Day in the life of Jake producer at BearJam!

Meet Jake S - Not to be confused with Jake T… here’s Jake S!

Jake  producer, storyteller, journalist — and comedian. Right now he’s reporting live from New York, bringing his creativity and sharp eye for narrative to the team.

We’re lucky to have him on board. 

“Jet lag wakes me with the 5am NYC sunrise, so I shower and head out into the very early morning Manhattan daylight, window shopping a series of Midtown coffee shops before making a choice on where to sit and watch the early birds. Only a shoot would get me out of bed and into public at such an ungodly hour, and everything at this time of morning feels slightly surreal.

As the commuter crowds begin to grow and blend with eager tourists (it's easy to spot who falls into which camp), I head back to the hotel lobby to wait on the sprinter van and driver I've booked to quickly shepherd us around Manhattan filming spots that morning. To my horror, parked directly outside the hotel entrance is an enormous school bus, the driver of which I notice is having a loud conversation in Chinese further down the street, ignoring the beeping taxis he's forcing to merge at 2mph to squeeze past his behemoth of a vehicle.

The crew emerge from the hotel carrying kit bags and looking slightly confused. I ask the driver where the small van I ordered is, but he can't understand a word of English, pointing only at a piece of scrap paper that says Union Square, our final scheduled stop later in the day. I quickly call the chauffeur company and put on my sternest impression, so they know I'm serious and angry. After being shunted between operators, I eventually get through to Alusaine, the man who just days earlier had assured me that my every vehicle and driver wish would be catered to by his salesman powers. He lied, I'm heartbroken. There's only one winner in our stern exchange of ideas, and he eventually offers profuse apologies, if only to stop me berating his betrayal of my trust. He then sets up an instant credit card refund - good for the budget, not so much for the day's filming plans.

I explain to the crew there's been a late change of strategy and we're going to Uber around town. None of them seem to mind not having to climb into the back of the enormous 50 seater bus taking up 98% of the small side street, and we quickly squish into an instantly arriving SUV and head off to seek people playing chess in the rain. Yes, really - that's not a metaphor.

At Washington Square Park we're all cat called by rowdy chess hustlers sitting on spread out newspaper pages across sodden stone benches, their game pieces set up ready to take on anyone brave enough to humiliate themselves in public. Our director, of course, has the vision to step forward and try his luck and we nervously await his humbling defeat by getting the cameras rolling to record every second. Less than ninety seconds later, it's all over. The prize for the victor is to please sign the release form I offer him, and though his appearance doesn't hold monetary value, he understands this starring role will one day catapult his talent from small park to world champion status. Or at least that's what I say the small print guarantees. We then sheepishly ask if he could pretend to play for a little while longer so that we can record for b-roll, as the rest of his chess gang buddies look upon us as the easy targets we are and begin hurling nicknames upon us in an attempt to hustle our money.

With great hand and finger acting delivering the beautiful chess close-up scenes we need, we're preparing to set off for Wall Street when the legendary Washington Square Park titan, Johnny Chess, makes his presence known and regales us with stories of his decades long career in the park. He's somewhat of an internet sensation and considered the living heritage of the area. He delivers his life story in a gripping and magnificent Joe Pesci-esque accent before ordering a documentary to be made on his life and chess playing accomplishments. Don't call us, we'll call you.

Huddled in another Uber, we ponder whether the best nickname he could've come up with was really "Johnny Chess". Though his Martin Scorsese gangster film accent means we wait until we're a few streets away before discussing the alternative options.

At Wall Street, throngs of tourists line up to fondle the bull's balls, those being the ones hanging from the Charging Bull, a famous landmark symbolising financial prosperity, so we quickly move towards the stock exchange itself, discreetly filming the American flags blowing in the remnants of yesterday's hurricane near miss. Several pick-ups later, we're all happy to have avoided any burly security guard run-ins and decide the subway is a better option for getting back to film at the client's office that afternoon. The smell of rancid sewage damp from flooding (see yesterday's hurricane near miss) quickly makes us regret the decision, but rejoice that we decided to delay lunch.

Come the afternoon, we achieve the oft fantasised, rarely tasted victory of actually running ahead of time - and scenes of colleagues walking and talking in their natural habitat are smooth sailing until we finally have our burly security guard encounter - in the client's office, of all places (where we've already been filming for most of the week). He calls over our hair and makeup artist - famously the power position of every production set - and wants us out of the building, pronto. Several phone calls and layers of management eventually appease his aggression and he laughs at his mistake. With his near seven foot height and bear-like biceps, we all laugh too.

It's the last day of a relatively successful shoot, and despite the 4am airport pickup time scheduled for the morning, at dinner there's talk of celebrating by pulling an all-nighter in the city that never sleeps. However, the jet lag combined with enormous American portion sizes eventually puts paid to the ambition when the bill comes, and a groggy gang of film makers instead sheepishly vote to head back to the hotel after a frantic three days.

Next week, the relative peace and tranquility of the edit."

Pretty good meet the team if you ask me! 

See you next time for the next Day in the Life