Welcome to industryLiFE! Home to the book series about working behind-the-scenes of the entertainment business. Find us on Twitter: @iLifeBookSeries or Facebook @ industryLiFE. Vol. I is available @ Amazon.com. Vol. II is currently in production!
When you are young and in the business people will try to take advantage of you. Peep actress Thandie Newton telling CNN about her ordeal and how she discovered what had happened when you click the link.
Well the world of sports & entertainment was all ears as the cycling god, Lance Armstrong came clean about the doping that he's done in his career. He seemed to be at ease with the whole situation to which I attribute to the statue of limitations having run out. Anyway as I sat and watched the man who, without a doubt was the biggest "rock star" in the history of cycling, admit to lying to everyone repeatedly, I couldn't help but remember the time I spent with him as he and his team won the Dodge Tour De Georgia event in 2005.
The event was a major undertaking. Spanning 600 miles across the state of Georgia with hundreds if not thousands of people coming out to witness his "greatness". I had been hired to produce interviews with Lance's team and to gather b-roll that would be used by the sponsor. The assignment was a week long and it would take me to areas in Georgia that I had never seen and truthfully would be just fine if I never see them again. It was March and the weather was weird. Some days it was cold and snowing others sunny and not a cloud in the sky. As I began my journey of chasing Lance Armstrong, I knew it would be an adventure. The company that hired me for the job had done other projects where he was involved and my colleagues always came back with some tale about him. It was always a split decision, some said he's as nice as can be while others flat out called him a a-hole. So I had no idea of what to expect.
As my camera man and I set out, one thing we knew is that it would be first rate. We got our schedule and our hotel at the start of the race in Augusta, GA, we were taken care of. When we arrived, we settled into a lovely hotel where we met with the client. They informed us that the first footage we would need to get would be of the press conference where Lance would be announcing his retirement from the sport. This was HUGE! He was at the top of his game and to think he would pick this event to make such an announcement had everyone buzzing. Well the client had the details of the press conference all mapped out. She had all the confirmed journalist (who had to have credentials) listed, she had a seating chart and she had an additional assignment for me. Seems she felt the conference may start a little slow or have some "downtime" and she asked me if I would be filler to ask question if indeed that did happen. I was cool with it, after all she was the client so I was willing to help her make this thing great. As the time neared for the conference to start, journalist from around the world started to arrive and all were speculating on rumors of his retirement. I found a seat and watched as everyone reviewed their questions for the cyclist. When Lance arrived to take his seat there was flurry of flashing lights and scrambling to get just the right shot of him. Talk about paparazzi crazy, this was it!!! Finally everyone settled down and Lance read his prepared statement. As he said the words retirement, the room erupted. People began texting, running from the room to get those words to their editors etc. After he finished his statement it was time for the Q&A.
Since our client was commanding the conference she would pick who would ask the question and also keep track of how much time each journalist had. Well after Lance spoke to reporters from AP, Reuters, Cycling News etc, the noise in the room settled but we still had more time. Our client immediately threw it to me and I was on the spot! To be honest, I did not give a rats ass about cycling. I had done a poor job of learning to ride a bike at 12 so I really did not understand what all the fuss was about but it was my job so I stood up and greeted Lance and his team mates with a smile. I addressed Lance directly and asked him, "Are you 100% sure this will be your last race, I mean you are a rock star and I can just imagine that the response to your retirement announcement could change your mind." (smile). Well, Lance did not like that question and wasted no time cutting me up. His facial expression changed and he looked me directly in the eye and said a bit annoyed, "Yes I'm sure. I love this sport but my time is up and there is absolutely no way I am doing another race. (I can even remember him rolling his eyes at me after I sat down, oh well.).
As the event got under way, my crew and I followed the cyclist to Peachtree City, Macon, Thomaston, Rome, Chattanooga, Tenn., Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Brasstown Bald Mountain, Dalton, Lake Lanier Islands, Stone Mountain Park, and Atlanta GA. The race covered over 600 miles in seven days. (http://www.tourdegeorgia.com/). Lance was at the top of the food chain. I watched as some cyclist would complete a leg of the tour and be exhausted. Cramps would send them limping away to their team doctors etc. Lance looked great. He would get off his bike and make his way to the media area and give comments no matter how long that leg had been, not matter how bad he smelled he was a professional who delivered. As the week progress, Lance seemed to mellow out on me. The first time I approached him to get a few words at the first stop, he looked at me like, "What is this broad gonna say now." But as the days went, he realized I was working for his team and soon, my requests were priority and he would just come over and tell me he was ready to give his comments. Cool, we had made it past the press conference BS.
Now before I go further let me just give you some background on just how crazy this tour was. Basically the fans were just nuts!! People (who were not getting paid or working the event) were following them to every stop. They were camped out at the hotels. Moms & Dads and their children were wearing Lance Armstrong t-shirts, hats and holding signs as they made it into each stop. It was mass hysteria every time someone "thought" Lance was heading their way. Some people so excited about him that some were even bold enough to jump into the race way to try to get a picture of him in action. Needless to say they were taken away by security and security was not playing, crazy, just crazy. Well as we made it to the final day of the stop, the fans were in a frenzy. This was Lance's "last" race and everyone, I mean everyone wanted a piece of this dude. At the final stop in Alpharetta, GA, we arrived and man, the crowd was barely being contained by the barriers or the police. Since this was the end of the race, it was ultra important that we got some last word from Lance. Well as he rode over the finish line and brought his team to victory, the crowd went wild. People began pushing and shoving trying to get his autograph, a picture, a lock of his hair, a drip of sweat ANYTHING Lance Armstrong. I was horrified watching parents running with small children trying to get close enough to smell him and there I was in the middle of all of this working!
As I stood at the walk way to his trailer, I braced myself for anything. Lance's security team had him very protected but just as in the previous days, I got close enough to get the comments I needed from him but just as we finished, a riot erupted. Women and screaming girls we not letting this dude just get on his bus without some memento to take away. Women became hostile with each other, with his security team and even the police. My camera man Blair saw the mayhem just as I did and demanded that we get the hell out of there. I agreed totally! We retreated to a BP gas station parking lot and got our footage from a safe distance. But just as we were leaving, wouldn't you know it, somebody got close. Lance erupted and screamed at everyone to just clear out, he needed to get to his bus. But just as with all fans who feel they are apart of a star's journey, they got pissed. A few even took to rocking his bus while others just stood their weeping and holding paraphernalia from the race.
Now that was years ago but as I sat and watched Lance tell Oprah the details of how he cheated and lied to millions of fans, sponsors and supporters, I couldn't help but feel sorry for them. They LOVED this dude and man what a let down. To think that a "god" might be actually living among us, who could do these amazing things on a bike, then to find out it was all a lie. What a let down!
We were sent the following story which shows that professional sports may not be all that its cracked up to be...especially for the women who love the players.
There are only a few colleges that scouts and sports agents frequent when looking for talent. They are usually the large schools with huge alumni support. Back in the days before camera phones and the internet, there was a guy who was on his way to becoming a huge star in the NFL. He was cool so a lot of women liked him or was it because he was on his way to the NFL? Don't know but back to the story. Now dude started in almost every game that his school played. He was very generous with giving tickets to friends and family who wanted to take in some Saturday football.
At the time that I encounted him, he was dating a young woman I knew. She was in LOVE, head over hills and this dude could do no wrong. Anyway, she was driving a off to the side ass car and as time would have it several problems began to happen with her car. She was stressed out trying to figure out how to get this car fixed. One of her friends suggested that she ask her beau to help out with the expenses especially since he had her cooking, cleaning, washing clothes and she was not even referred to has his girlfriend, woman or significate other. Well she did finally get up the nerve to ask this dude to help her get her car together and wouldn't you know it dude says, "That's not what our relationship is about, you know how we do!" This chick was speechless, how could the dude she had been f*cking and sucking for almost two years just give her a response like that? Well he did.
As football season kicked off, it was getting cold. This chick was riding around with electric tape holding her windows up while dude had purchased a new truck and was rolling!!! Now of course with him being a student and knowing his parents were not well off, we wondered where did he get the doe to purchase this car and did I mention he no longer lived on campus in student housing but a few miles away in some very nice apartments. Well come to find out...
Get the rest of this story and tips on how to deal if you are in this situation when you read Indusry Life & Times ebook series.
When I first heard about this story a lot of thoughts rushed through my mind, as usual. I wasn't going to write about it but when I read this, I knew I didn't have to because someone else had summed it up. Click the link below and get inside an insiders view on a high profile news anchor's arrest.
September 11, 2001 started as a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the air was crisp announcing the that the fall season was just around the corner. I was running late that morning and got caught in Atlanta's killer traffic. As I slow trotted down I-20, my normal mix of hip hop & R&B was interrupted by a breaking news alert announcing a plane had flown into a tower of the New York World Trade building. I continued to drive but thought that was the strangest thing. As I neared the office, I noticed that things were unusually quite and went inside to find the same atmosphere. I placed my belongings at my desk then set out to find my co-workers, normally a very vocal group, sitting quitely in the VP's office staring intensly at the broadcast of Katie Couric. I joined them. As we watched, we noticed a small object enter the frame and crash into the remaining tower. Obviously stunned and alerted by the BTS staff, Katie turned to look out the huge window just as the smoke began to plummet from the tower. As we all sat, stunned and staring at the scene, the news cast was interrupted by a burst of ringing phone lines in our office. The news had alerted them that something was going on that would affect the television coverage that they were expecting from us. Armed with NO answers, we focused on reassuring our clients that we would find out what the next steps were if any. Most cooperated, one did not, he demanded to know why this turn of events would derail his pre planned broadcast of some product that I can't remember now.
As we scrambled to shift into crisis mode, our focus turned to our clients. Thousands of questions were now filling their heads and ours like will we have to reschedule the feeds? When? Would the world even care? We did not know but kept our focus on customer service. As the day went on, and more news began to emerge about the plane in DC and New York, we knew nothing that we produced would make it on air today so we left the office early that day and headed home to watch more TV.
As the night turned into morning, we all converged upon the office still not quite sure what we were to do. Since yesterday had passed some things did become clear, the news stations were busier than ever and had no time to take in our news stories but what we didn't know is how long that would last. This was the first time in history that competing stations were sharing information and footage. Turns out it lasted for weeks. The first week we went into the office everyday making ourselves busy with the things that had fallen by the waste side due to the work load and watching TV. Most of us began to wonder if we would have a job after all this was done. More and more we started to watch the money we were scheduled to make dwindle. Our boss, a smart and quick thinking man, advised our GM to contact all the news stations that we had relationships with to see if anyone was interested in sending our satellite truck to cover any of the events. They were and within hours the truck crew was headed to the streets of New York, straight to ground zero. Once our truck arrived on the scene, a whole new ball game started. Since most crews were without access to ground zero, our truck and crew were bombarded with request to rent the truck for live shots. I estimate in a three day time period that the truck was running full time all of those days. Back in the office, we got busy coordinating live shots, feeds, billing and connecting our crew with still other crews working to get the information to the masses.
The next week, our office was closed until further notice and most of the team stayed home unless you were involved with the operations of the satellite truck, then you were on call. For those who were, they basically worked around the clock to accomadate the many requests coming in.
Finally as week three began, we were all called back into the office. The world we knew was different but trying to get back to business. Before 911, most of the projects were produced were gladly taken in with out question but after, everything was being scruitnized. No more "just feed it" now we were explaining why this should even make it to air and the stories that were making it air were only the light fluffy feel good stuff that stations felt Americans needed.
The road back to the glory days of producing a piece and getting on air with out much pain were over and a new path was now being chartered that would make us all question life, career and purpose. Our satellite crew worked many hours exhausted but soon made it back to Atlanta some what in tack but the stories that the crew returned with were almost too heart wrenching to hear. From hearing how people were lost, how people came from the rubble covered and smelling of destruction, how loved ones would show up at the truck with pictures asking, Have you seen my husband, my mother, my father, will haunt us for ever but we will never forget how 911 changed the world.
The world of entertainment & music are difficult, this we know but what so many fail to realize is that it is always BUSINESS. Sure you are going to meet a few friends along the way but when money comes into the picture it's gonna get sticky.
In a recent interview on Power 105 NYC, veteran rapper Beanie Sigel voiced his knowledge on what he learned during his Roc-a-fella days. Seems Beanie was never out for the money but he was in business with people who were. What he didn't know is that since he displayed his ideas or as he says, "Thinking out loud", in an open forum he set himself up to be robbed. Beanie says, "We were family" but admits that is a word that is thrown around so loosely in the business that you better not trust it. Since Beanie was under the assumption that the click was "family" he thought everyone was looking out for each other but as it turned out they were not.
Beanie has had his share of problems but when watching the interview you see this is a man who has been hurt. He had love for his dudes but in the end he learned that no matter the amount of love, it's always business. Click the link to read more....Cash Rules Everything!
