MTV Comes to Palmer Avenue

by Katie Congress, Juli Freeman, Emily Nathan, and Julia Mehlman (MHS '03)

Producer Campbell McLaren looks on as the crew sets up the next scene for a potential MTV comedy. Larchmont residents and streetscapes serve as extras.

(November 11, 2002) It was a busy autumn Sunday when MTV rolled into Larchmont. On October 20, local kids were painting storefront windows in the Halloween spirit, coffee drinkers were soaking up sun outside of Starbucks, and the Palmer Avenue Harbor House was gaining its fifteen minutes of fame as a backdrop for an MTV pilot show called "Working Comics."

The show, being produced by Larchmonter Campbell McLaren, follows stand-up comedians working "regular" jobs to earn money on the side. McLaren works with Zilo, (http://www.zilo.com/ ) a college TV network that produces shows primarily for college audiences. Previously, he has produced for the Caroline's Comedy Hour and for Court TV's "The Wrong Man." He was also the executive producer for a Life/Time Woman's Film Festival hosted by Susan Sarandon focusing on women directors and also featuring Larchmont.

For his current MTV show, McLaren naturally chose Larchmont, where he lives with wife Susan and their three children, Jacqueline, Campbell and Iain. And when the show needed extras, he naturally turned to the high school performing arts program, PACE, where Jacqueline is a freshman and the rest of us are seniors.

When our theater teacher, Mr. Fredrickson, told our class about the MTV show, we were all very excited. We became even more enthused when he announced they needed seniors to be extras in the show. After contacting the producer's assistant, the four of us were set to be "background artists" for the day.

We arrived on the scene at 11:00 am, early for suburban teenagers. We were still excited, and a little nervous, about our possible stardom. We schmoozed with the other extras (four college students from the city), met the people involved with the show, and found out what the show was about, until 12:30, when we learned that filming wouldn't start for another hour.

After a harried meal at the diner, the eight extras returned to the sidewalk in front of Starbucks, where the filming finally began. Our job was to walk back and forth in front of a comedian as he did his shtick so the set would look like a busy city block rather than the now vacant Larchmont sidewalk it was. Each time we appeared, we had to take on a different identity, so with each pass we traded glasses, scarves, jackets and other accessories with our fellow extras.

After 45 minutes, the director decided he was happy with the scene, so we all trooped into the Harbor House for another actual (not filmed) meal. That prepared us for the next scene in which a comedian served as the waitress behind the counter and we extras played customers in the restaurant.

After eight hours of work, the extras were free to go. We all left tired, hungry (again), and daunted by the homework we still had to do. But in the back of our minds was that twinkle of hope that we would soon be watching ourselves and Larchmont on MTV!
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November Update from the McLarens: "So far the MTV programming people have been very pleased and we're waiting for the final approval." Stay tuned for further notice.

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