It’s almost Emmy Time!

The 'Behind the Scenes' specials highlight the difficulties of filming Discovery's hit show, 'Deadliest Catch'

‘Deadliest Catch’ has been nominated multiple times already for Emmy awards thanks to the hardworking camera crews who spend about as much time on the unforgiving Bering sea during crab season, as do the fishing crews who make a living from hauling King crab and Opilio.  This year is no different as far as the nominations go as they’ve once again been nominated multiple times.  What may be new and quite a bit exciting for them as well as ‘Deadliest Catch’ fans, is that some industry insiders consider ‘Deadliest Catch’ to be somewhat of a favorite!  So as the time draws near for the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, Deadliest Reports wants to wish all of the hardworking film crews good luck!!  MediaLife recently posted an article about Doug and Todd Stanley, who’ve been with the show since the beginning….

 

“Deadliest Catch” could bring Emmy home this year for Stanley brothers

Could this be the year for “Deadliest Catch” at the Emmy Awards?

If it is, it would mean brothers Doug and Todd Stanley would be sharing in the glory.

The Placer County-raised brothers are onboard as part of the cinematography team vying for the coveted statuette.

Doug, who recently moved from Ophir to Roseville, said that after five nominations over three years, he’s ready to hoist the hardware.

Todd, who lives in Lotus and is currently creating an El Dorado County based series for TV, is equally as stoked, noting that the Hollywood Reporter is predicting “Deadliest Catch” is a favorite.

“Everything says that this is the year we’re going to win,” Todd Stanley said. “We’d really like to win because of the awareness it brings to your work.”

“All I want is to take the girl home at the end of the night,” his brother said. “It would be cool if it happened.”

Unlike past years, where Doug or Todd’s names were on the nominee list, “Deadliest Catch” went for a team approach this year. No specific names are nominated but as members of the cinematography team they’ll be at the awards presentation, dressed in tuxes and ready to share in the winning.

Going into its fifth season on the Discovery Channel, the wildly successful “Catch” is up against four other programs in the Emmy non-fiction cinematography category. “The “No Mercy” episode of “Deadliest Catch” is up for the award. The other nominees are episodes of HBO’s “Autism: The Musical,” History Channel’s “Ice Road Truckers,” Animal Planet’s “Meerkat Manor,” and Showtime’s “This American Life.”

The Stanleys, key members of the “Deadliest Catch” cinematography and production team, will be joined in the nominee’s circle for “No Mercy” by a third family member, Doug’s wife, Rhea. She’s responsible for the time-lapse and onshore photography.

As they have the previous two years, when nominations and awards were announced, the Stanleys are already casting their gaze northward for another season of the show. Filming in Alaska starts next month.

In the meantime, they’ll be basking in the Emmy glow and hoping for a win this year.

The Creative Arts Emmy awards presentations will take place Sept. 20. The show will be telecast at 8 p.m. on E! The Emmy Awards on ABC will follow at 8 p.m. Sept. 21.

The full story

Doug Stanley’s Production Diary 06/24/08

Doug Stanley, who filmed aboard the F/V North American  for season 4 has just published another post on his production diary.  This last week, he offers to give Captain Sten plenty of tips and fishing secrets that he’s gleaned from other featured skippers he’s filmed before but the North American skipper declines the offer as he is already on the crab…the Opilio crab!  The crew is tired from hauling loaded pots and Captain Sten is thinking that if the fishing remains this good, he can just keep re-setting the pots in the same spot for the whole season!  Needless to say, greenhorn D-bo is pooped and Doug Stanley doesn’t believe he’s ever seen a skipper reset pots all season in the same spot.  Check it out…

Fishing Strategies   by Doug Stanley

While we were fishing this morning, I was joking with Capt. Sten.  I explained that since I have fished with many of the famous captains of the Bering Sea, I could act as his consultant and offer him some fishing advice.  He looked at me sideways and cocked one eyebrow.   I continued, “If you want to fish king crab like Johnathan Hillstrand, I’ll show you where to throw down a horseshoe-shaped string.  If you want to fish late opies like Sig, I’ll take you to a set of canyon terraces that can help you mop up after the grounds have been picked over.”  He began to laugh as I went on “Or … if you want, we could do a thread-the-needle on a strip of sand between a couple of rocks just east of St. Paul — like Ricky on the Maverick!”  We were both roaring with laughter as he rose from the captain’s seat and headed out to run the crane… 

 Theres More after the JUMP!

Opilio Season Episodes Starting Tonight!

Tonight marks the first episode of Opilio season which is typically fished starting in January.  The temperatures drop, the winds pick up, the ice forms, and this season, there’s a tremendous amount of Opilio crab to catch as the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) is the highest its been in over a generation.  It’ll be dangerous alright…And in his latest blog entry, Doug Stanley–who filmed aboard the F/V North American this year–writes about other dangers when it comes to fishing, and he tells of a death that’s occurred in the 2007/2008 Bering sea crabbing seasons…

Dave Ness, F/V NorthAmerican. (Photo courtesy of Discovery)

…Having returned to Dutch Harbor for the upcoming opilio crab season, I sought out the North American and found her at the North Pacific Fuel Dock.  As I stepped aboard, I immediately sensed that something was wrong.  Capt. Sten Skaar and the other crew onboard met me with a straight face and a somber mood.  I caught the sideways glances that passed between them, and since nobody seemed to be forthcoming with information, I had to ask, “So … what’s up?”  Terje Kavinge, our new deckhand and cook, glanced at the captain quizzically, obviously seeking permission to tell me.  Sten shrugged and nodded to him.  Terje took a deep breath and then slowly explained that there had already been a terrible incident in the crab fleet: Davin Nes,  a deckhand on the North American, had just lost one of his brothers, Jeffrey Nes. 

This was grim news for all of us on the North American and for all the fishermen in the fleet.  It was especially painful for the Nes family, one of the legendary fishing families of the Bering Sea.  They had lost one of their own. 
Terje continued explaining what had happened. Jeffrey was working aboard the Sea Warrior, when he fell from a stack of pots, four high. Terje told me that Davin and his other brother Johnny, who was fishing on another vessel, had just flown home to attend services for their brother.

Make the jump here, and read the rest

Doug Stanley & his Production Diary

Once again, Doug Stanley from Original Productions is posting his Production Diary on the Discovery website.  He actually started to a couple of weeks ago when the fourth season of Deadliest Catch premiered.  You’ll remember that last year, Doug Stanley was filming aboard the F/V Time Bandit, and every week prior to the airing of a new episode, he posted interesting and pertinant information connected to the show.  This year Doug is aboard the F/V North American so it should prove very interesting to keep up with diary. 

In his first Diary entry called, Tide against Current, Doug Stanley refamiliarizes us with the geography surrounding Dutch Harbor.  This “geography” also happens to be the route that fishing vessels headed north for the year must take.  Most of the boats featured on Deadliest Catch have a home port outside of Dutch Harbor.  They come from places such as Seattle, Kodiak, Juneau, and Homer.  Some of them head to Dutch Harbor in early summer if they tender for salmon and then the vessels are simply kept there through the crab seasons.  Others head to Dutch Harbor right before King crab season.  Such was the case this year with the F/V Wizard, and for the first time, a cameraman made the journey along with the crew.

In the second diary entry titled, Increasing Seas, Doug Stanley writes about being the last of the cameramen and producers to leave Dutch Harbor.  All of the other fishing vessels have left port, but because of a delay with the North American, Doug also must wait to leave.  As he describes what seems to be a frustrating situation for him (the waiting), it is apparent that the weather is getting a little rough.  He mentions his truck door is jammed from having been opened in 60 mph winds, and his last detail is that the seas are growing.  We’ll have to keep up with Doug and his diary as they give a clear indication as to what tone the episode may have.  He should have a new entry Tuesday afternoon. 

Doug Stanley’s been involved with Deadliest Catch since the start.  According to his new bio on the Discovery website, he’s always been an adventurous man…

Doug Stanley’s previous life as a ski patrolman, avalanche forecaster and whitewater rafting guide seems to have prepared him perfectly for the role of producer and director of photography for Deadliest Catch, as well as for all the extreme weather that comes with the job. While serving as a river guide in the Grand Canyon, Doug met cinematographer Jim Meyers — the man who would become his mentor.

Doug worked on many productions alongside Meyers, working his way up from “audio guy” to “camera operator.” He began to produce some projects as well. After decades of producing and filming national shows, he received the call of a lifetime. Someone on the other end of the line asked if he’d be interested in working on a show about crab fishermen in the Bering Sea. His immediate response, “Are you kidding? I’d love to!” He’s been with Deadliest Catch ever since.

Doug has worked on several other Discovery Channel shows, including Wing Nuts, Biker Build-Off, America’s Deadliest Season, Lobster Men and Lobster Wars. His production career has taken him all over the globe and to its farthest corners, from Asia through South America, and into war-torn Baghdad. He feels very lucky to have survived all his adventures so far. He finds it an honor to be able to share his experiences and stories with the world.

Doug’s work has earned him four Emmy Award nominations, both as a producer and a cinematographer. Deadliest Catch has been one of the best experiences of his life — one he gets to share with his family. He works on the show with his producer/audio supervisor wife, Rhea, and his producer/cameraman brother, Todd. And he drags along 14-month-old son Rex (and nanny) whenever possible. Last, but not least, his 17-year-old daughter Jessica loves and supports him from their home in Roseville, Calif.

…About the Men who film Discovery’s “Deadliest Catch”

Last Saturday, September 8th, the Creative Arts Emmy Awards winners were announced and Discovery’s “Deadliest Catch”, like several other leading shows, was overlooked.  “Deadliest Catch” has become a six time emmy nominated series now and no doubt will garner more as time goes on.  This is a unique–one of a kind–series that has served as inspiration for other shows currently airing and even more that are in the works. And a great deal of the success of “Deadliest Catch” is due not only to the fishermen featured on it, but to the men who risk their lives filming it.  Brothers Doug and Todd Stanley are two of those men.  How many injuries have they suffered?  How far do they go to “get the shot”?  How ever did they end up in this line of work?  An article published just last week at Sacbee.com by Sam McMannis sheds a little light on the brains & guts behind the show…

MEDIA SAVVY:  KING  CRABS

“Deadliest Catch” has turned out to be the Discovery Channel’s top-rated show, routinely drawing nearly 4 million viewers. That’s huge for basic cable, says Discovery’s executive vice president Jane Root, who adds, “It’s our ‘American Idol.’ “

Doug Stanley, left, and Todd Stanley goof off in the production room at Todd’s house in Lotus last week. Their job, however, is no laughing matter: producing and photographing the Discovery Channel hit “Deadliest Catch” about crab fishermen in Alaska. (Courtesy of Sacramento Bee/Bryan Patrick)

The allure of the show is simple: People like to sit back on a cozy couch and watch others risk their lives in sub-freezing conditions on the tossing and rolling Bering Sea. As narrator Mike Rowe has reminded viewers, nine fishermen have died in the four years the show has aired.

And that’s not surprising when you see the work they do. Not only do the fishermen tangle with 800-pound crab pots swinging wildly around the bow, but they battle the elements that sometimes include 80-knot winds, 30-foot waves and ice, plenty of ice.

Someone, of course, has to film the hardy crews. That’s where the Stanleys come in.

Doug, 44, and Todd, 37, both are adventuresome sorts, working as professional river guides and engaging in extreme sports such as mountain climbing.

They broke into the relatively tame world of television photography in the mid-1990s when they met veteran Sacramento cameraman Jim Meyers. They spent a few years doing quasi-news assignments in Los Angeles and foreign locales.

“Tabloid stuff, like ‘A Current Affair’ and ‘Inside Edition,’ ” Doug says. “That was how I learned the business of television. I’ve shot ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ and ‘America’s Most Wanted’ — that kind of stuff.”

A project such as “Deadliest Catch” seems a perfect fit for the brothers’ adventurous spirit.

Read the whole article, make the jump

Deadliest Catch Fans: Keep your fingers crossed for Emmy awards!

For the 2nd consecutive year, Doug Stanley–one of the “Deadliest Catch” directors of photography–has been nominated for an Emmy award.  His brother Todd is also nominated along with three other camera operators for the Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming category.  Altogether, “Deadliest Catch” has been nominated for 4 Emmy awards.

     Nothing against “Planet Earth” and other amazing Discovery series, but none of them are quite as unique as “Deadliest Catch”.  I mean, when has anyone seen a show similiar to it on television before?  It’s completely in its own class.  It’s reality tv at a new level…While shows like Survivor are based on a type of ”fabricated” reality, “Deadliest Catch” is based on the truth…nothing but the truth. Those fishermen were catching crab long before they were filmed and they’ll probably continue doing so until they choose to retire. 

     Another piece of supporting evidence that proves “Deadliest Catch” is now overdue for a few emmys, is how the show has lead to so many other projects for Original Productions. One of them that we’ve seen,”Ice Road Truckers”, is now billed as the most successful show ever to grace the History channel.  Tonight, we can view the season premier of “Lobster Wars”, yet another Deadliest Catch-influenced series.  And there’s more in the works such as a show about drilling for black gold–oil, and another about loggers called “Timber World”.  Deadliest Catch is the ”American Idol” of cable tv!

“Deadliest Catch” has done wonders for the Original Production crew that has been with the show since the beginning.  In a recent interview, Doug Stanley mentioned that the success of the show has brought many opportunities for him…

“Before “Deadliest Catch,” he’d been behind the camera for events like the O.J. Simpson trial, building up a resume for going places others wouldn’t and keeping the camera running when others would put it down. “Deadliest Catch” put him on the treacherous Bering Sea to film a working life of captain and crew that was fraught with danger.

With pilots of shows like one about a motorcycle club in hand and other ideas ready to move forward on, Stanley is now working with a manager and cable networks on developing new series. Developing and pitching TV shows in New York and Los Angeles is now a major part of what Stanley does.

‘It’s beyond getting my foot in the door,” he said. “Because of my reputation, I get in a better door.’ “

And so this is why “Deadliest Catch” fan have their fingers crossed for Doug Stanley and Original Productions. 

DEADLIEST CATCH: One Cold Reality Show

By Lynn Smith – Los Angeles TimesLike most people who work day and night aboard crab vessels in the Bering Sea, Doug Stanley has stories.There was the time he couldn’t get his footing on an ice-covered deck in minus 20-degree temperatures. “Every time the boat would stall, you’d be looking at an ice slide, straight down to a 4-foot railing separating you from the water,” he said.And the time Stanley jumped in to untangle a line from a buoy. “I can tell you what it’s like to be in the ocean staring at a ship. It’s like a building is dancing in front of you.”

He’s broken his ribs. He’s smashed his teeth. And he loves his life at sea as much as any crusty adventurer who mans Alaskan fishing vessels. “I cannot explain to you how wonderful and incredible it is for me.”

But Stanley isn’t a crab fisherman. He is director of photography for “Deadliest Catch” – Discovery Channel’s most-watched and Emmy-nominated show last year, now in its third season. It airs Tuesday nights.

Filmed in the cold, wet darkness of the heaving seas, the documentary-style show demands more from a camera crew than typical reality or wildlife programs. The “Deadliest Catch” cameramen work in close quarters with the fishermen, sometimes 30 hours at a stretch. Their cameras get wrecked by saltwater, lenses are constantly fogged or iced over.

“You have to be able to do everything they do. This stuff is very testosterone-oriented,” cinematographer Eric Lange said. “You have to go blow for blow with them and get that respect level. Then they don’t care if you’re there and what they’re saying.”

Doubling as producers, the cinematographers also must capture the characters’ stories. That the Emmy-nominated episode was shot with a lens blasted with ice, cod fish and salt water supports that “it’s a story-driven show,” Stanley said. “It’s not about the photography.” He wore his smelly orange fisherman’s slicker to the red carpet.

Johnathan Hillstrand is captain of the Time Bandit, one of several boats followed in the third season of “Deadliest Catch.” (Los Angeles Times photo by Gary Friedman.)Johnathan Hillstrand, captain of the fishing vessel Time Bandit, was filmed pulling off one of this season’s two rescues at sea. “Me saving that guy – I don’t know if there’s anything like that on film,” he said.Hillstrand said he hadn’t even realized how dangerous his job was until he saw it on TV, and he has become close friends with some of the photographers. “I have a lot of respect for those guys,” he said.

Crab fishing is considered “deadly” – for anyone on board – mostly because ballast is tricky to control on fishing vessels that can tip over with the extra weight of ice or too many 700-pound crab pots. Lengthy seasickness also can be dangerous if the person doesn’t make the effort to eat or drink enough. But rewards can be high: If all goes well, a fisherman can earn $250,000 in six months. If it doesn’t, he might not come home at all.

The cameramen said the only comparable job would be a war correspondent.

The Tale of ‘Deadliest Catch’s’ Two Crews

By Lynn Smith, LATimes 

The fisherman’s life captured on the Discovery Channel show is tough. The cameraman’s life at sea is no picnic either.

Like most people who work day and night aboard crab vessels in the Bering Sea, Doug Stanley has stories.

There was the time he couldn’t get his footing on an ice-covered deck in minus 20-degree temperatures. “Every time the boat would stall, you’d be looking at an ice slide, straight down to a 4-foot railing separating you from the water,” he said.

And the time he jumped in to untangle a line from a buoy. “I can tell you what it’s like to be in the ocean staring at a ship. It’s like a building is dancing in front of you.”

He’s broken his ribs. He’s smashed his teeth. And he loves his life at sea as much as any crusty adventurer who mans Alaskan fishing vessels. “I cannot explain to you how wonderful and incredible it is for me.”

But Stanley isn’t a crab fisherman. He is director of photography for “Deadliest Catch” — Discovery Channel’s most watched and Emmy-nominated show last year, now in its third season. It airs at 9 p.m. Tuesdays.

Filmed in the cold, wet darkness of the heaving seas, the documentary-style show, needless to say, demands more from a camera crew than typical reality or wildlife programs. The “Deadliest Catch” cameramen work in close quarters with the fishermen, sometimes 30 hours at a stretch. Their cameras get wrecked by saltwater, lenses are constantly fogged or iced over.

“You have to be able to do everything they do. This stuff is very testosterone-oriented,” said cinematographer Eric Lange. “You have to go blow for blow with them and get that respect level. Then they don’t care if you’re there and what they’re saying,” he said.

Doubling as producers, the cinematographers must also capture the characters’ stories. That the Emmy-nominated episode was shot with a lens blasted with ice, cod fish and salt water supports that “it’s a story-driven show,” Stanley said. “It’s not about the photography.” He wore his smelly orange fisherman’s slicker to the red carpet.

Johnathan Hillstrand, captain of the fishing vessel Time Bandit, was filmed pulling off one of this season’s two rescues at sea. “Me saving that guy — I don’t know if there’s anything like that on film,” he said.

Hillstrand said he hadn’t even realized how dangerous his job was until he saw it on TV, and he has become close friends with some of the photographers. “I have a lot of respect for those guys,” he said.

What it takes

Crab fishing is considered “deadly” — for anyone on board — mostly because ballast is tricky to control on fishing vessels that can tip over with the extra weight of ice or too many 700-pound crab pots. Lengthy seasickness can also be dangerous if the person doesn’t make the effort to eat or drink enough. But rewards can be high: If all goes well, a fisherman can earn $250,000 in six months. If it doesn’t, he might not come home at all.

The cameramen said the only comparable job would be a war correspondent.

Producer Thom Beers had no idea what he would find when Discovery commissioned him in 1998 to tape a two-hour special on Alaskan crab fishermen. “Little did I know, there would be the worst storm in 25 years, 70-knot winds, 40-foot seas. Two boats sank; seven men drowned. They never found the bodies.

“It was a feral experience, such an amazing adrenalin rush. I’ve never seen anybody work so hard under such harsh conditions. I had to go back.”

Four years later, he talked Discovery into another show that found its audience, and its crew, by word of mouth.

In addition to résumés, Beers’ Original Productions gets lots of calls from friends of friends who just want the adventure of being on a boat. Many have already been directors of photography on their own shows. Most climb mountains, lead river-rafting excursions or ride motorcycles in their spare time.

Beers said: “We look for that real gleam in their eye. Someone who’s not worried: Is there air conditioning? What’s the menu?” It doesn’t always work out. Hillstrand said some get so seasick they have to be helicoptered back to the mainland. Others just don’t reup.

To get along, he said, he’s developed a manner of give and take. “I’ll go inside the galley and make them peanut butter-and-honey sandwiches, clean bathrooms, light cigarettes and stick them in their mouths when it’s raining.”

Even so, some fishermen object so strongly to being filmed in an emotional state that they’ll lock themselves in a room. “It’s always a temporary thing,” Stanley said. “We end up telling those stories too.”

Once, he said, a crew threatened to throw all his cameras overboard when they learned he was planning to shoot a surprise “man overboard” drill planned by the captain. “It took me 24 hours to get back into their graces and operate the cameras,” he said.

This season will include behind-the-scenes footage, some shot by the crew themselves.

Telling tales

Some footage will show the crew drinking with the fishermen in Dutch Harbor, the notorious island seaport 800 miles off Alaska where the men regroup between trips. “It’s Wild West crazy,” Stanley said. “The bars are the beating heart of the fishing industry. It’s the only social environment they know, the bars of Dutch Harbor. Everyone is telling stories. We crawl across the floor on our lips at the end of the night.”

That’s where the cameramen fish for stories.

“I learn everything about each character on the vessel, at the bar, drinking heavy,” Stanley said. “One year we didn’t get too much bar time in and it affected the show.”

Russell Newberry, left, Nathan Vandecoevering, and Neal, Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand.
(Jeremy Walter / Discovery Channel)

Not all captains were willing to let cameramen aboard their vessels. Some crab fishermen are superstitious and refuse to let women or redheads aboard. The Time Bandit was one of the most cooperative. Hillstrand said: “Usually, I talk to myself in the wheelhouse. Now I have someone to talk to. It’s sort of nice.”

One fisherman, Hillstrand’s brother Andy, was so interested in photography that Stanley taught him how to shoot. He managed to capture one of the most dramatic scenes in Season 3’s fourth episode — a rescue of a man overboard — when the production crew was back in Dutch Harbor.

“It’s very shaky and erratic. But it captured the moment,” Conroy said. “In a normal shot, you say, ‘Wait, stop. Can we do this again?’ There is no ‘do this again’ on the Bering Sea.” The most honest moments are often imperfect, he said.

After several seasons together, the fishermen and the cameramen said they have learned to respect and appreciate one another.

“The Alaska boy is a different boy from a boy from the lower 48,” said Stanley, who lives in Auburn, Calif. “I have an image of them swinging on a swing set with grizzly bears walking by.”

But like them, he said sea life “gets in your blood.” Now, he said, “I understand these guys better than I understand a lot of people.”