GenesisInc.TV

In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he's had the pleasure to know.
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello.

In the year 2000, Penny Lane Studios came to be through the determination and experience of Bobby Sorrentino. In the following few years it quickly grew to be the post-production facility of choice for many advertising agencies and cable giants.

Bobby, his space and his team became a magnet for a growing number of high-end clients because the quality of their work was and continues to be industry leading and undeniable. However, while the watermark has been set by product quality, what cannot be ignored though is how cool, funky and comfortable this place is. Penny Lane Studios is a living, breathing tribute to Pop Culture. What’s your guilty Pop Culture pleasure? Pac man? – There’s an original arcade game in the corner. Star Wars? Check out the full size sculpture of Hans Solo frozen in carbonite. The Beatles? The place is crawling with original (and often signed) memorabilia from original TV Guide covers to real street signs from Penny Lane, Liverpool. I wonder which is more expensive, the 60-channel multi-media boards in the individual studios or the two original Light Sabers displayed in the front window.

What this place must be worth is weighing heavily on my mind and John and I exchange more than a few glances on the subject because while Penny Lane Studios is usually an icon of icons and post-production - today it is the set for part 2 of Genesis, Inc. “The Talkalope”

On the corner is a banker with a motorcar,
The little children laugh at him behind his back.
And the banker never wears a mack
In the pouring rain, very strange.

Saturday morning is cloudy and the rain is coming. Call time is 10am and by the time Carolyn and I get there at 9:40am, John and Mike have already arrived. The lobby of the building is filling with bags, equipment and food. I have asked everyone to be prompt and they are. By 10:15 the whole cast and crew have landed and are going up to the studio in groups via the freight elevator.

Once we are gathered in the Penny Lane “living room”, several of the group are seeing this place for the first time and eyebrows are rising. This is an ocean of super cool distractions and temptations, most of them fragile and valuable. John, Steve, Mike and Paul go to work setting up equipment and matching camera settings while I brief the rest of the team not to jump over the side of the ship because of the siren song. The message of the day is this – we have 16 pages of dialogue to shoot in 9 hours. That sobers everyone up and soon the team has their game face on.

In Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen.
He likes to keep his fire engine clean,
It's a clean machine.

The first set up is the kitchen area for the “Cheetah – Moose” scene. The set up is Steve’s two big China Balls for lighting, two lavs and a boom for sound and two 24P cameras catching everything. Execution is pretty smooth but as soon as we wrap the scene the debate erupts between cast and crew alike – who would win, the cheetah or the moose? Much to my surprise the consensus in the room is that the cheetah would be the hands down winner. I suspect these people have never seen a moose – and I say so. I am ridiculed and silently vow revenge but it’s time to shoot the next scene.

(My Revenge: I invite you to visit our GenesisInc.TV forum and vote for the animal you think would win. Be prepared to defend your choice!)

Before lunch we log two more set ups, one at the lunchroom table and one at the freight elevator. The equipment doesn’t change much and the crew are finding their rhythm. Steve and Mike are shooting everything and communicating well, Paula and Tony are backing them up beautifully as AD/PA’s and anyone who is not in the scene are on standby as crew. Everyone is focused on the field of play and couldn’t be more professional. Lunch is coming and we do a pizza check – who wants what? John and Carolyn agree on which and how many and Carolyn turns to execute. Cathy calls out not to forget the spinach pizza and gets a laugh.

We get a quick set visit from Cathrina and Jean Pierre, eager to see and support. They take pictures and laugh at the performances. It was a treat to get some audience energy and some fresh laughter.

Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout
The pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray
And tho' she feels as if she's in a play
She is anyway.

Lunch is pizza and salad. Carolyn asks why no one is eating the spinach pizza. Silence. Laughter. Lesson? Don’t joke with Carolyn when she has her game face on.

Lunch is brief and a little greasy and we are back at work in the big studio. This is where we will spend the rest of the afternoon. The bulk of the script is being shot here and it simply would not have been possible in the brief timeframe without the homework that John and Steve had done. Angles, line takes, lighting and all with two cameras. Paula and Tony are invaluable, Dave is both performer and shoot consultant and John is pulling double duty – director, performer. Paul, Cathy, Dave, Simcha, John and myself are having a ton of fun with the script by treating it as seriously as a heart attack.

It’s getting late, energy is winding down and as quickly as it began, we’re done. Now the whole team is cleaning and packing up.

Soon it’s 6:40pm and we are all standing on 19th Street buzzing. No one wants to leave but slowly by ones and twos we do. This was a good one and it shows on the faces of our Genesis, Inc. family.

Our deepest thanks to Cathy, Paul, Steve, Mike, Ashuk, Paula, Tony, Carolyn, Simcha, and Dave.

This one goes out to Bobby and the team from Penny Lane Studios – for your love and trust.

Penny lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
There beneath the blue suburban skies,
Penny Lane.