By Joy Zaccaria, October 25, 2007
Now in its second season, the first reality show for Home & Garden Television (HGTV) is Living with Ed. It documents the environmentally responsible lives of vigilant recycler and guru of alternate energy resources Ed Begley Jr. and his wife, Rachelle Carson Begley, who cooperates but still enjoys her hot showers, hairdryer and other benefits of living on the grid.
"It's a clever fit," says show creator and executive producer Joe Brutsman of production company BCII. "We are held to a standard at Home & Garden to educate the viewership on how to apply green principles to their own lives." In keeping with the show's spirit, the crew follows Begley's lead in conserving energy. "Ed keeps us pretty honest as far as making sure the production team has a small carbon footprint," says Brutsman. "That's been our goal from the day we set up production."
Jen Shields is the supervising producer on Living with Ed. She was particularly enthusiastic about working on a show with this message given she earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in environmental engineering before deciding to pursue film.
"Out of respect for Ed, we can't be wasteful," says Shields. During production, the crew quickly found easy ways to cut down on waste, and the concept of efficiency and conservation spread quickly. The company buys in bulk for craft services instead of using single-serving packages. They use digital cameras for casting instead of Polaroids and only print what they need to. They FTP all footage, including rough cuts, as opposed to sending out DVDs. The crew carpools in hybrid vehicles on excursions for the show. "Even our freelance sound guy told us he decided to change to energy-efficient lightbulbs at home," Shields adds.
Begley's house is home base for the production of the show. "We're very fortunate to be able to charge everything there--cameras, batteries, cars--by way of solar," says Brutsman. "He's not fully off the grid, but Ed probably has more solar power per square inch than any house you're going to find in Southern California--with the exception of Larry Hagman's, where we shot a few weeks ago."
The show's crew complement is minimal, which requires some multitasking from each of them. Director of Photography Andy Robinson shoots with a Panasonic AJ-SDX900 DVCPRO camera. In addition to supervising production, Shields sometimes runs a second camera. They use Begley's electric car (he has an all-electric Toyota RAV-4 and his wife a Toyota Prius hybrid) for traveling shots. "We found quickly it's the most silent shot maker you could have. It doesn't make any noise," says Brutsman. "It takes some getting used to, though, since it's not a regular throttle."
"Andy is a DP who thinks like an editor," says Brutsman. "Sometimes we'll have no coverage. A celebrity will give us only a moment, and there's not a second take. He'll make the shot interesting just with moving and punching in. He's great with handheld." For the show, Robinson has been called on to crawl under the house with Bill Nye the Science Guy and climb up on a scorching rooftop with Phil Rosenthal's family. "He has to be a real guerrilla filmmaker," Brutsman continues.
The lenses are Fujinon Broadcast Super Wide. "When we're in homes like Ed's, they can be very small spaces," says Shields. "So this way we can get as much as possible." Shields, Robinson and the coordinator do all the lighting themselves and use a mobile sound mixer, ENG-style.
Lighting typically consists of Kino Flo fixtures staggered between daylight and tungsten. The Kino Flos are compact fluorescents with minimal heat output, so there is no need for air conditioning. "It makes a huge difference," says Shields. "It's saving energy in many ways and is easier to use--kudos to the fluorescents," she says. "Also, it doesn't make noise like the ballast on the others."
"It's a show with a lot of levels," says Brutsman of Living with Ed. "We want information right next to a laugh right next to something real that happens with the Begleys right next to Ed giving advice." The editing is done in Final Cut Pro on a Mac-based system at Alera Enterprises in Los Angeles, where Lara Sarkissian is the senior editor.
In the interest of a smooth production flow, there are certain exceptions to the rules of frugality. Shields would prefer to use the videotape stock until the end of the reel, but doing so creates a logistical problem for the editorial team. "The DVCPRO tapes are 66 minutes when you're running 24p. The editors want us to stop at 59:99 or before. Otherwise, once you go past 60 minutes, it goes into Tape 2 for them." On that issue, the production team battled and lost to the interest and workflow of the editorial department. "We try to stop at 59 minutes," says Shields.
Brutsman says of the postproduction facility, "Alera recycles everything there now. Lara would be the first to admit the influence is Ed." Propagating green power solutions, Living with Ed has become a touchstone for other green productions. "Even when we're not at the Begley house, we look at the landscape and ask 'Where's the power? What's the solar ratio? If we're charging, at what percentage?'" says Brutsman. "It sounds like crazy minutia until you realize you might have shot your whole show with the sun." Shields got attaché cases and backpacks for the crew with solar panels to charge cell phones and WiFi devices. They also discovered GreenDisk, a company that recycles DVDs and CDs (and other computer-related waste) after use.
Jim Lakin, one of the sound guys, uses only rechargeable batteries now. The Remote Audio BDS (battery distribution system) for the mixer and wireless receivers is powered by an IDX lithium ion NP-style battery. He uses iPower lithium polymer rechargeable 9V batteries for the wireless transmitters. "He was throwing away 26, 27 AA batteries and D batteries a day," says Shields. "He no longer does that. The system weighs more, but he saves on batteries."
The Begleys
Brutsman was interested in keeping the comedy slant of the show. "'Green' is sacred to Ed, but that doesn't mean he doesn't see the humor in it," he says. "Or the humor in Rachelle not embracing it 24 hours a day like Ed does. It's good there's some laughter about it and not a doomsday message. It shows what we can all do in a simple way."
The first season concentrated on how Ed and Rachelle live in their home, and much of the production took place there. For the second season, which will be six episodes long, "we charge up our batteries at Ed's solar house and get on the road," says Brutsman. It's always a green information show, but this season features more celebrity homes, plus a construction show, while keeping the home life of the Begleys involved.
"A benefit for us is that we have Ed Begley Jr. and Rachelle Carson Begley," says Brutsman. "All celebrities are not created equal. Some can't always be funny and give you a message and know how to end your scene and have something interesting going on in their lives. Ed and Rachelle are a real gift."
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| COMMENTS (1) | | 08/08/2009 | | I am proud to say that my sister did some of the work in the Falls Church, Virginia home. I would like to view the show when it comes on. Could you tell me what day, time, and the network (HGTV I believe) the show will air for the Falls Church, Virginia episode. Thank you and keep up the great work you are doing. |
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