Paramount (part 2)

As promised, here is the sequel to our Paramount excursion, this time with the entire Cornell in Hollywood group.

Through Cornell in Hollywood, we all met Lee Rosenthal, President of Physical Production at Paramount. Lee was really great at explaining what his role at Paramount was and how he got there and was really inspiring with all of the zeal he had for the work he does. He also showed us behind the scenes clips from different films he has produced including the Mission Impossible movies (he was there when Tom Cruise jumped out the window of the Burj Al Arab in Dubai--which was apparently real), the Paranormal Activity movies, the Transformer movies, and 8 of the Star Trek movies--just to name a few.

Some of the highlights of Lee's tour included explaining to us the process of using the parking lot/water tank for different scenes and using it also as a reflective sky for the latest Star Trek movie. Also he showed us different iconic spots on the lot where movies like Sunset Boulevard prominently featured parts of the lot.

For me, the best part of the tour was when we got to check out the different New York streets backdrops and came across a film shoot for the upcoming Broadway musical turned movie Lucky Stiff. One of the producers, Victor, came over to our tour group and chose me to come sit with the director (who directed Memphis on Broadway) and Tony-award-winning lead actress Nikki James (from Book of Mormon) to watch a few takes complete with rain towers on the director's monitors. It was very cool to soak it all in.

The set of Lucky Stiff

Finally, we all went back and had a Q n' A with Lee about pretty much anything we wanted.

Definitely a good finish to our Paramount experience. Looking forward to what comes next!

--Jesse