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A scene depicting the age-old conflict between the director and the producer:

Producer (with great anguish): "Look, these twelve actors are about to miss the last plane back to New York. We'll have to pay for another night at the Radisson, two more meals each and their talent fees plus penalties for another day. We were already over budget at eight o'clock this morning. My God, man, you're about to drive us into bankruptcy."

Director (lost in concentration): "We need one more take. It won't take but a minute."

Producer fumes. (Guess which man in the photo is the producer.)

One of the best-kept secrets at Jefferson-Pilot Broadcasting was a little shop of horrors out on Pressley Road in the '70s and '80s called Jefferson Films. Out of sight, out of mind. It was an adjunct to the mother ship, Jefferson Productions (which specialized in videotape production). Our little operation produced commercials, mostly, all in the time-honored medium of film, in sizes 16 and 35mm. We did good work.

For the first six years on Pressley, Reno Bailey was the film "czar" (preferring that modest designation over his official but professionally sucky title, "Film Production Supervisor"). Bob Newcomb (son of Alan) was our highly talented and well regarded Director-Cameraman. Others in our little band will be revealed in another article.

In this photo worth a thousand words, Bob is shooting with our Eclair NPR 16mm sound camera with a 400-foot magazine loaded with Eastman 7247 color negative, using an Angenieux 12-120 zoom lens, all supported by an O'Connor fluid camera head, atop our indestructible, heavier-than-a-Sherman tank Moviola crab dolly. In the background are a couple of Mole-Richardson 5-K's with barn doors. Oh, the memories.