Tim Saccardo is a comedy writer and director, born and raised in Middletown, Rhode Island. He is currently an Associate Producer on TBS's 10 Items or Less and a writer for The Huffington Post's comedy/news site www.236.com and their Wikipedia parody site www.Dickipedia.org. Tim has written and directed several videos for the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre's site www.UCBcomedy.com, one of which won him a Stony Award for Best Web Video from High Times Magazine. He also performs sketch and improv comedy regularly at Hollywood's UCB Theatre and Improv Olympic West.

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Production Blog, Week One
Unlike people smart enough to choose industries with job security, those of us working in television are often employed on several different productions a year to make ends meet. It’s been almost ten months since we wrapped shooting on season 2 of 10 Items or Less, and a lot of us on the crew are seeing each other for the first time since October 2007. Needless to say, a good portion of our small talk this week has been of the “what did you do on your summer vacation” variety.

So what did the crew of 10 Items or Less do on our winter/spring/summer vacation? Well, our Director of Photography, Mark shot The Hills, our Makeup Department Head, Tina worked on Mad Men, our Unit Production Manager, Steve worked on Dancing with the Stars, our Assistant Director, Dale worked all over the world on Sacha Barron Cohen’s upcoming Bruno movie. Not many people can say they had offices in both an Eastern European trailer and a Reseda, California grocery store in the same lifetime, nevermind the same year.

Our Segment Producer, Evie wrote for Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, our Script Supervisor, Maureen worked on our TBS sister show My Boys, our Costume Supervisor, Heather worked on Little Britain USA, our Prop Master Dan worked on commercials for several different brands including Heiniken, and Mike’s Hard Lemonade. I wonder how many cases of product mysteriously “disappeared” after they wrapped. He also worked on some car commercials, but I imagine it's a lot more difficult to “misplace” a Mercedes.

Our Assistant Editor, Jim worked on Nikelodeon’s iCarly, our Segment Producer, David directed indie rock videos, our Production Assistant, Mike got an acting job in an Absolut Vodka commercial, and the star of our show, Mr. John Lehr reprised his role as the Geico caveman. Yes, that’s Leslie Pool himself you were laughing at during the Super Bowl, and you probably didn’t even realize it.

As many different jobs as our crew has worked on between seasons of 10 Items or Less alone, that doesn’t compare to the literally hundreds of shows they’ve worked on over the course of their careers. That’s why one of the biggest inside jokes on our set is called “This is how we did it on ___________”. It started innocently enough as a genuine statement. “How should we light this locker room scene?” “Well, this is how we did it on NYPD Blue.” “How do we shoot this car chase?” “You know, this is how we did it on Magnum PI.” You can see how this works.

However, after spending 12 to 13 hours on set with the same people all day, our Segment Producer, David morphed this once sincere attempt to share filmmaking knowledge into a sarcastic way to make each other laugh. The new rules became: 1) Wait for a mundane situation, 2) Say “This is how we did it on…”, 3) Complete that sentence with a random and/or obscure TV show or movie. For example, “Where do we keep the plastic spoons?” “Well, this is how we did it on Hawaii 5-0.” “Is that a new sweatshirt?” “This is how we did it on Sanford and Son.” Sometimes, there doesn’t even need to be a question. You can be tying your shoe, and somebody might walk by and remark, “This is how we did it on Scarecrow and Mrs. King.”

And now that you all know the rules, you’re in on the joke too. It’s easy to play along. Let’s give it a try. I’ll ask you some questions, and you write some “This is how we did it on ________”s in the comments section. Here goes...

        How should we shoot the “running over Chet’s foot” stunt?

        Can we make this room look like an old meat freezer?

        What’s the best condiment to put on a sandwich?

        What time is it?

Well, my part is done now. Its your turn, so start leaving some comments and I’ll sit back and let you do all the work like I do while our actors are improvising their dialogue on set. This is how we do it on 10 Items or Less.


The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer/speaker and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc.”