Jay: Thanks for taking time from your busy schedule to talk with me Marc. To help viewers familiarize themselves, which episodes did you direct?
Marc: I directed the regular season episodes, "Battleships" and "Sand Speeders" as well as the last 3 hour special "The Great Race."
J: Obviously, each of these shows are different in nature. What were the challenges in doing these shows?
M: The shows were very different because in one we were dealing with being on the water and on the other we were on the sand dunes.
Shooting on water is always very difficult and
time consuming. A lot of forethought and planning is required for you to
get all the shots you need. Everything is moving around and it can be a
nightmare. I think our biggest fear on Battleships was that the ship each
team was supposed to destroy would not sink and that they would just be
hammering away at them forever with no winner. We were surprised at how
quickly they actually did sink, however.
At the time the episode aired, I had a lot of
people ask me if we edited the episode to be more of a tight competition
between the two teams, basically if we cheated to heighten the tension.
We didn't at all on this one. It was really that close between the teams
and very exciting in person to watch. Our only other fear on that episode
was that Madman would hurt himself or other. He was every bit as insane
as he appears on the show. We were betting that he would either fall off
the battleship or his team would push him off.
Sand Speeders was fun because the Colonels design was so out there. We were all pulling for him to see if it would really work. He definitely took a risk on that one. In the middle of shooting the episode there was a terrific thunder storm that started up and lightning all around. Some of the lightning appears in the show.
The Great Race was just huge. It was more like directing a feature film. We had 8 cameras and a very large crew, support vehicles, helicopter, etc. We knew that by heading out on the road we would get a real different flavor to the show and find some real characters out in the country. I was looking forward to getting out of the build bays and to build on site where the challenges would take place. This really pumped up the visuals in the show. I particularly love the visuals we got out at the Dumont Dunes. Having the teams building with that incredible sight behind them was so awesome. Everyone on the crew knew they were involved in something really special. We had a lot of the crew sign up for the show early because they knew it was going to be 2 weeks of fun out on the road.
J: Do any of these stand out as a favorite?
M: My favorite would definitely be "The Great Race." I think it is a good show. It is entertaining, fun and a little quirky. The production value is great. We had top quality shooters and we really took the time to shoot it right. There was a lot of discussion early on about the mix of the teams and I think we really got it right. We always were sure that we wanted a team of all females, and the Metal Maidens turned out to be incredible. We honestly didn't expect them to do as well as they did but we were all pulling for them to be good. On the first challenge when they cleared to log and surprised Greg and everyone that was skeptical, we were blown away. Then to have team Anarchy be so extreme and go down in flames into the Colorado river, we were having fun watching it all unfold. In the end I felt like we could not have scripted a more interesting and entertaining show. We loved being along for the ride.
J: Were there any differences between 'Great Race' and a regular episode?
M: Great Race was just so much bigger. We had more time, more resources, more teams. By the time I did Great Race I had done the two regular episodes and it was really helpful to me to be familiar with the show and the format. We brought it to the next level.
J: As director, perhaps it wasn't necessary to watch old episodes. Was this something you did?
M: When I came on to direct I watched a lot of the old episodes to get a sense of the history of the series and what had been done before. I was impressed with the episodes of Scrapheap and loved seeing Cathy as a host. There was also a version of The Great Race that they had just completed in the U.K. that we watched to see what they had done.
J: Scrappy Races, as it's known in the UK. So, how did you come to be a director?
M: I started in T.V. doing shows for Discovery. Travel Channel, etc I had gone to film school at UCLA for a Masters degree, directed several short films that won awards and were sold for broadcast. A friend who was V.P. of a Production company gave me a shot to direct some episodes of "America's best Beaches" and "Haunted Hotels." I went from there to do 2 seasons of "Body Challenge" for Discovery Health and "Personal Story" and "Adoption Stories" for TLC among other projects.
J: Where else have we seen your work?
M: Since Junkyard MegaWars I have done "Amish in the City" for UPN and an upcoming show for FOX called "Hell's Kitchen." I love what I do.
J: Let me wrap things up by asking what you've got coming up.
M: I've been developing some show ideas for the Networks. I've got some feature film projects in the works as well as a narrative IMAX film in development. I have kept in contact with many of the great people at RDF Media and hope to work again with them in the future. I'm proud to be a part of the Junkyard Wars legacy.
J: And we're glad you were here to talk about your experience. Thanks Marc!