by Russell White CAS
Pregame
When the Executive Producers behind Running Point shared their vision and show’s plot, I was equally intrigued and excited. A few years back, I joined their crew for Mel Brooks’ much anticipated History of the World, Part II. That experience was epic, truly once-in-a-lifetime (Mel Brooks!) and pushed me into that challenging, yet adrenaline filled territory as an orchestra conductor capturing perfectly timed dialog and song, while collaborating across departments. Anything new, stemming from this hilariously brilliant team, could only be great and of course, filled with energy, heart and lots of laughs.
If you haven’t had a chance to catch Running Point on Netflix or missed the story-behind-the-story, it’s loosely inspired by Jeanie Buss, her family, THE legendary basketball team (if it must be named, it rhymes with “Bakers”), and her underestimated talent for game strategy, player dynamics, team leadership, risk taking, and problem solving on every level, with a dose of humility, sibling rivalry, a few surprises, and managing unexpected situations.
As I became familiar with the scripts and the cast, who would bring a fresh take on one of the most storied teams in NBA history, I realized that the show’s creators had locked in a ridiculously talented ensemble. It was now my responsibility, along with my incredible crew (more on them below), to tackle the audio challenges across live-action basketball, glass-enclosed sets, rapidly flowing dialog across multiple people, high-energy setups that balanced hundreds of background, and small groups of principals and everything in between. I couldn’t wait to start on something where every character was memorable in their own way. I found myself truly invested in a flawed family that loved too much and cued every basketball pun ever, with several of their own “buzzer beater” moments.
Three-Point Challenges
Show prep and planning were pretty seamless, thanks to my experienced and knowledgeable crew, Sound Utility Chloe Sizemore (also Second Boom), and Boom Operator Tony McCovey. We have been working together since Insecure, so we know each other’s process very well. The all-glass set was the first challenge, so we had to learn every detail of the set due to crazy reflections. They saw everything! We also shot all over Los Angeles Center Studios in Downtown Los Angeles from the parking garage to the roof. It was also essential to build close relationships with every department. The show also shot with three cameras which was super fun. To keep our team one step ahead, one thing that helped us in the past with shows was to build two carts and one mobile bag. This enabled incredible agility and responsiveness. My main cart utilized a Scorpio, CL-16 and sixteen Sound Devices A20-RX and the smaller, more mobile second cart using a CL-12 with a Sound Devices 888 and eight A20-RX. I also built a small ENG bag specifically for the main character, Isla (Kate Hudson). The ENG bag was a 633 Sound Devices with a hard-lined Neumann TLM 103 mic placed on a stand, for impromptu scratch VO (helpful for post when the director joins the editing process).
While the actors have crossover plot lines, basketball is also a key character. The basketball action is deftly managed as a hybrid chorus (Greek tragedy anyone?) and a thread that ties a straight line between Isla and her current destiny. Most importantly, it needed to look (thank you to our DP, Marco Fargnoli, and the camera department) and sound authentic. Shoe squeaks, ball movement, player sounds, coaching directions, and crowd yips and squeals are part-and-parcel to the basketball experience. Sweaty players and breathable, thin jerseys, while perfectly normal, are a bit more of a challenge when it comes to sound mixing. Chloe is incredibly talented with wiring actors! We used DPA 6060’s on everyone and believe it or not, I think we only had one break during the whole season. Plant mics played a huge roll as well. For the wide shots, a lot of scenes in the locker room were not boomable. Our go-to is the DPA MMC4018 hypercardiod capsule with the preamp wired for Lectrosonics transmitters.
Our team prevailed in planting mics, booming, and talent wires. The daily challenge is where do I live on set. Much of the time my cart was far away and since we were very wire heavy, scanning everyday was essential.
We also tried to keep each ISO as clean as possible, and had an incredible ally in the property department that brought out “prop balls” sometimes called stunt basketballs to save the day. These obviously produce sound, but it’s not as deep and doesn’t vibrate as much as real basketballs. They were used for wide shots for the main court and on the practice court, located inside the Waves’ administrative office floor. Isla, her Chief of Staff, Ali (Brenda Song), and her brothers Ness (Scott MacArthur), Sandy (Drew Tarver), and half-brother Jackie (Fabrizio Guido) are constantly running from office-to-office, and in the background you’ll see and hear the practice court in full action. Authenticity was key, and getting clean lines during walk-and-talks, often at an accelerated pace, with costumes that included suits, ties, and jackets for the men, and layered suits or multi-piece outfits for the women was critical.
Isla’s oldest brother, Cam, played by Justin Theroux, is core to the storyline and has a signature piece of clothing in a highly fashionable scarf. Chloe led creative wiring with the “usual” principals and problem solved for Cam. Creative wiring can include everything from hiding in one’s hair all the way down to wrapping a pack on one’s ankle (unless you’re wearing basketball shorts and a tank top jersey).
Going Full-Court Press
Shooting the basketball scenes was a new and fun experience; using Sanken CL-3 mics, at the court’s four corners, four voice-of-God mics (routed through my board) for the AD department and director, at least six wired players and another six for the principals, MKH50’s for the crowd, and both Chloe and Tony on their booms. This was a five-day sequence and included intense and simultaneous coordination between game play, the crowd, the players themselves, the players and the coach, and the principals. On a daily basis, inclusive of this sequence and general filming, we typically had at least ten actors wired per scene. Costumes ranged from the players’ uniforms, street clothes, three-piece suits and ties, wet clothes and no clothes (more on that later).
One of my favorite scenes was Sandy (Drew Tarver) playing acoustic guitar live in the basketball arena set. We originally pre-recorded this, but myself and Drew wanted to try it as a live performance. The scene was about expressing love, in the truest sense, and the live energy would be essential to further support the creative vision of this scene.
The arena was packed with fans, about one hundred-plus background and the mic was set up for the National Anthem. The set was large and naturally noisy, including arena-style bench seating, tall ceilings, and a very reflective floor.
Our work included a Lectrosonic HHa with a DPA 2028 capsule, which was hot to the house PA system and wiring Sandy with a DPA 6061, our six principals, all the players and coaches, and specific actors embedded in the crowd. We mic’d the crowd via six zones with Sennheiser MKH50’s, and running all sound through the house. We also set up a PA that surrounded the basketball court. As Sandy played live and crooned his tune, we captured the crowd-based actors’ lines and as well as the person who won Sandy’s heart as he ran toward an embrace. The director and actors let us know that they felt the thrill and energy of being in a real sports arena, especially as the sound system focused attention on Sandy and his musical number, and when the crowd roared and cheered for the lover’s reunion, it sounded huge.
The cherry on top was a celebratory scene that included a ton of ‘champagne.’ Tony and Chloe were amazing team players who were poncho’d up and booming, as champagne showered down.
Crossover
When we weren’t on stage, we shot throughout Los Angeles at multiple homes and an event location for Isla’s engagement party. There was a surprise that no one saw coming: frogs. Frogs are cute, but they’re not that cute when there are seemingly hundreds like it’s mating season, it sounded like a million frogs at once. It’s funny to reflect on it, but at the time, it was causing heartburn. While we couldn’t solve the problem at the moment, we’re grateful to the Post Production team. They worked miracles on what some may call “the second plague.”
This scene also included an old-fashioned “someone, fell into the pool” stunt followed by multiple people. While the actors were concentrating on their marks and cues, Tony and Chloe stepped into position to boom it perfectly.
As we moved along to other practical locations, something equally annoying reared its head, barking dogs. We first heard the dogs when we were shooting at the home used for Isla’s house. Of course, we checked all of the usual boxes; location went to the neighbors, we paused the dialog for a few moments, but as the barking persisted, I realized that we were being played. A neighbor had a recording of barking dogs playing it through speakers. On one hand, you want to give them credit for creativity, on the other hand, it impacted real-time sound recording and performance bringing another challenge to our Post Team.
At another location, we had a shower scene in a medium-wide shot with the actors backs to the camera. The shower had two walls of glass and two walls of stone, with important dialog. We used a plant mic and got the wild lines after the scene concluded. The remainder of the scene was boomed, as Sandy was only dressed in a towel—no clothes.
Final Buzzer
While every setup was uniquely challenging, I focused on set layout, costumes, and what was most comfortable for the actors and the creative integrity of each scene. Sound Mixers come with a lot of equipment, all sorts of mics and supplies for any type of scene situation and challenge. What I enjoyed most about this opportunity was my personal challenge of using only what was necessary to move quickly to deliver the cleanest tracks possible. I couldn’t be prouder of my team and the opportunity to work on something that the audience loves, so much so that Netflix has greenlit a second season! There are a lot of great shows to watch but people are choosing Running Point—there’s no better feeling than that.