BROOKE GLADSTONE: Big-time movie producers have limits too. For instance renting a 747 for an airport scene usually is out of the question. Instead, filmmakers head to the San Fernando Valley where a company called Air Line Film and TV Promotions has just what they need. Reporter Rachel Myrow of KPCC takes us there.
RACHEL MYROW: We were sitting in a convincing mockup of an airport gate with a real Cappuccino stand, rest room signs and TV monitors listing departures and arrivals. If it weren't for the film crew, you'd never guess this was a soundstage in Pacoima! Which is the idea. Tonight's shoot is a TV pilot for a series called Bernie Mac. Ruben Freed is the art director.
RUBEN FREED: What I found was something that everybody uses and has used in different ways. I tried to personalize it the way that, you know, our particular vision has it-- [MAN SHOUTS: OKAY WE'RE ROLLING!] but-- I'm sure that we've done no more or less than a lot of other people have done in this same space, you know? It's a good facility. [WHISPERING] They -- the, the variety of things, the resources here are actually tremendous for this kind of thing.
RACHEL MYROW: Step inside one of the 747s or the DC-10 on the soundstage and you'll find authentic airline seats, windows and oxygen masks. These retired airplanes have been sawed into pieces that are easily broken down and re-assembled in an endless variety of ways. Standing in the aisles you can almost smell that yeasty air-conditioning, feel the rumble of engines warming up beneath your feet, and hear the swelling soundtracks to a dozen cheesy movies.
MAN IN CHEESY MOVIE: I want the best available men on this - a man who knows that plane inside and out and won't crack under pressure.
BYRON SCHMIDT: Well I was with TWA for 19 years--
RACHEL MYROW: 72 year old Byron Schmidt fell into this business, so to speak, after training to fly fighter planes in the last days of World War II.
BYRON SCHMIDT: I started out in sales, and then I got into the department that did motion pictures and television called Special Promotions, and I did that for 19 years, and we did like 130 pictures a year, we did -- we did Woody Allen's movie Annie Hall that won the Oscars; they had Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly out here together for a Western Airlines commercial; Jerry Lewis, Angela Lansbury -- you could name the, the famous people that have been in here for different shots.
RACHEL MYROW: Schmidt claims he's not motivated to run a high-flying prop shop because of celebrities--
BYRON SCHMIDT: Here's Jack Lemmon and-- Dennis Hopper-- and Red Skelton-- and here is--
RACHEL MYROW: But give him half a chance, and he'll lead you into his office and to the wall of fame, plastered with photos of actors sitting in airplanes, exiting from airplanes, standing beside airplanes.
BYRON SCHMIDT: -- and there's Marlon Brando in a picture called -- let's see - what was the name of that? The Ugly American.
RACHEL MYROW: Way back in the early days of commercial air travel, TWA's Special Productions Division provided free travel and mockups to TV crews in exchange for on-screen credits. In 1974, Schmidt, and his partner, Alf Jacobson formed a company of their own and began operating the TWA program under contract. Their 22,000 square foot warehouse has been home to hundreds of shoots for everything from magazine ads to rock videos. Even that granddaddy of airline comedies, Airplane, was shot here! [TOWER TO PLANE EXCHANGES FROM AIRPLANE]
TOWER: Flight 2 Zero Niner, clear for vector 3 2 4.
ROGER: We have clearance, Clarence.
CLARENCE: Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor? [CABIN DOOR CLOSES ?]
TOWER: Tower to radio clearance, over.
CLARENCE: That's Clarence Over! Over.
TOWER: Roger.
ROGER: Huh?!
TOWER: Roger, over.
CLARENCE: What?!
ROGER: Who?! [ENGINE RUMBLE & MOVIE MUSIC]
RACHEL MYROW: Even United Airlines and Boeing shoot commercials and corporate films here. It's just easier, Schmidt says, to borrow a piece of a plane for 15 hundred dollars or spend a 12 hour day in Pacoima for 6 thousand bucks. No wonder so many plane scenes look strangely familiar. It's a real worry for art director Ruben Freed. [MAN SHOUTS: CUTTING! CHECKING THE GATE!]
RACHEL MYROW: Do you ever wonder that people watching it are going to go haven't I seen this airplane someplace before?
RUBEN FREED: That's my big fear. Yeah. I hate to, I hate to even think about that.
RACHEL MYROW: But there's no one telltale sign a scene was shot here. No cigarette burn hole in Seat 4-F. No misplaced oxygen mask or impossibly roomy toilet. Then again, just ask yourself how you're able to watch the drama unfold in the cockpit. [MOVIE MUSIC/HUM OF AIRPLANE]
SULTRY-SOUNDING STEWARDESS: Ladies and gentlemen this is your stewardess speaking. We regret inconvenience the sudden cabin movement might have caused. This is due to periodic air pockets we encounter. There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane? [PASSENGERS SCREAMING & MAYHEM]
RACHEL MYROW: Not that the actors need to worry. This fuselage may have held a lot of stars, but it never leaves the earth. For On the Media I'm Rachel Myrow in Hollywood. Okay, okay --Pacoima. [MUSIC TAG]