Who We Are and What We Do

Well, it was bound to happen! So, before too much damage is done, let me lay it all on the line....
Our company, Dalmatian Productions, Inc. was founded back in the mid-1990's with one purpose in mind - to produce quality television programs that highlight the efforts of nearly one million men and women who put their lives on the line every day - firefighters. Whether you're career, on-call, or volunteer, we thought it was about time the American viewing audience saw what who we are and what we do.

It was a great premise...in our minds. The TV networks that were busy with a new type of television programming, called "reality," didn't agree. They liked cop shows, court shows, pilot shows, fishing shows, lumberjack shows, dancing shows and singing shows. They did not like fire shows. No matter what premise of a show we brought to them, they were not interested. Well, that's not exactly true. We were told that if we could produce a show that had cross-dressing firefighters, who used drugs and frequented hookers, smoked dope and tried to make-out in the back seats of taxis - that show they liked!

You would think that after all that rejection we would give up, right? Well, we almost did. But something kept nagging us. Maybe it was because of the four of us, three had been or were volunteer and/or career firefighters and our fourth had been in law enforcement. And we all agreed that our show, or at least the people we wanted to highlight in our show, deserved to be on television. 

So, several years ago, I was angry, upset and depressed. We could not be the only ones who wanted to see a television show about firefighting. I started looking around online, searching for that one thing, that one topic, that would catch their attention as much as ours. And after several months, I found it. A topic that was so good because it is so bad. Just the mention of the word brought fright to bear. A topic that was so scary because you never know when it may spring up. That subject was arson! And with that, our new dramatic series was born.

However, there is a lot to tell about us, you, me, firefighters. There are a lot of facets to who we are and what we do and we agreed that it was important that these topics be included in the show. So, our show will deal with firefighter health and wellness; what happens when the middle-age guy, who's got 12 years on the job, can barely climb a flight and a half of stairs? What about the firefighter who suffers a LODI (Line of Duty Injury) and is forced to put in his/her papers and DO (disable out).

We also had to include junior firestarters and programs for them; teaching them that the only mystery about fire is one of danger. What about the strains that "the job" puts on a relationship or marriage? Or how do we cope (or maybe we don't) with all the horror we see day in and day out? If you prick our skin, do we not bleed? Do we not cry? What happens when the pressure pushes us over the edge? Just as our brothers and sisters in the military return from overseas completely lost and estranged, do we not reach the breaking point? How many of us shrug off a scheduled CISD seminar because we're "bigger" than that? How many of us say, "I don't have any stupid PTSD! I'm a firefighter for God's sakes!" But inside, your guts are in a know and you hardly ever leave your home on your days off?

And that's just the first episode! OK.....no, I'm just kidding. But we feel that all of this must be told in a series (even if it is a scripted drama) that shows the viewers what we really go through.  And we didn't even touch the problems our unions face every day or our volunteers when they need to replace a 28 year-old pumper!

All of this, we hope and pray, will be featured in our show, "Cause & Origin," which will be based in Philadelphia, where both the Greater Philadelphia Film & Television Office and the Philadelphia Fire Department are on board with us.

On top of this, I personally, have fallen back on what I used to do in my prior vocation as an administrator in non-profit organizations: Motivate my listeners. And for those of you who are kind enough to follow us on Twitter (@DalmatProd) you know of what I speak. I speak a great deal about safety, about health and wellness, about how to treat people, how to motivate yourself, continue to learn, make an effort to teach, etc. 

So, if I'm not talking specifically about the show, please know that I'm talking about the second most important aspect in my life, behind my family....you, the brave men and women who bravely give up parties, birthdays, dinners, dances, partners, plans, etc., just to protect the citizens of your district. Why? Because YOU deserve it!

Let's make sure everyone goes home and stay safe!

Steven S. Greene
President and Executive Producer
Dalmatian Productions, Inc.

Television - Is It the "Great Wasteland" for the Fire Service?

For many years, there were several occupations that were/are depicted on television and , for the most part, were pretty safe bets for shows, i.e. cops, doctors, and attorneys. So, who's missing from this picture? How about firefighters?

Sure, there have been a few shows about firefighters, such as, "EMERGENCY," from NBC, back in the 1970's. Though Johnny Gage was occasionally set-up to look like a womanizer, its original executive producer, Jack Webb, of "DRAGNET" fame, was dedicated to representing the profession, plus the new vocation of, "paramedics," accurately. Sure, there was some dramatic license taken, but for the most part, it never insulted the intelligence of most firefighters who watched the show, and it actually contributed to many people choosing to become firefighters, paramedics, and/or EMT's. To me, that is a contribution to society.

There were a few others dramas as well, including, "Firehouse" and "Code Red," neither of which had a major impact on their ratings or the industry. Most recently, there was, "Rescue Me," by Denis Leary. In the beginning, the show was decent, but somewhere in the first or second season when Leary's character raped his ex-wife, the show's credibility dropped dramatically.

And now comes, "Chicago Fire," produced by Dick Wolf, of the various, "Law & Order" franchises. As noted above, shows about cops and lawyers have proved a good formula, on the most part. And Wolf certainly brought a great deal of "street cred" to this production. Unfortunately, he must have left his credibility back in the office when he arrived on-set to producer, "Chicago Fire."

I recorded the premiere of  "Chicago Fire," the other evening and just watched the first twenty minutes. Now I am the first to admit that I've been out of the active service since 1985, thus I'm not sure if what I saw on this show are new SOP's (standard operating procedures) for most departments today, or were just Hollywood "make-believe."

Here are three major weaknesses to the fire service credibility that I saw in these first 20 minutes: 

1. Working House Fire-White smoke showing from the first floor, with a strong orange glow being seen from the cab of the first arrival apparatus in the first floor interior. Fire had not vented yet. Chief's size-up report to Central is as he exits his vehicle, with no 360 assessment. First crew approaches front door and without any looking, checking, etc., punches in the door with a Halligan, enters without a hose. When the Chief is told that a victim's brother is upstairs & had not exited the building, the aerial is raised and two firefighters approach the window. The closest one takes his Halligan and punches in the window without knowing if the fire has been vented. The firefighter behind him tried to stop him. The window breaks and the first firefighter says, "See, it must be vented," and enters the room. Suddenly, the firefighter on the 1st floor says there's no vent and the upper room backdrafts, killing the firefighter in that room. 

2. At an MVC, (Motor Vehicle Collision) they find a couple of victims in the car, but no driver. Then, one firefighter looks at the river and declares the driver was ejected, over the railing of the bridge, into the river, below. Two rescue firefighters suit-up and as they're making their way into the river, someone else yells that one of the people looking on is the driver, and another firefighter runs over and tackles him. 

3. In the firehouse, one of the EMT's passes one of the lead character firefighters and hands him a vial of some medication. He moves to a private area and shoots up. At that point, I hit the stop button. So, I ask you, is this a fairly true representation of the CFD (Chicago Fire Department) and/or where firefighting in general, has gone since I retired? 

In my mind, while I understand the drama and the need for conflict, whether it be on-the-job or through-the-job, I believe that my brave and dedicated colleagues of the Chicago Fire Department are some of the best in the business and even with a well-experienced, Deputy Chief as the technical advisor, these three scenes did an injustice to the men and women of CFD. Why is it that most shows about doctors, cops, and attorneys are fairly true to the profession and its only us, firefighters, who are thrown under the proverbial bus?

On the off-chance that you may agree with me and believe that it is time for a program to present and accurate and true representation of America's fire service, by the men and women who actually serve every day, please visit Dalmatian Productions, Inc.

 Be safe and let's make sure everyone comes home!

Where Were You...?

The summer of 2001 was turning out to be a very successful one, both on a professional and personal level. My wife had qualified for for a teacher's scholarship for a trip to Israel and we decided if she was going to go, well, I had to find a way to do so, as well. We have family that live outside of the city of Haifa, as well as friends living in the greater Tel Aviv area, and this would be the perfect opportunity to see them all.  From a professional standpoint, we had just released the pilot episode of "America's Heroes: The Men & Women of Fire Rescue," which was being marketed internationally. 


With a few phone calls, I was in touch with the office for the American Magen David office in Illinois, which pulled some strings and booked me an interview with the Director General of Israel's EMS service, Magen David Adom, as well as permission to ride with several units from Jerusalem south to Ashkelon, on Israel western coast on the Mediterranean. Additionally, my dearly departed friend, Todd Miller, made arrangements for me to speak with a major producer on one of Israel's national networks.After spending about five days with our relatives in the northern part of the country, my wife and I went our separate ways, her to her teacher's program and me to my ride-alongs.


My meeting with the Israeli producer went very well. He loved the framework of our show and asked me if I could return to Israel after the High Holidays of 2001, to help him produce an Israeli version of our show. We set-up some tentative dates and programming ideas and left our meeting, both looking forward to the following Fall.


Upon my return to our office in August, I received a phone call from a good friend explaining that a leading talk show based in New York City, wanted to produce a segment for National Fire Prevention Month in October, that would feature young children and a quick fire education, yet fun, TV spot, as the host of the show was deeply enamored with the fire-rescue service both in New York City and nationally. I tried backing off, but he wouldn't hear of it, since he knew of my background in education, plus he was a very important supporter of our show and web site.


I wrote up a quick treatment for a segment with children 8-10, plus a national fire-prevention mascot, fire-equipment and several firefighters. I sent if off to my contact who was brokering the deal to see what would come of my ideas.We shot a few faxes and email back and forth, fine-tuning the segment, until we both felt it was as good as it could be. I sat back and waited to see what might happen.


On Friday, September 7, 2001, I received a phone call from the broker, ho advised me that the segment had been reviewed by several of the show's producers and they liked it a lot. They too, had a couple of ideas, but felt it was clear enough to meet the host's desires. They would be presenting to her at the following Tuesday's staff meeting at 9:00AM at the studio and would get back to me.


I was on "pins and needles" that weekend, because this would give both our company and our show a big push for the domestic, US television markets. But life rolled on, past the weekend, past Monday, then into Tuesday.


A close friend and I shared our office space in Ft. Lauderdale. He had seen many of the video submissions we had received from dozens of fire departments around the country and as we watched them together, I would teach him some of the signs that firefighters look for at an incident scene. One of those was the color of smoke. Dark, black smoke indicated strong fire and burning; colored smoke often indicated chemical or hazardous materials involvement, and grayish smoke was often a mixture of smoke and steam and was a sign that firefighters were putting water on whatever was burning.


On Tuesday morning, I was sitting at my desk going through my email, with my scanner running in the background. Suddenly, I heard a Ft. Lauderdale Fire Department unit mention that something had happened in Manhattan, a "10-75, All Hands" alarm. Turning to the Internet, I tried to get on to a great web site (www.thebravest.com) that broadcast the FDNY radio channels. But each time I tried to log in, up popped a message saying the site could not be accessed. And the chatter on the scanner had been kicked up a couple of notches as more details became available. 


I went into my editing room and rolled one of our 25-inch monitors out to the main office area, hooked up a jury-rigged antenna and tuned to the first station I could find. That's when we saw the beginning of the worst terrorist attack in the history of the United States. As we watched, we saw, live, as the second plane hit the South Tower. We l,looked at each other, both realizing what was happening on our soil, not some unknown locale in the Middle East. My friend asked me how did I think the fire service would douse the fires burning in the two buildings. I told him, "They can't." Then, of course, we heard about the Pentagon and Shanksville.I 


We watched for a while, then I had to start answering phone calls from around the country. I was back in the editing room a few minutes later when he yelled out to me, "Steve, come here and look! They're getting water or foam or something on the flames, because the smoke is turning from black to gray!"





Riveted, I sat there watching the scenes unfold before us. I let the telephone ring and go to voicemail. We didn't utter a word to each other. We just sat there silently, letting the tears stream down our faces.And I knew right then and there that fate was not taking me to New York or to Israel. It would keep me in Ft. Lauderdale, doing what I could, in my own small way, to help our country come together in mourning and grief.


Shortly after the North Tower fell, I left the office and headed over to the local blood bank office in my home community, not only to donate my blood, but I felt certain that I was the first of hundreds who would arrive that day. As life would have it, I worked at that blood bank for three straight days, until it was announced that there was absolutely no hope for, or need of blood, for survivors.


Where were you?

We Who Sacrifice Are Being Sacrificed!

"WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE"

I recently opened the latest edition of "Firehouse" magazine. On the Editor's Page, there's a copy of an old "WANTED" poster. The face was blank below a fire helmet. I added the edited version above.  Either way, it's a sad truth of the times, on multiple levels.

First, in almost any and every municipality's budget discussions, the fire service is often served up, frequently, first, as the sacrificial lamb. Be it a volunteer, combo, or career department, their budget is ripe for the chopping block. Whether it deals with pensions, pay-rates, personnel, and/or equipment, fire-rescue service budgets are being sliced and diced as if they were in a Ron Popeil, "AS SEEN ON TV" hand-slapping chopper!

So what does the above have to do with our saga and efforts? The connection is quite simple: the TV executives are treating the fire service the same way, as a pariah.

It was almost a decade ago that members of the fire-rescue, EMS, and police services, were the heroes of America. Every politician couldn't wait to get have his/her picture taken with a member of the emergency services. Of course, after the tremendous sacrifice of our 343 brothers from the Fire Department of New York, firefighters became the "darlings" of the politicians and public alike. All around the country, people would stop in to visit their local firehouse; families would bring cakes, brownies, even entire meals for a shift. Pictures were taken of thousands of kids sitting on apparatus, wearing helmets and turn-our gear that were multiple sizes too big. And smiles were on everyone's faces.

Now ten years later, we're the pariah, the "enemy." The budget crisis being faced by villages and towns, cities, states and the feds, are being blamed on unions, especially those of the emergency services. Never mind that a fire department may be a 100% volunteer organization, whatever benefits they are entitled to (usually relating to Line of Duty Disability or Death) are being cut wherever possible. Money for turn-out gear, equipment, and apparatus has been or is being allocated to different areas or trimmed to the point of being useless, if there is any left at all.

The same holds true for television. A decade ago, every major cable/satellite network couldn't program enough hours of fire-rescue footage. From old episodes of "Emergency" to the latest reality-style ride-alongs, prime-time was full of flashing red lights and wailing sirens. Sponsors might wait in line to sign up to have their products seen on one of these shows. It was a great time to stand up as a member of the emergency services.

Today, we're old hat. The production company in LA that we've been working with for the past year, has gone to numerous production meetings with the networks. They're looking for the next "big thing," something with substance and meaning like, "Jersey Shore," Teen-Age Mothers," and "Swamp Men." Not to say anything about our brothers and sisters in blue, but their shows are continuously making the airwaves. Besides, "COPS," we've recently seen reality police shows about female police officers, especially those who work in vice (prostitution) and narcotics. There's even a new one, based right here in Broward County, about police dogs. And that's fine. I'm glad that at least one branch of the emergency services has a spotlight.

But what about us? Try to propose a reality show about the fire-rescue service, even one that is not a ride-along, and before  you can even finish the word, "fire," you're shown to the door, ordered never to return until you can bring a show about, cheating, cross-dressing firefighters, who secretly wed those teen-age mothers and move their new family to the Fire Island Shore!

All our agents have heard from the network buyers is, "Don't bring us anything connected to the words, "fire" or "rescue." They are not even given an opportunity to present an idea that's never, ever, been done before (OK, like ours). And to me, what is so ironic, is that in the event of an emergency at their place of business or their home, each one of them will most likely dial "911" and eagerly await the members of their local fire-rescue agencies.  And when their emergency has been mitigated, they will proffer their profuse appreciation, perhaps with words like, "We don't know how to thank you."

You know what? It's about time that we start providing them with a suggestion for how they could thank us. And I'm not just talking about our show. I'm talking about the fire-rescue service in general. Look at procedural dramas. There are close, if not more, than a dozen police dramas on TV today. When was the last time you saw one about the fire service? Was it ""Firehouse" with the actor who played Ben Casey, or was it "Code Red," with Lorne Greene?

So next time you have pause to think of a way to thank your local fire-rescue services for assisting you through an emergency, bake the brownies, but also, drop a line to the big cable/satellite networks and ask them, "Where's your show about the fire-rescue service?"

The Big, Bad Magnet and Basic Post-Production

To tell you the truth, the MRI wasn't that bad. And it's not like I've never had one before. Truthfully, I've had so many that I think I get "frequent tubing" miles for them and I'm a member of the "million miler" club, after the last eighteen years!

The strange thing about this one was the fact that it was in one of those traveling MRI trailer. The center I went to is under renovation and upgrading all their equipment. But to do so, they had to shut one machine down to take it out and until the new replacement comes in and is installed, they have to use this "portable" MRI. It had no sonic music system. So your only option is to take these two small, disposable ear plug and stick 'em in. Didn't make any difference. The noise was still about "first row at a KISS concert-right in front of the amplifiers" loudness. And, due to the fact that it was only my right knee, I was placed in the tube feet-first and only up to my waist. I'll see the doc tomorrow with the MRI images and get the verdict then. So be it.

Enough about me. Let's get back to the show. Today I finally had the chance to review and "edit" the agreement sent to me on the day before we were leaving for San Francisco, by company that is supposed to work with us to co-produce the "pitch video" and get the show sold to a major satellite/cable network. "What does that entail?" you ask. And I'll tell you.

We shot about 14 hours of video on two camera, plus a little more on a third, all in HD. The first thing that has to be done is called "logging" the video. On almost all video today, there are usually two "clocks;" the one you're used to when shooting the kids' birthday party with the time of day. The second clock, which you usually have to manually select on a consumer video camera, is called the "time code." This is a digital clock that has five places, beginning from the right would be:
00:00:00:00:Frames
00:00:00:Seconds:Frames
00:00:Minutes:Seconds:Frames
00:Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames
Days:Hours:Minutes:Seconds: Frames

Every video that you shoot has a "begin" point and an "end" point; basically when you press the "RECORD" button to start shooting a scene and when you press it a second time to pause your shooting. So the production assistant has to review ALL the video and log the following:
1. Start Time Code
2. End Time Code
3. Scene Description
4. Audio Description
5. Any other pertinent information the producer requests.
Now imagine doing that for fourteen hours of video! It's probably a 2-day, 10 hours per day job. Hah! And you thought TV production was glamorous!

Once the logging is done, the producer(s) sits with the editor to review the log chart and to start out some of the scenes he/she wants to see for possible inclusion in the final product. Bear in mind that most of those 14 hours were recorded with just the "pitch video" in mind. Yes, we'll use a lot of it in the episode featuring the San Francisco Fire Department, too. But for now, we'll be picking out the best 3-5 minutes of video from all of those 14 hours. Sound like fun, yet?

Well, that's it for now. Need to go and get my leg elevated to alleviate the throbbing!

Be good to each other!

"Where Do We Go From Here?"

The lunch was great and the ideas we developed were even better. Now we had to decide what our next step would be. At this point in time, Joel was seriously interested in developing his love of travel and, more importantly, promoting travel, into a business. Having been in Miami television for a while, he had had the opportunity to work and network with people who could really help in his endeavor.

For me, I was still very close with my two former partners, Richard Bray and Tom Mitten. Additionally, though not a partner at that moment, another good friend in Los Angeles, Jesse Escochea, was always carrying around multiple copies of several treatments I had written since the turn of the decade, waiting for the right opportunity to let some director or producer read them.

"Wait," you pause, "How would Jesse know those kind of people?"

"Aha!" I reply. "Jesse has served as a technical advisor for a couple of network shows, such as "24," "The Shield," "Grey's Anatomy," and "Life," as a start."

In the meantime, Joel and I worked up a treatment. A treatment is nothing more that usually a single page that will tell the reader all about the show, with a single glance. Of course, there are good ways and bad ways to write a treatment and I think that ours fell into the "mediocre" category. Nevertheless, we made it neat and clean and sent it out to Jesse.

As we were doing the above, Jesse was busy in L.A. schmoozing with two gentlemen from a production and distribution house, called, Marker Entertainment. Jesse had showed them some of his previous shows and they really liked them. So much so, that they even helped him develop another show.

While talking to the Marker people and they kept telling them how much they like the "police story" type shows that weren't strictly copies of "COPS," Jesse happened to ask them, "Well, how do you feel about a show about the fire/rescue service? And not just another show about New York City or Los Angeles, I'm talking about a show that will deal with fire/rescue services from all over the globe!"

Without a hesitation, they asked Jesse, "Why? What do you have?" And Jesse promptly whipped out the treatment for our new show and handed it over. "I've know these guys for over ten years and they're the real deal. Firefighters telling the real stories about firefighters," Jesse explained.

After perusing the treatment, one of the gentlemen, Jeff, told Jesse that they would like to learn more about us and about our show. They were looking to get into producing a higher caliber of reality show, especially, one that an entire family could watch together.

I believe that all that occurred on a Thursday evening. On Friday, at about 7:45 PM, Eastern Time, Jesse called me to give me the good news. He explained what Jeff and his partner wanted, along the way of fleshing out the story lines and locations a little bit more. I called Joel and I called Richard, my best friend for over 30 years my lovely spouse aside) and one of my original partners, and shared the good news with them.

Now, the real work was about to start. We would have to contact at least a half-dozen or more locations, outside the continental U.S. and see if we could "sell" them on nothing more than the premise of a television show. Even with the Internet and Google Translator, it took a great deal of work.

We'll share more in the next "episode," "If it's Tuesday, We Must Be Somewhere!"

"The Next Time..."

The “Next Time…”


The “next time” began last spring. Our household has always been a loyal NBC local and network home, especially for news. During the few years prior to all this happening, a new reporter came on board at NBC6-WTVJ, Joel Connable. He came to South Florida, via Los Angeles. He was a good reporter and certainly did his research for each story.

For a while, besides general assignments, Joel also reported for the “CIU-Consumer Investigative Unit.” Some months later, upon the retirement of one of the best anchors in local news, Tony Segretto, Joel was named as the replacement anchor. And as tough as it was to see Tony retire, especially after being one of the calmest voices that broadcast all night long during Hurricane Andrew, Joel started filling those “big shoes” quickly and very well. And somewhere along the way, he also earned himself an Emmy Award in journalism

At some point, Joel surprised the viewers and on-camera, announced that he was a diabetic and very active in the fundraising efforts of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. His story was geared toward young adults and he explained his entire experience with the disease and how, with care, he leads a very normal and full life. I was really moved by his story and his life. So what did I do next?

I went on Facebook® to see if he was there and send him a nice email. We started to chat via email and lo and behold, I discovered that he served as a New York City Paramedic for a number of years, as well as a volunteer firefighter in a small town in Long Island. This in itself almost sounds like a script! I told him about my eight-year experience as a volunteer firefighter/medic 1 and a bond started to form.

At the end of April 2009, I was lucky enough to have fractured a bone in my lower leg. I was in a mobile cast for eight weeks and home from work for about 10 days. We continued to correspond and talk about the good old days. Around this time, I had been thinking about creating a new show about the fire/rescue service in the U.S. And Joel, who had developed a strong interest in the travel industry, was leaving network news and thinking about some sort of informational travel business.

I invited him to join me for lunch and we met at a small Israeli restaurant about half-way between where each of us lives. I told him about my idea for the new show and he told me his idea for a new show that would marry the story of the fire/rescue service with his love of travel, and voila, a new partnership and concept was developed over falafel and fries.

Next: “Where Do We Go From Here?”