Forget about eating slugs. The real challenge of CBS’ hit reality series Survivor is producing it. Just ask Scott Messick, who is repped as a commercial director by Santa Monica-based Atlas Pictures and its extreme sports division, Atlas Adrenaline, Santa Monica. Messick served as supervising producer on the show, overseeing a 110-person production crew-including a DP and camera operators, editors, producers, lighting and grip personnel, medical staff and transportation coordinators-as well as the 16 castaways that were marooned on a remote island in the South China Sea.
For 39 days, Messick, DP Scott Duncan and 10 camera crews worked 14 hour shifts filming the survivors 24 hours a day, capturing footage of the island, and staging the "immunity challenges"-in which the two teams of castaways compete in order to avoid voting one of their own off the island. Meanwhile, four producers kept watch on the interpersonal dramas that developed among the ever-shrinking "tribes," and four location editors kept tabs on what, in the end, amounted to 1,500 hours of film. The show’s budget has been pegged at between $700,000 and $1 million per episode.
"We probably shot with every format available," Messick said, including 35mm, 16mm, super 8, Beta SP, hidden surveillance cameras, cameras with night-vision lenses, aerial footage shot from a helicopter, digital video and still photography.
Even before the crew landed on the island of Pulau Tiga, Messick said a key challenge was selecting the 16 castaways who, in exchange for a shot at winning $1 million, would spend five-and-a-half weeks foraging for food and shelter, enduring challenges-such as an obstacle course mounted by the U.S. Army’s Green Berets-and attempting to ingratiate themselves into the group so they wouldn’t get booted. From a pool of 6,000 applications, casting director Lynne Spillman narrowed the candidates down to 400. Messick, Spillman and executive producers Mark Burnett and Craig Piligian then pored through the taped submissions, from which 48 hopefuls were selected and brought to Los Angeles for an extensive screening process.
"We were looking for people who weren’t just there to be on television-people who
were true to themselves," said Messick. "And to some degree we did typecasting. We had our lawyer, doctor and truck driver. Susan was the quintessential Fargo-type. Sean Kenniff is that Seinfeld-like New Yorker. So the audience buys into these little character traits without you having to hit them over the head."
Survivor has been likened to Gilligan’s Island, a game of chess, Lord of the Flies and an exercise in Darwin’s theory of evolution. But those comparisons don’t scratch the surface of the weekly island high-jinx. By episode six, Richard, a pudgy, gay corporate trainer nearing 40, had taken to going about in the buff. Unable to catch any fish, many of the castaways had resorted to eating grilled rat. Then came YMCA athletic instructor Gervase’s comment about women being dumber than cows, which signaled the downfall of Joel because his female compatriots thought he laughed a little too hard at the joke. Meanwhile, the attractive college grads Colleen and Greg kept sneaking off to frolic in the woods. "It’s all about sex," Colleen told the camera.
"What I found intriguing about the show is that it’s all about character development, relationships and how people interact under stress," Messick said. "Plus the element of learning what people say behind our backs. It’s a huge psychological experiment."
And a compelling one, according to the TV-watching public, which has made the show a hit. Not surprisingly then, the second installment of Survivor is already in the works. Messick recently traveled to Australia to scout the next location, which is five hours west of Cairns in North Queensland. "It will be generally the same format," Messick said. "But we’ll be on a river in the Outback area. The feeling of isolation will come from being in the middle of nowhere." One thing is sure to change, however. "I bet we’ll get a lot more [applications] this time." Shooting is slated to begin Oct. 12 and run through November.
In the meantime, Messick and his longtime DP Mike Ozier recently co-directed "Magic Carpet Ride," a client-direct Skechers commercial. The ad features a cast of hip young people in sur-real urban settings. "My favorite image," Messick said, "is of the kids running down a stairway outside the Staples Center. We dropped 1,500 yellow superballs on them and shot at high speed." The ad broke a few weeks ago.
While Messick doesn’t foresee a barrage of spot assignments coming his way on account of Survivor, he does feel the show adds to his repertoire. "Survivor is about knowing how to tell a story with real people and making it have a style and a look that’s consistent with what it is," he said. "I’m a filmmaker, and whether [the job] is a show or a commercial, I can make things look as they should."
However, if recent ad endeavors for two clients are any indication, the series could signal an opportunity for Messick. Last week during Survivor’s seventh episode (7/12), Reebok introduced "Leeches," the first ad in a six-spot campaign spoofing the show. Created by Berlin Cameron & Partners, New York, the spot introduces two regular guys who find themselves in Survivor-like situations. Ex-castaway and San Francisco lawyer Stacy Spillman, who was sent packing in episode three, makes a cameo.
The remaining Reebok spots are "Shihtzu Kabob," "Poison Oak," "Snake Bite," "Really Hungry" and "B.B.’s Return." The latter is a two-parter set to air during the series finale and will bring back B.B., the 64-year-old construction magnate and the second survivor booted off the island. Jeff Gorman of JGF, Hollywood, helmed the commercials.
The other Survivor-themed ad-which was created by DDB Chicago for Bud Light-was produced before the show premiered. "We got lucky," said DDB executive VP/executive production director Grant Hill. Directed by Eddy Chu of Backyard Productions, Chicago, "Jungle" opens on a couple of guys being chased by natives on a desert island. The guys are about to make for the getaway plane when they notice several cases of Bud Light on the beach. Their plans change. The next shot finds them drinking beer in a Tiki bar, their heads shrunken, presumably by the natives.
Messick began his career at NBA Entertainment, producing and directing short sports segments. He later spent a couple of years as producer/director on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, before moving on to write and direct the up close and personal profiles of Olympic athletes for broadcast during the Atlanta Games. Additional credits include MTV Sports, through which Messick was first exposed to commercials. While there, he helmed a few in-house ads for sponsors such as Squirt. Later came the opportunity to direct some client-direct Reebok ads, including "Iron Man," which were run through bicoastal/international Propaganda Films.
A spot for Skechers proved to be Messick’s big commercial break. After directing "Wall Flowers" in ’98, he signed with Atlas Adrenaline. (Mess Media, Santa Monica, produced the client-direct ad.) Since then, Messick has helmed additional Skechers spots as well as ads for Busch beer, Fogdog.com and Persol sunglasses.
"I’ll stay with Survivor as long as it makes sense," he said. "I love the show and the people I work with. And it’s really rewarding to see so many people react to your work. But I really love commercials, the short concentration on something that’s so artistic and involves storytelling."
