
Speaker: Well, um all right let's see, let's figure out what the sequence here was. um So this would have been, I don't even know what month it was in 94, but I had already been working on various TV series and things in in Orlando. um I kind of started that part of my work history in, say, 89, doing a few things, that TV series and movies that were coming that had come to Orlando. That's a whole other story, but I kind of stumbled into the profession. um Just got my foot in the door and I just kind of took off from there, but ah Sequest was something that I was anticipating coming because of folks I had worked with before
Speaker: Um, kind of gave me a heads up that it was coming. Um, good friend who I worked on other series with who actually gave me my first. My first break in the industry to come work on another series, he worked directly for MCA Television. Well, MCA was the parent company of Universal back then. So it was MCA Television, Universal Television. And um I actually knew about Sequest before season one. It was apparently supposed to start in Florida because he gave me a heads up about this cool sci -fi underwater series probably a year before the first season came out. and
Speaker: So whatever happened, so something changed so that it did not start in Florida, started in LA. And then sometime toward the end of the first season, he gave me a heads up that it was moving to Florida. So I just kept my ears open and and about who to go see when it would when it showed up. And so when it did, the time, I can't remember one other project I was working on.
Speaker: um I was also working at some point doing some ah work for the actual theme park of Universal. That was always kind of a backup when there wasn't production going on. You could always go apply and work in the theme park doing various things. And I think that was during my stint on working at the Alfred Hitchcock attraction yeah that I heard about Sequest moving in. And since I already had access to Universal was working and inside, I could just walk right over to the production offices and see who was in there. So I basically went over and was asking about who was, you know, who was in charge and where where I could apply that sort of thing.
Speaker: And so i my memory is fuzzy on how I initially started it, but I think I just found the head of the art department titled as production designer. At the time, I was a gentleman named Von Edwards and went and talked to him. So it just kind of went from there. I don't remember the actual formal interview.
Speaker: But it was pretty quick and I think I came recommended by some other people and and I had been doing similar work on other series. So, um, I think it was a matter more a matter of timing than anything else. I got in there before somebody else did. So just to kind of figure out where everyone was located. So yeah, our department was like there and next to the set, but where was it located in relation to where they were filmed?
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. So the production facilities at Universal Florida consist of several sound stages. um I can't remember how many were there back then. They've added a couple since that early 90s. There were basically at that point, I believe, four four sound stages and they surrounded a two -story office building kind of in the middle of them that would house production offices. So whoever, you know, came in as a production set up offices, they would get a block of of rooms and um a reception desk area. There were several in the building. I think there were two or four upstairs and two to four downstairs. So depending on the size of the production, they would rent
Speaker: certain numbers of offices. For Sequest I think we had the entire or most of the upstairs floor of that. So basically all departments are housed in that building at least as far as office space goes. Now some departments don't really need much office space. They're more like production trucks and things like that. So you've got you know a lighting and grip department for instance would more more or less be physically based out of out of trucks with all their equipment, and then maybe the head of that department would have a desk in one of the offices in the building. The art department, however, we had several offices all in a row because, of course, we're doing everything from ah the set designers are drafting, there's drafting tables, then we have computers, for instance, what I was doing, doing graphic design.
Speaker: um The production designer himself, the head of the art department, usually has his own office. So you're pretty for departments like the art department, you're a little bit more spread out. um You have some room, and then we would occasionally take over spots like a conference room if we needed to sort of lay some things out. And then we also had space wherever we needed it on the sound stages. So yeah, we're right next to the sound stage. Sequest had two sound stages that were permanently with with what they call standing sets and then another sound stage or sometimes half a sound stage to do what we called swing sets or or temporary episodic sets that would get put up and taken down. um So it was all sort of housed right there. I mean, everything was in walking distance.
Speaker: the only thing that wouldn't be within walking distance would be a location. So if we're gonna film out in the woods or some other location downtown or or even in the back lot of Universal, which is the same as the theme park there, um then you go a bit more walking and go into the park. But for the most part everything was right there. Unless you're on location and then ah a bunch of trucks and everything would be on location. But our standing sets were still housed right there at the studio you know within a few dozen yards of where the office would be, if that makes sense. Yeah. So then that means did you did you go to you were able to like visit the sets then, right? Oh, absolutely. Constantly. um um I probably lived on the the sets as much as I lived in the office.
Speaker: What I did in particular required a lot of installation, so I would not only design and generate the graphics, like, you know, we had large format color printers and vinyl cutters, and if it's something you apply right to the set, um generally I was the one putting it up. So I would either be, you know, the sticker guy actually putting stuff on the set or installing a sign or installing a backlit panel or something like that. So I was i was there constantly.
Speaker: The goal, however, when you're doing stuff in the art department, for the most part, you try to get your work done prior to the shooting crew coming in. It didn't always happen that way, but that's kind of the goal. The folks in the art department are pretty much doing their stuff ahead of where the shooting crew is. If the shooting crew is doing episode 12 right now on, say, the bridge set, and they're doing scenes and that, you're prepping sets for episode 13 or 14. Oh, wow. so we're you know that the the The optimal thing is to get the sets done and dressed and ready so that when the shooting crew moves in, you're not in there working on it.
Speaker: There are some onset people who are sort of branches of the art department who are designated people to be on set, like an onset dresser or you know onset painter who has to touch up and do things like that. They are an extension of those departments in the art department, um but they're designated people to be on set when something is needed to be done immediately. Otherwise, the rest of those crews, set decorating, art, whoever,
Speaker: We're trying to get our stuff done before they come in. Not that we're forbidden from being in there at all, but we're trying to get it done so that they can use it without it being worked on, if that makes sense.
Speaker: Yeah. So does that mean that you would get like, would you get scripts or something? Or you just got assignments of like, we need this kind of signage? or Yeah, no, we would get a script. It was kind of one of the brilliant things about the way production works. And this is pretty typical of most productions is you get a script, you know, episodic television, they're constantly, you know, a few weeks ahead of time, you would get the script um that's going to shoot, say in a month or something.
Speaker: And once the script is released and it it it gets distributed to all the departments, ah you have a production meeting with a representative from all the departments, at least one representative, or sometimes more than that if there are people who are you know heavily involved. you And you go over the script, you do a script breakdown, which means all the departments are you know kind of conferencing about what they're handling. ah Not everything is called out in the script, but you know certain things that are very specific like a location or a prop or something that is that is talked about in the script it'll say you know so and so picks up the book the book says this you know then you know that's a very specific scripted item and that gets gone over very early ah other stuff is either implied or you know it's kind of a little bit of everything
Speaker: For instance, if there's, stuff does trickle down after that point, that may not be gone over in the first production meeting. For instance, if you've got say, you know, here's a new character from the local, you know, law enforcement department who comes in and arrests somebody. Okay. Well, now the costume department knows, okay, we have to have a uniform for that person. What does that look like? Who, where are they from? Are they from another?
Speaker: in the case of Sequest or they found another confederation or whatever and then the costume department decides we need this this and this and then if they decide oh we need a new we need a new design for their uniform insignia or patches then that's something that would kind of trickle down to me and then they would come to me about that so it's a little bit of everything Some stuff gets tackled early on. Some stuff is, you know, you're going to have to deal with this or this very early on. Some stuff kind of comes out in the washer later. If a set is designed based on what they need, and then they decide, oh, this set needs, say for instance, the backlit panels or some of the designs I would do, then that would trickle down as well. So some stuff, you know, early, some stuff, it comes out in the development as things are designed from other departments. Were you able to be on set when they were filming?
Speaker: Yes, absolutely. one One of the big reasons to be on set when they're filming is I might be working on a neighboring set or another end of the set that shoots, you know, a week from now while they're shooting this. So I'd have to go in there and work, you know, either in the dark or with the flashlight, or if it was a neighboring set, you could have lights on if it wasn't interfering with the set they were on. And so we would be in and around what they were shooting and then, you know,
Speaker: Sometimes you have to wait. If you're doing your work, you have to do it in between takes. So you'd be standing there watching them film. And then when they cut and you've got six, eight, 10 minutes before the next, you know, take, then you work. And then you you' when they yell quiet on the set, then you pause. So, and you know, you work around what they're doing. If you have to be in there.
Speaker: um But it was pretty frequent. I mean, it was all kind of one big group of people, the cast, crew, everybody, our department who's working on other stuff, you know, carpenters coming in and out. um You know, everybody's kind of there, ah and but you everybody's very aware and you you If you have to be within the vicinity where they're shooting or in the stage they're shooting in, you know the the the law of the land is the ADs yelling you know quiet on the set, rolling, cut, that kind of thing. And then when you go in the soundstage, there's always a red light on the outside of the door. When the red light is on, they're rolling. And if you're running down to the soundstage to go put something in or work in there, the red light's on, you don't open the door. And you stand there for a few minutes, the red light goes off. Okay, I can open the door and go in. um So it's just something you get used to you know, it's it's like playing red light green light for everything you're doing I imagine i mean it kind of almost seems like being one of those guys in NASCAR pit you're waiting. Yes Start and get your work done and then you got to stop. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely And sometimes you would load in all your stuff knowing you can't like make noise or whatever and then you sit there and wait for the
Speaker: you know, for them to yell cut and then you can do a little work, you know, until they yell rolling and quiet again. So yeah, it was, it was a little bit of that. Do you remember any particular episodes that you just sat and like watched them film while you were waiting to work? Oh gosh. Uh, huh. Well, ah I mean, there was a lot. Um, it all blends into like one thing after a while. It kind of does. Yeah. And my,
Speaker: ah I'm fairly familiar with the episodes, but my memory still defaults to not necessarily episode to episode, but set by set, or maybe who was there, or a guest star or something. um it's It's not like, oh, I remember that one time on this episode. It's more like, oh, I remember that one time on this set when we were doing this. um You know what? that that's That's difficult. um I remember being there when they were shooting several things for Destination Terminal, which was the interior of all the train sets, which were really cool. ah um Yeah, those were neat. it And that happened to be at an outside soundstage facility because we had run out of room at Universal. oh wow So that was another another studio, rent sort of a Renta studio that's down the road.
Speaker: Um, I remember that, um, location stuff. I probably remember a little bit more cause you have to travel to a location to, um, to install things. You know, you'd kind of get stuck there for the day oh doing things and you kind of have to wait instead of going back and forth to the studio, you know, you kind of bring everything there and you're, you're waiting in between. So I remember some of the beach stuff, uh, for meltdown, I think it was the alligator, the giant alligator alligator. of Yeah, um we had a lot of setup out on the beach. Then I had to go do labels on UEO crates and things like that. um So I remember them setting up and and shooting some things out there. um Gosh, I'd probably have to jog some more memories to remember some specific episode stuff. um it was It was a lot of in and out, you know.
Speaker: I probably was rarely just standing around and watching the shots, per se. It was more in and out, in and out, in and out, you know. If something comes up that I remember, I'll i'll let you know. i remember but Sometimes I'll watch the episodes and it's like, oh yeah, I was there for that.
Speaker: yeah I'd almost have to like zoom to the episodes to to do that. But again, my memory is kind of default to, oh, I remember that set. Oh, that's right here and doing this. And, you know, you i that that thing was a pain to install or or whatever it was, or that place was really dirty. or you Now I want stories. like yeah yeah well i mean like location stuff was like that location stuff was you know harder access to get there you gotta park somewhere and walk or bring equipment or you follow maps to some bizarre corner of the town you've never been to um we did several episodes of sea quest and then some other movies i worked on where we used an old power plant that was north of orlando oh wow
Speaker: Yeah. Um, Oh, I'm going to have trouble remembering the episode names, but, uh, uh, would it have been chains of command? Yeah. Chains of command. That's one of them. That's, that's probably the best example. We did a few others season two in the same facility. Um, it may not look like the same place, but it is. Um, uh, there was a mining, wait, was chain of commands with the mining commands was the.
Speaker: the one where Hudson's commanding former commanding officer was isolated and all that. Yeah. and there we um There was another episode, again, I remember the signs I did. It was sea mines or something. I did signs for it. I think that was second season. That was also in the same power plant. I'd have to go back and look at the episode titles, but but like you know that location, for instance. I remember everybody being there and then shooting you know shooting scenes and kind of hanging out and and watching.
Speaker: Um, but we had to be out there a lot because we were modifying these spaces, but it was a big abandoned power plant. It was filthy dirty and, uh, but really interesting, you know, really dark and creepy, just like, just like it looked on camera. Oh, wow. Yeah. All the stairways and all that kind of stuff. Um, it was second season. The episode was about something, uh, Oh gosh, I'd have to go back and look at it. Um,
Speaker: There was definitely a second season when we did there. And it looks like the same kind of like dark facility. um Now I'm curious. Yeah, I'd have to go back and look at it. ill get A lot of them blend together for me. But yeah, but yeah that's that's those kind of places I remember because they were really interesting. What are some of your favorite examples of your work that fans could keep an eye out for?
Speaker: um ah Good question. A lot of the backlit panels were were really fun. I ended up doing a lot of those. Some of the more interesting stuff was some of the end of second season, the alien spaceship interiors ah had to do a bunch of alien writing, which was kind of neat. ah But a lot of that work was really fun. um the ah The Omni -Pacific interiors had quite a few of those sort of panels.
Speaker: Anything you see like that where it looks like a backlit touch panel, I did a lot of work on that stuff, so that's that's kind of fun. What I don't like remembering is the spelling errors I made on a couple of them here and there that made it to screen, but whatever. We did have spell check on the computers back then, but for some some reason that I was was able to sneak a couple bad ones in there.
Speaker: uh and then like the i like the patch designs some of the patch designs i did there's a famous misspelling on the sub fighter uh squadron patch really that was my fault uh but i really like that that patch design it was a it's a it's got the trident from the ueo in the middle of it but it's more like a little squadron patch so that was little things like that I really liked. It's a lot of small stuff. I mean, it's it was a lot of fun doing all this kind of graphic stuff. I always loved seeing it on other shows and um did a lot of lot of labels and little things like that and always just tried to make them very in -universe, you know. I tried to make any one thing as kind of cool looking as it could be, even if it was just standing on its own. And that was kind of the Trekkie in me, you know.
Speaker: admiring all the the graphic design on on shows like that, you know any one little thing looked really cool. you know So I tried to shove in you know either the UE or the or the Sequest logo anywhere that made sense, um and it just kind of adds to the detail of that you know kind of being in that universe.
Speaker: So I'd say pay attention to little things you see like that that are in any time there were crates or anything we could stick a label on just kind of gave depth to the the props and the sets that that was fun stuff and I tried to put as much detail in as possible just in case it got a close -up um and some stuff did so that that kind of stuff was was fun and it's fun to keep an eye out for i Actually just this week had somebody kind of call me out on something um You might have seen it on the sea quest the Facebook page where I had put night writer graphics on one of the backlit panels Yeah, what was that all about? I couldn't quite understand what Yeah, yeah, yeah so that was the um that was the first set of backlit panels I did so that was what episode two or three of season two um With the the robotic sub that had the Bridgers
Speaker: you know, AI put in it. yeah So up until that point, um for the first couple of episodes, all the control surfaces on the sets and the cockpits or whatever were pretty, were very mechanical. And then of course, going back to the first season, everything was very, very hard edge sort of, you know, mechanical switches and such. um And so that just kind of carried over. But that sort of thing was so labor intensive for the the mechanical effects guys to do that I, i you know, but just one panel of switches could be hours of work installing switches to make it look like some some real control service. So I said, why don't we do what they do on Star Trek or they do this futuristic key touch panel looking thing and all we have to do is create a graphic and put a light behind it. So that set was sort of the test bed for that. And um so I had to really quickly throw together an example of that and
Speaker: I already have graphics made for a friend's Knight Rider car replica that he was working on, so ah because it was such a quick turnaround, um I mean I had to do this within a couple hours from what I recall. I just threw all this stuff together, rearranged it into the panel shapes and sizes that are going on the cockpit set, and then had it printed in color and put behind plexi. So just just out of an effort to make it quick, I just i grabbed and rearranged these little graphics. And of course, they're just little LED bars and things like that that most people wouldn't recognize, I guess. Unless you're a Night Rider fan and then you instantly recognize them. So needless to say, it made it into a lot of the shots and it looked it looked fine.
Speaker: You know, but it was definitely wasn't necessarily meant to be an Easter egg thing, but it kind of was, uh, or it ended up that way. So it makes perfect sense in the context, but it also is definitely, you know, uh, an Easter egg for anybody who was into the kit car. And so that, that kind of proved the technique. And then I kind of and ended up doing that for every episode from that, that point on that became sort of my main, the main thing I did every episode.
Speaker: was graphics for, you know, backlit panels. wow um But it was, you know, it was a it was a was a fun thing to sort of, a fun little niche to sort of create. And then it it also sped things up. I mean, always looking for ways to to shortcut and speed things up especially on episodic television it just keeps rolling you know you get a new script pretty much every week and so um generally speaking you shoot an episode a week and of course you know you get you get the script for that episode several weeks ahead of time but you know that that means you're working on
Speaker: you're working on every episode you have a script for at the same time, essentially. And it just keeps rolling. So any shortcut we could make was a was a big deal. um And then we we eventually ended up, we were doing so much of that that we ended up getting our own large format color printer instead of sending it out. And we already had a large ah vinyl cutter, that sort of thing. So it just, you know, and anything to dress up the sets and be able to do it quickly and have a quick turnaround was was important. Especially for a show that's supposed to be futuristic because you go to a location and you know signage and everything else that's there ah anything you can add to it that kind of punches up things to look a little bit different a little more futuristic kind of sells it so it's the small details like that that if they weren't there you'd kind of notice it or would feel a little lackluster but that if the details are there you may not necessarily notice them but your brain kind of buys into it
Speaker: That's interesting. So basically, you're responsible for a lot more of this, this touch panel look showing up in the rest of the series going forward from that episode. Yeah, it was pretty much all me. Anything from that point forward was, was stuff I did. There was nobody else doing this.
Speaker: Um, I had help occasionally installing stuff, but I was the one drawing it. And of course, Newt, any, any designs, anything I'm doing passes through the, uh, the art director and the production designer. Um, but I had a lot of autonomy in designing the stuff. It was pretty, pretty typical that they would just kind of look at it and say, yeah, that looks good. yeah Um, which is good and bad because you want that feedback sometimes of, of other people. It's like, am I going the wrong direction? Does this look okay?
Speaker: But for the most part, they're like, yeah, yeah, go with it. But of course, you know, that's also a time frame thing. all right When we had some major new designs, especially for things like season two, when you're doing things like the Macronesian Alliance and some major new visuals for the show, we had a lot more back and forth. um like the the that sort of nazi -esque macronesian logo we did a lot of back and forth between me and the production designer to finalize those that design um which is great i love that collaboration as well um but uh that kind of thing you know always got thrown to me one way or the other whether i was collaborating or just coming up with it and installing it you know okay i know you mentioned on the our facebook group that you had actually shared an office with storyboard artist mark simon
Speaker: Yes, that was during season two. What was it like working with him? like what What was the um environment like? Oh, fun, just fun. and Yeah, no, um especially with my perspective now, having done this kind of stuff for a while now, looking back, the the best part of any of these jobs, honestly, is the people you get to work with. um When you work with good people, it's just, it's not like work, you know you you know, you've heard that cliche before, but it's absolutely true. And, you know, keep in mind, these were 12 hour plus days. That's sort of the standard working schedule for production.
Speaker: So, you know, if you're not working with people who are enjoyable to work with and it's it's going to be a big drag, but that was not the case here. So Mark was really fun. You know, we both shared a sense of humor and we were both kind of nose to the grindstone doing our own stuff, but there's a lot of conversation and, you know, just joking and things like that and talking about that week script and, you know, sometimes joking about that, the monster of the week thing. Um,
Speaker: It was kind of a joke about for sure with season. yeah Yeah, exactly, exactly. But he so enjoyed his job. He's one of those people who is so enthusiastic about what he is doing that it's infectious. And honestly, most people in the productions are like that. If you're if you're not into your work, you kind of don't last long. So for the most part, the people you work with, they want to be there, they're enjoying their job. And that kind of permeates the attitude, you know, the atmosphere, but he definitely, he loved what he was doing. He loved working with the directors.
Speaker: ah To come up with these shots. He loved comic stuff, which of course, you know influenced his style ah Which was perfect for storyboards. So um yeah, it was it was a lot of fun um He was not their second a third season. I don't know if somebody thought they didn't need storyboards I don't remember what the deal was but Wait, there were no storyboards for third season. I don't think so or at least if there were they were minimal. Oh my gosh, I Yeah, I'm trying to remember what, he wasn't there or he he had gone on to some other production or something, but everything was rearranged third season. um I mean, you shut down everything. You, you go away from the offices, everything as if you're not coming back. Cause you just, cause you don't know everything gets ah the the standing sets stayed in the sound stages. Cause that's a big expensive thing to tear down if you're coming back.
Speaker: or you know to rebuild you wouldn't. So those stayed but everything else was you know evacuated you know we all moved out of the offices and then when we came back it was slightly different offices rearranged and you know things like that. But yeah the uh I don't know what was done for Storyboard's third season. That's actually a question for him um I don't remember what what that was. I just know I was in a different room. I was in, we had a large, like a suite of two or three rooms that opened up into each other. That was the art department. And I had a different desk in the in one end of that room. So I was actually in the room with the set designers and the art director.
Speaker: But yeah, second season though, was, was tons of fun sharing an office with him. There's always one story I like to tell about Mark Hamill coming to visit us in the office. Oh my God. Um, yeah. So we of course knew he was coming to be guest star on, um, I guess, was it Dreamweaver was the first one he was on? Yeah, I believe it was Dreamweaver. Yeah. So we knew he was coming and you know, that's very cool and all that, of course, you know.
Speaker: We're all big Star Wars fans from way back. i'm I'm a Star Wars kid. I was, what, eight years old when it came out, so of course I had no choice. um And that continues to this day. um We knew he was going to be showing up at some point, and we frequently, usually you have your the office of doors are open when you're working in there.
Speaker: And several, four or five doors down is the reception desk for the production offices. And so we're working in there one day. I'm on the computer. He's doing his drawings at his drawing table. And we hear this voice down the hall and we're like, Oh, he's here that I can hear Luke Skywalker down the hall talking.
Speaker: And he was apparently just arriving and checking in with the production offices, whatever you do there, get your rental car or whatever it is, you know, checking in. And he was done with that. And he apparently walked our way down, down the hall. You have to pass our office to get to the other end heading towards sound stages. And so as he passed by our office, he like stopped and stepped back and stuck his head in. Cause he had seen all of Mark's drawings all over the wall. Mark would put up storyboard drawings, just sort of wallpaper the room with them.
Speaker: And ah more Mark Hamill is a story of the three Marx here. um So Mark Hamill popped his head back in because he's always been very into comic books and of course this was right around the time he was starting to do the voice for the Joker on the animated series.
Speaker: And he like, he stopped and came back in. He's like, Ooh, what do you got in here? And he just wanted to see what we were doing. And he came in and chatted for a while and was asking about March drawings and what he used as reference and all this stuff. And I don't remember what all we talked about, but we just all, all three of us just chatted for a little while. And then, uh, and then he left to go to the next thing he was doing. And he walked out of the office and we just kind of looked at each other and kind of giggled like, like little girls.
Speaker: I was going to say he must have been freaking out like inwardly. Exactly. Yeah, we were we were doing the fanboy thing at that point. You know, you're you're all cool on the outside and then he leaves and we look at each other and we're like, that was cool. Because you're just standing there talking to the Skywalker. but And that kind of continued. That vibe continued while he was there. It was like, he he was one of the few guest stars that people kind of, you know, that everybody was cool about it, but everybody's like, whoo, whoo, cool. Look at that.
Speaker: You know, and and he was so friendly with everybody, you know, he would hang out on the set, even when he wasn't doing his shots and, uh, just talk to everybody. And, you know, so that was really fun, but you know, that that's it's kind of one of the perks there that of of doing these things, you'll occasionally meet somebody like that, that you grew up with or whatever. So it's, that was really fun, but that was fun for that to happen while I was sharing the office with Mark, um, Simon. Uh, so that was kind of cool. What's it like?
Speaker: interacting with the current fan base because you're pretty you know active in the Facebook group we have. Yeah. um I really am ah really do enjoy that and that kind of goes back to even when I was working on the show or or anything I'm working on. I mean, it's kind of the same now. um A lot of the work I do now is more theme park based. A lot of us who used to be in production years ago have kind of landed in that ah industry just because it's the same skill set. And of course it's here, you know, we're in Orlando. I've always enjoyed kind of, since I enjoy what I do and I think it's cool, even the small mundane little things, I've always liked to share that with other people.
Speaker: It's like, if I could bring everybody to work with me, I would. It was just like, look at this. This is cool. Look at this. Look at this. So it kind of goes back to the same thing. It's like, you know, I enjoy telling the stories. I enjoy sharing that sort of thing with people now. And of course, now you've got a different perspective of you've got people who grew up on this thing I worked on who are older now. And, you know, to them, it's, it's this, you know, untouchable thing that they that they completely bought into, you know, like, like, as if it was a show I grew up with. And, you know, to me, it's magical. So it it is, it's still very enjoyable to do that. And then to hear that different perspective as well, perspective of somebody who watched it as as opposed to, you know, working on it, slightly different, you know, different memories of things. And then, you know, it's fun for me to
Speaker: to hear that and then be able to throw in oh yeah that's oh we did that here or yeah that was the day did this or that. you know um it's just It's fun to share it because you know I grew up on that kind of stuff too, watching behind the scenes shows or reading about it. So it's it's fun to be on the other end of it and just and just kind of share that because otherwise it's just stuff I did that you know I can tell my kids about it, but if you know they don't think it's as cool.
Speaker: and yeah They're like, okay, yeah, that's great. Yeah, you know yeah it's like they didn't they didn't grow up with it. But um yeah, no, it's it's it's a lot of fun. um it it It's a chance to kind of bring that magic to somebody else. Relating to that, we had a really good story of interacting with fans even back then.
Speaker: So as a little bit of background, I got i got married the year I started Sequest. In fact, um ah I got the job after interviewing with the production designer, Vaughn. And then the next day I had to go in after I got the job, I had to go in and tell him, oh yeah, by the way, I know you just gave me this job, but in about a month, I need a week off because I'm getting married. So that was awkward. But it was no problem. We were in early pre -production, so it wasn't critical.
Speaker: but um so Sometimes in, well, not sometimes, October of 94, you know, we're deep into production however many months. So I guess we would have started sometime around June of that year. So several months in, in October, ah my wife and I went to a Halloween event in St. Petersburg, where we're both from, by the way. And we had borrowed some Sequest uniforms as our Halloween costumes.
Speaker: And this was a, this was some Halloween thing we've gone to. It was at like an arena in ah St. Petersburg. And while we were there, a little bit distance away from us, we see these two girls and they're, they've got like makeup. They're wearing like, like leotard things. And then they've got camouflage makeup on. And I said, is that, are they supposed to be daggers? There's no way that can't be what that's supposed to be.
Speaker: And we only saw them from a distance because it's very crowded. And then a little while later in the crowd, apparently they spotted us and they came up to us and they were, you know, with their mouths open, they're like, where did you get those outfits? And I said, well, I worked on the show and they started doing the Wayne's world thing where you get done on your knees and you say, we're not worthy.
Speaker: we Which was a little embarrassing. so um long story So we talked to them for a while and they were you know just giddy about the whole thing. And long story short, we I was able to invite them, the the two girls and their moms, to come to the set a few weeks later and show them around the sets.
Speaker: And they got to meet some of the cast. I believe they got to meet Jonathan Brandis and some other people. It was fun to sort of be able to grant that sort of thing to somebody. And they were probably, you if I remember right, like 13, 14 at the time. So of course, you know, deep, deep into the whole Brandis thing, et cetera. And they were just huge fans of the show um my asked and knew everything about it.
Speaker: they actually dressed as daggers like was wasn't that their costume? Yeah, that was what they were dressed as daggers. yeah like And, you know, we may have been the only ones who knew what they were. I have no idea. But and but you know, the show was on the air at the time. And um they were way into it. And you know, they've been into it since first season. But So it was, that was probably one of my, my, my favorite experiences of working on the show in general was that, um, we got to do that for some people. And, um, it was a really weird, awkward thing. I remember like.
Speaker: I'm calling these kids, you know, they, I guess we got their contact information or something and it's like calling these kids later and saying, can I talk to your mom? You know, that kind of thing. And, um, you know, I'm sure it was weird for their parents to like, like, what during what? And like, yeah, you all can come up and, uh, you know, if you can drive to Orlando, we can show you around the sets and all this kind of stuff. So I think we could help them get a hotel room or something.
Speaker: And, uh, but it was just a really fun experience to be able to do that for some people who were just way into the show. And then of course we've kept in touch with them ever since. So my gosh it's really yeah, so that's been, that's been neat.
Speaker: And so I've always liked doing that kind of thing. It's like, you know, I'm having fun at this job, but ah I want to be able to like spread that around, like share it with other people. And, um, you know, I i thought this was cool when I was doing it, you know, just cause it was fun and creative and you know, it's something that people see. And so.
Speaker: yeah you know how do how do I share that with somebody else? you know that's That's sort of been how I approach stuff. And and it's the same thing now with ah even a lot of the theme park work I'm doing. Of course, in that realm, we're not allowed to talk about what we're doing until it opens. yeah So that's a little bit frustrating.
Speaker: you want to be able to tell people you know what we did today or what we what they're designing or what what this ride is going to be and but we're not allowed to but you can talk about it after the fact after things open right but um but it's the same it's the same thing with the web pages now it's really fun to to kind of inspire people to either, you know, they're recreating things and, you know, help them with information I've got. There's one gentleman who's creating um ah Frank. He's creating, recreating some of the sets in, ah you know, 3d modeling. Right. And I've dug out blueprints and things and sent him scans of that so that he has something official to work from, you know, and that, you know, that sort of thing is, is enjoyable because I,
Speaker: I'm on that end on other, other TV shows and things I grew up on. I'm, I'm as much of a ah fan, you know, fanatic on some of these things as, as other people are for SeaQuest. So it's just kind of a, kind of a natural thing to want to share that sort of stuff. Well, I'm officially out of questions. Okay. yeah Okay. I'm trying to remember interesting, interesting attitudes.
Speaker: Yeah, my my stuff is so art based that you know I tend to go towards what we did on certain certain sets, things like that. um the The location stuff was really fun for me. that We did a lot of location stuff in my hometown of St. Petersburg. So that was a weird dynamic to, you know I moved to Orlando.
Speaker: to work in this industry, and then we're driving back two hours to the coast to do all this location stuff for SeaQuest, which was really fun. And I guess that was because the producer was from St. Petersburg, so he knew all these locations and he wanted to promote that, I guess.
Speaker: that make sense Yeah so that was that was really fun and even today watching the show it's like oh yeah there's there's Eckerd College or what and that's another thing I'll do when I'm back home for holidays or whatever if I'm driving by something I'll send a message to you know either the Sequest Facebook page or John or Martin that we run the page with and say guess where I am I'm at uh I'm at Gulf I'm driving by Gulf Island or you things like that. um There's a lot of locations we've done at Disney. There's a Disney, it used to be called Downtown Disney. Now it's called Disney Springs, which is kind of outside the parks, but within Disney property that has restaurants and shops and things like that. And there's a couple of places that we shot there. Of course, things have been renovated a lot since then into different
Speaker: different restaurants and different stores. That when I'm there, I'll i'll take a picture and and post it or whatever and say, this was from this episode or we shot here or you know one restaurant was the dagger sheath club from a couple of episodes. right And now it's a Japanese restaurant. so but So I'll take pictures of that and and send it. um And that's that's just kind of the fun little stuff that I remember that was, you know, I mean, you can say that to somebody that you might be with and like, oh, that's interesting. But if you've got a targeted audience that might think it's a little cooler, then that's kind of fun to have somebody to share it with. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: You know, so that's, that's fun. There's tons of that stuff around Orlando, of course. I had recently sometime within the last year, I figured out where downtown that we shot the episode. Um, uh, and everything nice, I believe was the episode title.
Speaker: ah That's the one where Lucas gets seduced. Yeah, he exactly falls in love with the girl who turns out to be a ah radical or whatever it was. And there was a storefront down there that a lot of it took place. And of course, I remembered where it was in general, but I was trying to remember the correct storefront. And I recently found that and posted a couple pictures of it pretty much looks the same as it did then.
Speaker: But, you know, there's stuff like that. And the other productions I've worked on, there are locations all around town like that. Sequest may be the, probably the highest profile series that I did, that I can share that with people. Other stuff is so obscure that there's nobody, there's no fan base for it. What what did you work on that is so obscure.
Speaker: a We got a lot of like, I wouldn't say low budget, but lower budget productions would come here. Um, so there was a lot of television in the nineties. There's a lot of syndicated television. We had like the super boy series, swamp things series. Um, yeah, a couple others that you've probably never heard of one's called super force, which was a really cheesy sci -fi thing.
Speaker: um yeah uh and and then there were movies that came occasionally a lot of tv movies happened here um one of the psycho sequels was here i worked on that which is kind of fun uh there's problem child 2 which was just you know wonderful Amazing. Uh, you know, it was one of those things that I say it was a lot more fun to work on than to watch. Um, cause it was fun. and lot You end up working with a lot of the same people over and over, uh, different productions. And so it was always, it was always like a reunion getting together. Like when a show, a show starts up, it's like, Oh, Hey, you're on this. Great. There were some movies here and there, there was a movie called instinct with, uh, what's his name? Sorry, Anthony Hopkins was in it. Uh, we did that here. Um,
Speaker: There was a, right after Sequest, there I went to a series called The Cape, which was about NASA astronauts. It only ran for one season, and it was syndicated, so a lot of people didn't see it. um But it was a really great experience to work on on that sort of thing. And there was a lot of Sequest people went right to that series. oh wow um but But you can't find, it it's not on DVD or anything, so you and it's not streaming, so you can't. oh that's a but yeah Yeah, and that's disappointing.
Speaker: um Yeah, there's a few productions like that that have just kind of gone away into obscurity that you would just you they aren't out there for one reason or another. The first production I worked on was the 80s reunion series of Leave it to Beaver. okay And that's another one that rained for five seasons, but it's it's nowhere to be found because it got tied up in ownership problems. ah Um, it the the it was sold in syndication to a company based out of Australia. And then the company went bankrupt and now it's all it's to this day, it's all tied up in some, you know, like nobody really can get clear on who owns the rights to it. So it hasn't been released, but that was, that was my first production experience. So that was fun.
Speaker: Uh, what else did I work on? Uh, there's been some movies here and there. There was a movie called Sydney White, which was with Amanda Bynes. There were several Nickelodeon series and game shows. They did stuff on, uh, Double Dare, that sort of thing. a double day Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I got to build some games for Double Dare. It was actually Double Dare 2000. It was the read you of the show. Yeah. So that was fun. Gosh, I'm sure there's a few others. There's some TV movies and other things that there was a TV movie I did a little bit of work on with that had Mark Hamill in it again. So it was kind of funny just to run into Mark Hamill again randomly. And that was some TV movie, I think it was called Walking Across Egypt.
Speaker: And then there's, there's been commercials and things like that. Uh, and then there's been quite a bit of theme park work that always seems to come in between productions. And in the last few years, that's been most of for the work that's been here. So, so I've gotten to work on most of the, all the major universal parks I've done work for, including a lot of the Harry Potter projects.
Speaker: Islands of a Adventure, the original Universal, the the first Universal Florida park I got to work on um while they were building that. I'm currently working on the new Epic Universe park that they're building. And that's a lot of the stuff that's still super secret that we're not allowed to talk about, but but but there's a lot of good stuff coming. So everybody will enjoy that for sure. A couple of years ago, I got to do a good amount of work for the the Disney Star Wars park expansion. Oh, wow.
Speaker: Yeah, so that was fun. um The one here in California was designed and built at the same time. So I did a lot of fabrication of prop pieces for that all through the, all through Imagineering here. It was all, it was all built and designed from here for the most part. And then, you know, the California stuff was sent out there. So it's kind of neat to have stuff on both coasts.
Speaker: And the theme park stuff is fun because production work, whatever you make and build, it gets shot. And then it either gets either thrown away or sold or given away or whatever, but it's not permanent. You know, what especially sets, things like that. They just, they don't stay around. you're you're You're there, you enjoy them while they're there. And then it gets torn down. Whereas theme park stuff is more or less permanent. um You know, eventually stuff gets, gets rehabbed, but um But for the most part, it stays there. And a lot of people get to see it, which is kind of fun. You also have to build things differently so that they are more permanent. But it's kind of nice to be able to have something you can point to that is ah that you can say, Hey, yeah, I did that. And, you know, next time you're at whatever park, you can see this thing I did. So that's, that's kind of a nice, it's a refreshing thing that's different than, than production work, even though it's pretty much the same skill set.
Speaker: trying to remember if there's any other movies that I would occasionally get called in to do prop work on just a one off item or something. Um, I'm kind of known for doing models as well. Uh, and so I've done some models for some different movies. Um, the second dolphin tail movie, I did a pretty substantial model for that movie, um which was kind of nice. Um, and again, that was in Clearwater. So that was some back and forth. So it's about two hours away from here, but you know, same,
Speaker: Same kind of situation where the person working as the art director on the show, they needed a model and they knew I did that. So they called me and, you know, we worked out what it would cost to do it. And then I came in and did that piece and I've done just props off and on for, I've done props for a few things that I never even watched. They just never got over it. I did a couple of things for one of the tooth fairy movies. I don't know. There was a, I guess it was the second tooth fairy. Oh, that's a rock.
Speaker: but No, the one with, um it was the one after that. It was the one with, um ah oh, what's his name? He does the voice of Mater in, of Toa Mater. Oh, Barry the Cable? Barry the Cable guy, yeah. So I did a prop for that. I did a prop Moon Pie for that.
Speaker: um weird story. um Just little stuff like that. ah The Waterboy with um Adam Sandler, I did a prop for that. um so There's a lot of little things that just kind of come and go and just pop in and do the work quickly and then you're out doing something else. So um I'd have to go back over a resume to see all my stuff. but You always get your ears open for for more work, you know especially in production, because you're perpetually employed, but you're perpetually unemployed. You're always looking for the next the next project, right which is just kind of the nature of it.
Speaker: Unless you're on a series and then it lasts, I mean, two years on a series on Sequest was unusual. That's, that's the kind of thing people try to get. Uh, but you know, a lot of series don't last that long. Super Roy went for several seasons. So I got a lot of work from them. So, so some of the stuff I would do would, I would not be on Sequest and some other shows I was on staff. Like I had an office, I was there every day. A lot of other shows that's basically like freelance prop work and you, you know, you get called to to make some stuff and.
Speaker: Or you get called to do what they call day playing, which is to come in and wrinkle props for a day or two, or if they're on a location for a week or something. So it's, it's everything from a day's worth of work to, you know, a year or two. So you just never know what you're going to get into. Even though I was not in the costume department per se, I ended up bringing home a lot of costumes. So that's why I have this collection that I'm so jealous.
Speaker: So that that was me being the fan of the show, you know, or wanting the stuff. um I guess that's one of the little story. when my When my friend who I worked with here told me about the Sequest series, he was actually back in LA working universal there for for universal television. And then after the show started and was going on, it was already airing in the first season. I remember one phone call with him where I was saying, do you think you could if If you got an inside source theory, do you think you could just get me one of those hats, one of the Sequest hats? That would be really cool to have something that they wear on the show. And now looking back, I have an entire closet full of costumes from the show. But I still only have one hat.
Speaker: costume hats, but I've got like, I've got an entire set of season one crew costumes from all the major characters and then several from ah season two and three. that is I went from just trying to get a hat to know I've got all this stuff. So it was pretty fun. But we could always talk about costume stuff as well later on. That's, that's a lot of the stuff that Jonathan and Martin and I have ah kind of talked a lot about. And of course he's, he's recreating a lot of the stuff, which is amazing. So, uh, you know,
Speaker: can always talk about that kind of stuff. That wasn't my department at the time, but I was heavy into it. All right. oh Thank you for all the three stories and for giving us a behind the scenes look at what it takes to work in the art department on a series. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm sure I'll think of stuff after we're not talking that we should have talked about, but we can catch that next time. perhaps Yeah.
