Peter L. Harmon's Blog

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Wow, so the beginning of a new year is upon us which usually calls for reflection anyway, but I'm coming up on another milestone also...
10 years of living in Los Angeles.

On January 9th of 2008 my dad and I flew to LA and in the days following I began a semester long film program called the Los Angeles Film Studies Center. 

Since then basically a third of my life has happened, right? I thought I'd make a list of some memorable moments, in sort of chronological order...

- Directing a short film featuring Justin Grant Wade aka Steve Holt! from Arrested Development
- Background acting (aka being an extra) on shows like House and Criminal Minds and (the newer versions of) 90210 and Melrose Place, rubbing elbows with Nick Kroll and Dave Franco and Jerry O'Connell. One time when I was an extra Jesse Tyler Ferguson strolled up and said I looked familiar then we had a nice chat!
- Writing a handful of direct-to-DVD movies with religious themes and African American casts (anyone see Nora's Hair Salon 3: Shear Disaster?!)
- Stumbling into a career in producing reality TV, starting at the (very, very) bottom
- Working on over 100 episodes of A&E's Intervention
- GETTING MARRIED!!
- Caring for my first dog
- Meeting and writing for Orlando Brown and Chingy and other people of note! One time Orlando took me to Chili's in Northridge to discuss a sitcom pilot we wrote together. Another time I was introduced to Jamie Foxx and he was not impressed...
- Pitching to Funny Or Die, taking sketch comedy class at UCB, guesting on podcasts and YouTube shows
- Having our first son!! Being a stay at home dad during the day and working at night
- Telling Shane West that I'm a big fan, running into Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller at The Grove right before seeing Forgetting Sarah Marshall
- Seeing awesome comedy at UCB with Ash: Judd Apatow, Jonah Hill, Aziz, Dragon Boy Suede, Brett Gelman, Reggie Watts, Charlyne Yi, The Birthday Boys, Paul Rust and Neil Campbell, Kristen Schaal, Jeff Garlin, John Ross Bowie, etc, etc
- Steadily working for 10 years in the field that I studied in high school and college without having to take a non-industry side job ever
- Producing sketch comedy videos that got featured on the front page of Funny Or Die
- Writing a feature length movie that was shot in Tokyo
- Writing two YA novels, the first of which getting optioned to be developed into a movie or tv show
- Having our second son!! 
- Making new friends and keeping the ones that mean the most

I don't know what the future holds. I'm still writing constantly. Book 3 is in the works. I have sitcom specs and feature scripts and all kinds of stuff I want to get made. 

So here's to 10 more years in LA?

When I was writing my first book I didn't know if it would ever even be published.
Now, two years later and another book coming out in a couple weeks, writing books has lead to awesome things. BUT I never imagined that someone would do a BOOK REPORT on one of my books!!!! Below are some awesome pictures from a creative young lady with great taste.
(some *spoilers* for the first book in the text of the report)

So cool!!!!
And yes that is a Jell-o pool.

Pete
Austin

Name: Austin Scott
A handful of credits: I started as a union apprentice editor at 20th Television when I was 21, then moved up to an assistant about a year later. I've been an editor for about 7 years, currently cutting season 13 of Food Network Star. I like to work on a variety of projects - recent shows include Flipping Out, Project Runway Junior, and Caraoke Showdown with Craig Robinson. 
Where are you from?
I grew up in Florida - the Keys when I was a kid, then Winter Park, a suburb of Orlando. I moved to LA right after high school to pursue a career in the entertainment industry... acting, actually.

So this is a first.
Usually I use this space to write about how I know the interviewee, but in Austin's case I don't know him!! BUT this one of the great things about this series on my blog, bringing people in our line of work together.
Austin reached out to me via social media after the Michael Chaskes interview. He sent me some links and an intro email and I thought he would be a perfect subject for this series.
Plus, look at this picture he sent, what a cute baby!! I'm always ready to listen to another parent in this industry because it's tough, heck, being a parent is tough by itself and being in reality TV is no picnic either.
Some background, Austin owns a post-production house here in Los Angeles. So, Austin, what is your day-to-day like?
I manage a team of remote offline editors who cut a variety of projects for me, mostly sizzle reels. We work with a number of independent producers, directors, production companies, and major studios.
For me, I work full-time in TV, so during the days I may take a phone call or two from clients but with the editors I'm pretty hands off. Once I get home I check in with all my guys and get progress reports and we go from there. When we get to finishing stage, I usually take a pass, then if needed we work with preferred vendors for online/mix/VFX etc. 

What's a weird thing about Reality TV that no one thinks about?
Not one reality show I've ever cut has truly been "real". No matter how "docu-style" the project is, as soon as there's a film crew and the cameras start rolling, people morph into different versions of themselves.
I guess the only way to truly capture real life would to be to do it secretly, but that would lead to all kinds of issues: legal, ethical, and otherwise...

You're also an actor as well as a father! Are you still pursuing the acting dream? Is it hard to balance fatherhood and your professional life?
I'm a dad!
I have two ridiculously cute kids with my wife Ashley, a 2 1/2 year old girl named Reese and an 8 month old boy, Wilder. So life is pretty busy!
We are actually all represented by the same talent agency as a family - I'm not so interested in pursuing acting anymore but you may see me auditioning for commercials with my kids or wife as a real dad or husband! I figure if 2 or 3 of us book something it's worth taking the hour lunch to hit that audition, and it paid off last year when three of us booked a Whole Foods national! 
Wow, congrats!
Balancing everything can be tough. Ashley started her own interior decorating business last year, so two entrepreneurs, one working away from home full-time, and two kids that aren't quite in preschool yet... Yeah.
We are about at our wits' end. But parenting is by far the most amazing gift I've ever been given and I wouldn't trade it for anything!
I'm with ya! I've written about it before on this blog, but having kids and having less "free" time has probably made me more productive. Time seems more valuable, thus you treat it that way.

And what's the deal with your post-production facility?
I started Scott Post Company in 2014 so I could keep taking on freelance editing gigs without having to actually cut them myself!
I manage a roster of remote editors (many who also work full-time in TV) and creatively supervise, then do most of the finishing. It's worked out well for our clients, and I believe this is the way a large part of the industry will ultimately head - remote post production with entirely virtual communication.
How many of you want to be relaxing in a hammock in Kauai cutting a show open with all your footage streamed through the cloud? I know I do! 
This whole thing has been a fantastic way to bring in extra revenue for my family while providing freelance gigs to editors who are out of work or looking for extra income as well. I also use Scott Post Co. as my loan-out corporation so that I'm able to save substantially on income taxes. 
Just because you work long days in the industry doesn't mean you can't start a business. Figure out a way to use your expertise to your advantage, and stop working so many hours!
Life is too short. 
I love this.
I'm now dreaming of story producing from my house in my pajamas, I mean, I already get to wear jeans and a t-shirt to work, but if I could find some way to work in basketball shorts...
Hopefully this was inspiring to the readers.
And Austin, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a couple of resumes to work at your facility off of this. Thank you for reaching out and for your thoughtful answers.

Hey Reality TV friends! I'd like to interview YOU! Please email me at TheHappenstances at gmail.com or message me on Facebook or whatever. THANK YOU!!!

Pete
Candice

Name: Candice Francis

I met Candice a few years ago when I was stringing together my first several reality TV jobs in a row after A&E's Intervention went on hiatus (then was cancelled, then was brought back a year or so later). 
I was the Story Assistant on The Car Chasers, a show where the host bought, fixed up, and flipped cars. Candice came on as a Story Producer a month or so into my time there and instantly fit into the story room but also added her own energy. She's brash, opinionated, and hilarious (see her answers below for a taste of her wit and writing style). Sometimes she yells at her computer monitor...
We also bonded because we're both parents, so we were familiar with the parent/post-production lifestyle.
So Candice, how did you get into Reality TV?
I always knew I wanted to do something with writing. Toward the end of high school I began to pursue songwriting. The best way for me to get my words heard was to venture out as a solo artist, which is very expensive. My mom invested in professional recording equipment and I learned to engineer by watching. Along with doing extra work in film and television, I found myself equipped with technical skills to accompany my writing talents. 
"Extra work" or "background acting" is a low-paying gig you can get out here in LA where you're an extra in movie and television scenes that need people in them: party scenes, the mall, etc, etc. I did that work several months when I first got out here, that's a whole different blog post/ or maybe a whole different blog...
One day after an extra work gig, a peer of mine told me about her job as a "logger." Completely unrelated to it's subjectively more fascinating homonym, logging is the most tedious process in production; wherein footage is watched down and labeled for producers to more efficiently storyboard, as well as transcribing.
Isn't transcribing the worst??
Omg, transcribing is like when you became an adult and you had to start filling out your own paperwork. It feels great to be independent but you wish your mom would do it. 
I started to do that at night, and worked my way up the ranks: logger/transcriber to story assistant, associate producer, story producer, senior story producer, and supervising story producer. I've since taken a step back to balance my at-home and work responsibilities.

What's a weird thing about Reality TV that no one thinks about?
The dichotomy of being sensitive enough to recognize nuance of relationship dynamics and having thick enough skin to handle the constant criticism.
Yes, a big part of our job is getting notes and notes (and notes) and reworking and reworking (and reworking) our scenes, how do you handle that aspect?
Breathe. And try not to take completely personally critical notes, personal. 
I definitely have gotten a note that said something like "Are you an idiot?" Not helpful bro...

And you're a mom! What is it like 1) being a woman in Reality TV? 
Like any office environment, post-production is a microcosm of life. The dynamics between men and women differ from project to project. Of course there are your boys' clubs but I feel like dealing with the opposite sex is about understanding the stereotypes and how to deal with people based on a general knowledge what their preconceived notions about you are; as a woman, a mixed-race woman at that (or just black to most people), a woman who curses, a mom, a Canadian. As all of those, being secure in who I am, I simply trudge on through the misunderstanding and misogyny and sprinkle in a little of my own anti-feminist humor to stay sane.
Now, PMS is another story; we should all just hide in the bathroom stall and avoid any professional interaction.
Lol!

And 2) being a mother in post-production? 
Rough. As you know the norm is a 10 to 7 schedule but being a single Mom I have to make a deal for every contract that I can come in early and leave at 5 to pick my son up from after school care. Sometimes "it's a thing," because I work for single people who just don't get it, and sometimes, everything is great.
And then we get notes... death. The end.

What is a PERK of post production reality TV producing? 
The casual environment. From sweats to business casual attire is all acceptable. And sarcasm is an integral part of the fabric of making "quality reality tv."
I'm a big fan of this aspect of our job as well...

Thank you Candice!! Hey Reality TV friends! I'd like to interview YOU! Please email me at TheHappenstances at gmail.com or message me on Facebook or whatever. THANK YOU!!!

Pete
Michael

Name: Michael Chaskes
A handful of credits: My most recognizable reality credits are ABC’s Supernanny and Bravo’s Real Housewives of New York City.
Where are you from?
I was born in Philadelphia and raised in nearby South Jersey.  I left to attend college in Connecticut (Wesleyan University, where I majored in Film Studies), and headed out to Los Angeles right after I graduated in 1991.

Michael in his bay last Halloween as a unicorn.

I met Michael last year when he was the supervising editor and I was a producer on the very cool kids trivia game show Child Genius for the Lifetime channel. He has a very welcoming bay, a quick wit, and lightning fast editing fingers. I would bring him a stringout (see Michael's definition of a stringout below) and he would elevate the material with his cutting, music choices, and often visual graphics that aided the show immensely. 
So Michael, how did you get into Reality TV?
Having studied cinema in college, I spent my first 10 years in LA trying to break in as a feature film editor.  Although I ended up cutting a few very good low-budget independent films during that time (along with some not-so-good ones), I never got a full-fledged career going, and earned my living primarily from office jobs.  
A few of my most story-worthy experiences actually occurred in my first few months in L.A.  My very first “industry” gig was working as an unpaid apprentice editor on a low-budget indie film made by an unknown director, with the enigmatic title Reservoir Dogs.  
Whoa!!
As an apprentice, my primary duty was the unglamorous chore of “reconstituting the trims” — which meant splicing rejected pieces of film and “mag” (magnetic soundtrack) back into the rolls they originally came from.  (In the digital age, this obviously is no longer a thing.)  But you’ll find my name in the end credits, and I got to meet Quentin Tarantino.  
Right after that, I worked — again as an unpaid apprentice editor — at the legendary Roger Corman’s B-movie studio of that moment, Concorde Pictures in Venice.  The site had previously been a lumberyard, and still looked like one; it’s now a very nice condo complex.  These unpaid experiences soon led to some paid work as an assistant editor, and to my handful of actual feature editing gigs.
In late 2000, an editor I knew recommended me for a documentary series being produced for PBS.  This turned out to be an amazing project called Senior Year, which was not as widely seen as it deserved to be.  (Now you can watch the whole thing on YouTube — I recommend it highly.)  I was hired as a junior-level editor, but I was too green to know that I should only be creating “stringouts” (very rough assemblies that more experienced editors will refine into finished scenes).  Instead, I was turning in fully edited and polished scenes, with music scoring and all.  Fortunately the director liked my work, and I was promoted to be one of the full editors.  While Senior Year wasn't a reality show, strictly speaking, there was enough similarity that, after it was finished, the lead editor (the wonderful Susan Crutcher) suggested that I look for more work in reality TV, and I was given a few phone numbers to call.
I ended up messing around with some other documentary projects for another year and a half after that, but in 2003, I was hired to help cut a reality show called Faking It for TLC.  Not that I knew this at the time, but the show's workflow was stripped-down and non-standard — instead of having a story department, editing teams, hotsheets, field notes, transcripts, and all that sort of thing, the production execs simply threw the editor into the bay with the director of an episode, along with all the director’s footage, and expected the two of them to hash out a cut between them.  They expected long hours and long work-weeks, so it was a pretty intense director/editor collaboration, more like what you’d find in the feature world than in reality TV.  I ended up cutting two episodes over the next several months, working with a kind and very talented director by the name of Dustin Lance Black, who it turned out was destined for much bigger things.  (If you don’t recognize the name, Google him now!)  
Another wow, wow, wow!
At that point, I had no clue how to do the stylistic bells and whistles that are common to reality TV. Luckily for me, Lance had editing experience himself, and was a naturally patient and helpful person besides; he essentially taught me how and when to do common little tricks like white flashes (very popular at the time) and speed ramps.  After those were done, I also ended up cutting one episode of a special mini-series run of Junkyard Mega-Wars for the same company, but then their work dried up (at least for me).
After that I started cold-faxing my résumé to every reality production company I could find, and finally in May 2004, I got a call from the Post Supervisor at Weller/Grossman Productions.  My résumé had caught his eye primarily because his wife had been one of the directors on the same season of “Faking It” that I’d worked on.  I was hired to work on one particular show, Your Reality Checked (for the long-defunct Fine Living channel).  For this show, they also assigned one editor per episode (as opposed to an editing-team approach).   My new employers were overall impressed with the first episode I cut, though Gary Grossman, one of the company principals, gave me some great advice about how to cut to music and let montages breathe, which informed my whole approach to reality editing from that time forward.  I cut another episode with the same story producer (the great Rob Blumenstein) and then was given a third episode to not only cut but also to story-produce entirely on my own, including writing the narration.  This was a great experience and also a lot of fun — and, since I had no one else to turn to when I hit a trouble spot, it also taught me that no story or editing problem is insoluble, especially if you sleep on it.  (I remember encountering at least one thorny story problem that seemed hopeless at 5 pm, but the solution appeared clear as day as soon as I returned the following morning.)
I ended up staying on at Weller/Grossman for 4 solid years, as they kept me busy with a variety of unscripted or soft-scripted shows, mostly for Food Network and HGTV, which built up my résumé to the point where I felt secure in my ability to find other work readily if the need arose.  In 2008, the company essentially folded and I was let go, along with most of the other long-term people there.  However, I was able to get hired right away at another company, thanks to a supervising producer I’d worked with earlier at Weller/Grossman who was interested in adding me to the editing team on her current show.  Just as that show wrapped, I was asked by another former Weller/Grossman colleague to interview at a company then called Ricochet (now Shed Media) for a spot on the editing team for Supernanny.  I got the job, was again kept on to work on other shows, and have remained there for over 8 years.

You seem to have a coveted situation in this freelance world, a pretty steady gig at a production company. Can you talk about that? How did it come about? What can an editor or producer do to help them along that path?
A big part of that is landing at the right company in the first place.  If you take a job with employers who regard creative staff as interchangeable cogs (as I understand some do), they’ll be unlikely to appreciate your particular contribution or make an effort to keep you around. (Of course, some editors and producers enjoy having the freedom to move around from company to company, which also brings the freedom to choose from a wider range of projects.  Overall, I prefer consistency.)  I was lucky enough to wind up at two companies where I was able to make a good impression quickly, and where my abilities were valued.  I was also fortunate to have been “well-seasoned” enough when I arrived that I didn’t embarrass myself through inexperience.  (I realize I haven’t yet mentioned one brief stint on a show where, as a total newbie editor, I rejected a note being given to me directly from the head of the company, because I just didn’t know any better — and because I clearly hadn’t developed much common sense yet.)
I think for anyone who is trying to make themselves as invaluable as possible, I’d offer the following advice:  
1) BE PASSIONATE.  If you don’t love editing, you won’t be the best editor you can be.  I imagine that the same goes for story producing.  The process of making TV can be exhausting and frustrating at times, but nonetheless, don’t ever stop caring about making the show as good as you can possibly make it.  Your commitment will show.  
2) WORK COOPERATIVELY.  I’ve always found great collegiality and helpfulness among and between editors and story producers — do your best to keep all your collaborations friendly, productive, and goal-oriented.  Not only will this result in a more pleasant working experience and a better show, it’ll build a network of people who want to keep working with you.  
3) BE FLEXIBLE.  If you’re angling to stay put at a particular company, part of the tradeoff may be cheerfully accepting the assignments you’re given.

What's a weird thing about Reality TV that no one thinks about?
We have ridiculous conversations in the office.  Since a lot of reality shows deal with material that's risqué or just plain raunchy, we end up having to discuss all manner of subjects that would be wildly out of place in a typical office context.
This is true... haha!

You're always working, you have a family, you're active in your community, and you're up on the latest movies and television it seems. Do you pursue any other hobbies/ side projects, etc? How do you find balance for the things that you're into?
I’m fortunate that editing is my hobby as well as my profession — if I didn’t get paid to do it for a living, I’d likely be finding ways to do it on my own time.  Every once in a while, I’m able to help out a friend or a non-profit with a video project, or make a video to show at a family celebration, though I’m not working on anything else right now.   My other interests include — as you said — watching movies and TV, as well as reading, playing piano, some light bicycling and hiking, doing some community service work, and — a new and very geeky pursuit — participating in adult spelling bees (there are a couple of them out there).  
Lately, I’ve also become much more politically active, and I’m hoping to find a way to put my editing skills to use in that arena as well at some point.  Keeping everything in balance has certainly been an ongoing challenge, and it’s never easy, but I think the key is to establish at least rough boundaries for all of one’s activities, and try to stick to them as much as possible.  
My family is my top priority.

Thank you Michael!! Hey Reality TV friends! I'd like to interview YOU! Please email me at TheHappenstances at gmail.com or message me on Facebook or whatever. THANK YOU!!!

Pete
Matt

Name: Matthew Hartwell
A handful of credits: I got my start on Intervention, and have worked on a bunch of different shows, including Bar Rescue, My Cat From Hell, and Billion Dollar Buyer.
Where are you from? 
I’m originally from Pittsburgh, but grew up all over, Little Rock, Mobile, Tallahassee. I’ve lived in Los Angeles for almost a decade at this point. 

I met Matt when he was a post-production production assistant (post-pro PA...) on the long running A&E series Intervention and I was the night logger (as explained in my Dreams & Reality here). I would arrive at the end of his shift and he would pass the baton as it were, and give me my assignment for the evening. He'd tell me what episode we were working on, should I prioritize this footage over that, etc. He was my point person to the rest of the show. 
What could have been a standard debriefing every work evening was actually a nice moment of my day where I talked to a funny, witty fellow before my long night shift alone in an empty office building.
Matt and I struck up a friendship due to our mutual love of writing and booze and our shared disdain for night logging.
So, Matt, how did you get into Reality TV? 
By accident, really. I had been interning in scripted comedy in New York, and then moved out to LA, but didn’t know anybody working in that out here. An ex hooked me up with a transcription job, that turned into night logging, that turned into a post-PA position that turned into story editing that turned into story producing that turned into an anxiety ulcer.

What's a weird thing about Reality TV that no one thinks about?
You already mentioned bathroom mics, so I can’t use that one.
I think one of the weird things is how much people trust you, even though they know you’re there to get drama from them. I don’t enjoy this aspect of the job, but often times, I’m asked by the person in my earpiece to make you cry in an interview (not because it’s fun to watch people cry, but because it shows that things we’re talking about or working on are important to you, and that you’re emotionally invested - on Bar Rescue, we’d have a lot of stoic dudes as bar owners, and it’s hard to relate to someone who sometimes seems like they don’t give a shit if their bar fails or not - I’d be asked to find out WHY the bar matters to them, and oftentimes, it was almost as if it was news to them too), and I learn pretty soon into our relationship how to make you do it. People open up to reality producers way too quickly. I think a lot of subjects use us as a therapist.
I don't have a ton of experience "in the field" aka on-set or on location but I've watched hundreds of hours of interviews and it's true. The subjects on the show Intervention especially opened up to the crew in ways that they wouldn't open up to their friends and family.

Matt, you're also a writer! Talk about your writing and the difficulty (or ease?) of writing while working long hours.
It’s not easy.
In my imagination, I still have the kind of free time you have right after college, and I can still fit in videogames, books, hanging out, and learning new hobbies all alongside actual important things like building my relationship, focusing on my writing career, and actually sitting down and doing the writing.
It’s hard to prioritize those things after a long day working on reality TV, and they can definitely be long days. When you’re in the field, you’re often working a 14-hour day on set, and then going back to your hotel room to prep for the next day, which might mean cutting footage, writing interview questions, or even having a full meeting to discuss a twist in the storyline nobody saw coming.
I have a writing partner, and for a long time, we were very diligent about meeting twice a week, rain or shine, and we’ve let that slip a bit, and moved to an ongoing conversation in Slack and Google Docs. When we carve out all-day sessions on the weekends, they’re infinitely more valuable.
My big goal this year is reprioritizing my writing - too much in the past two years, we’ve been chasing projects brought to us by producers and companies, and these are definitely valuable and help us build our network and skills, but we weren’t also writing our own stuff on top of that.

You're currently working on a cool project that is NOT reality TV, can you talk about it at all??
I’m in a binding NDA right now.
Ooh, secretsssss. I'll be sure to post about the project once it's okay for you to share.

Do you have any other fun projects you're working on? 
I produce a podcast called Ginspeak.
We’re on hiatus right now, but the first three episodes from the pilot season are available, with a second season beginning production next month. I talk about booze and cocktail culture, with a focus on gin, but touching anything distilled, really. The second season is going to be wildly different from the first, with a focus on interviews and roundtable discussions as opposed to the more history and process focused one-man-band of season one.
You can find us on iTunes or at www.ginspeak.com!

Thanks Matt!! Hey Reality TV friends! I'd like to interview YOU! Please email me at TheHappenstances at gmail.com or message me on Facebook or whatever. THANK YOU!!!

I was watching footage today at my job. In it, a guy thought he had a spider on him, another person assured him that he did not. The fellow said that if he had indeed had a spider on him he would have cried.

This spurred a couple bug memories of mine that might make you cringe or laugh or some combination of the two.

1) This is a shortie but sweetie. And it has a happy ending.

One night I was taking out the trash as I'm known to do. I went around the front of the house instead of the back, totally randomly. I think my play-shoes were out front.

Later I had some more recycling to take out, I went around back this time. I just happened to pop my phone's light on when I neared the trash cans. Thankfully I had because my white beam illuminated one of the largest spider webs that I had ever seen (it still holds the record). Accompanying her web was a very large, dark colored spider as well. It was about 9 feet in the air so I didn't get a good look at her. I'm not sure her species, but her impressive web spanned from the side of my house's wall to the fence, about 7 feet I'd guess. Sadly, it did not have a message for me or any farmers woven into it...

I left the recycling there to be put in the receptacle another time. I could deal with that in the light of day.

Can you imagine if I had waltzed into that web, no light, hands full of garbage bags? The spider would have fallen from her perch probably onto my face, the silky strings of the webbing would have entombed me, and I would have had no choice but to light myself on fire. But it didn't and I didn't, so that's the happy ending.

2) Not so short, not as happy of an ending. 

One night I came in from jogging, turned off the front porch light, and went to grab my pajamas so I could shower and change. As I was heading to the bathroom from the bedroom I saw a dark, standard comb-sized object on a bare white wall. It was dark in the room so I wasn't sure if it was a shadow or my imagination, or what. When I flipped on the light though I saw a very large roach of some sort, chillaxin' on my front room's wall.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the first story, but bugs are a thing for me. I wouldn't call them a phobia of mine, but they live in the same neighborhood as a phobia if you get what I mean. And now I was faced with a choice: let this humongous, uninvited guest exist in my house, or duel the behemoth.

Naturally, I called my wife into the room. Thankfully my kids were asleep or they would have lost some respect for their father because of how terrified I was. My wife assured me that yes, this was MY problem, and good luck with it. As progressive as we are with our gender roles, bug wrangling still falls under my jurisdiction.

I enlisted my wife to make sure the bug didn't move, then I geared up. It was like an 80s movie montage but instead of guns and ammo and camo headbands I donned crocs, a hoodie, and one of those wooden paddles you take to the beach to bop around a bouncy ball in the sand. I pulled the ties of the hood tight and made bunny ears. I was ready for battle. (For some reason I neglected to put on pants though, so I was fully clothed except for my long, white legs clad in grey boxer briefs.)

Well we quickly learned that this particular breed of roach can fly... as it flew into our kitchen and hid which caused me even more emotional distress. Being able to see it in my house was bad enough, but knowing it was there and NOT being able to see it? That's a nightmare, like I've literally had nightmares like that.

But the creepy crawly (fly-y?) friend did not play hide and seek for too long, it reappeared on the ceiling of the kitchen. I looked for a way out. Could I suck it into the vacuum? Would it fly out the back door? No. I. Just. Had. To. Get. It. Out.

I worked up my nerve, I ran over, and paddled it off the ceiling, then I paddled it towards the sliding back door, then I paddled it off into the night. My heart was racing, I was sweating, but I was triumphant. My wife and I broke down in laughter.

I looked like a weirdo in my hoodie and undies and crocs. We had just been through a traumatic couple of minutes. But actually, in a week where we had been overworked and we had under-slept, it had been an almost "fun" bonding time. We had problem solved and felt big emotions together. And we were so glad it was over.

My theory is that the interloper had hitched a piggy back ride when I had come inside after my jog. And still, to this moment, the thought of it attaching itself to my shirt and riding into my house still gives me the itchy-willies.

The moral of those two stories? Hey, I never said there was one, I'm not a role model, ok? Get off my back.

Hello!! Today I'm debuting DREAMS & REALITY, my new blog series. As a prototype I interviewed someone I know pretty well... ME!

Name: Peter Harmon
A handful of credits: Transcriber/Logger/Production Assistant/Story Assistant on Intervention, Producer on Celebrity Wife Swap and Home Free

How did you get into Reality TV?
My directing teacher back at Towson University was simultaneously teaching the class while also producing episodes of A&E's Intervention. He would go on location to shoot or work in post in LA then fly to Maryland to teach a Saturday directing class. Once I moved out to LA he was one of my very few contacts. I met him for lunch, asked him about work, and he said he did have a job for me, transcribing, but it wasn't a great job.

I said "I'll take it!"

What is transcribing?
At the time when I was doing it a few years ago, I would watch a DVD of interview footage and type exactly what the interviewer and the interview subject were saying. I made $1 per transcribed minute, which sounds pretty cool, except when you're trying to figure out what drug addicts are saying through their slurred, hazy speech.

How did you get promoted from Transcriber to Logger to PA to Story Assistant all on one show?
I worked on Intervention for about 5 years, roughly 7 seasons. This is not typical in Reality TV. Usually a stint on a show lasts a couple months and then it's time to find a new job. So, since I always got my transcription minutes in on time with few errors and took "rush minutes" and was a pretty cool dude they promoted me to Night Logger. Logging footage (when I was doing it a few years ago...) was watching raw footage and making excel documents about what happened in the footage for the producers and editors to look through to find a topic or a shot or an OTF (On The Fly interview) that they may need.
I actually could have gotten promoted to Production Assistant sooner but my wife and I had our first son while I was night logging and I logged at night and watched the baby during the day. So I didn't take a day position a couple times when it was offered because we weren't making enough really for childcare and he was still so little we wanted me to watch him. 
During that period of time I didn't get a ton of sleep... 
Once our baby was bigger we transitioned to childcare and I switched to the day shift and right around then the current Story Assistant was promoted and I took his spot. 
I attribute the promotions to: being around, learning, making my intentions of going into the story department known, having a good attitude, and being a chill dude.

What's a weird thing about Reality TV that no one thinks about?
People have microphones strapped to their bodies while they're being filmed. They forget they have them on. They go to the bathroom. 
I've heard dozens, maybe hundreds, of people pee.

You must have moved to Hollywood with a dream, what is it and how are you still pursuing that dream? 
I have been shooting video, making movies, and writing since I was a kid. I started as a camera person and switchboard operator on my elementary school's morning show. I wrote poems and stories throughout grade school and took television productions classes in high school. My curfew was before all of my friends had to be home so after I hung out with them I'd hit Blockbuster and see what was new, what was in the Sundance section, what else had some writer done that I had just discovered.
I went to college for Electronic Media & Film and Creative Writing.
Simply, I came to Hollywood to write movies.  
And I have! I've written several produced direct to DVD movies (when that was still a thing...), for example, anyone a big fan of Nora's Hair Salon 3???? I wrote that. I also wrote a movie that was released last year, shot in Tokyo, called Love In Tokyo. And a handful of sketch videos, a web series, and other various projects. 
I'm still out here writing and hustling to do bigger movies. I wrote a young adult novel that I hope will be adapted into a movie at some point as well. SO I am still on my journey.

Thanks Pete!
Yep.
Check out The Happenstances at the Yellow County Community Swim and Racquet Club the Summer Before Last. The sequel is coming this summer.

Hey Reality TV friends! I'd like to interview YOU! Please email me at TheHappenstances at gmail.com or message me on Facebook or whatever. THANK YOU!!!

Helloooo!

Today I'm announcing two new projects that I'm very excited about.

YOUNG AND IN LOVE is a new PODCAST that my wife Ashlea and I have started!

Here's the pitch: Pete and Ash are (relatively) young and certainly in love. Pete is an author, screenwriter, producer, and daddy. Ash is a teacher at an inclusive school and a mommy. Each episode they talk about parenting, productivity, and positivity and they also play fun games, discuss current events and pop culture. Welcome to Young And In Love!

The first episode is up RIGHT NOW. You can search Young And In Love on iTunes or find it here.

and

DREAMS & REALITY is a new BLOG SERIES that I'll be posting here on my blog.

Here's the pitch: I interview people that I know in the Reality TV realm. I'll ask them about the behind the scenes of working in "reality." Crazy stories, terrible craft services, run-ins with the talent... And also practical knowledge like how to get into television production, what is a "stringout", and what in the world could a "frankenbite" be? 

Another aspect of the blog posts will be focusing on the subject's Hollywood dreams. Why did they initially venture to Los Angeles? What side projects do they do? What are their aspirations for the reality space? I'll be able to pepper in my thoughts and experiences as well. It'll be fun!

So to my Reality TV friends and fam, email me if you would like to be interviewed for this series.

Thanks!!