September 19, 2005

• Got Ideas?

  
  

  As many may know, there is a lot of downtime on sets while waiting in between setups — and a good portion of that time is spent either resting, preparing or eating in your trailer. 

  
  

  In the past 6 months, I’ve been inside 6 different trailers on six different projects but there has been one common denominator: They were all Star Waggons™ .

  
  

  Let me flashback about 26 years — Lyle Waggoner was the male lead on the 70′s show, “Wonder Woman”.  Your typical good looking, leading man type (trivia: He was almost cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne on the 60′s “Batman” show before losing out to Adam West).

  
  

  But this guy was no himbo (even though he was Playgirl’s first centerfold in ’73 — I don’t know why I even know that).

  
  

  During one of his downtimes on set, he observed all the various trailers on set for the actors, production, makeup/wardrobe, etc. 

  
  

  He asked a producer, “What if I brought my own camping trailer to use as my trailer on set?”  To which the producer replied, “Well, then I’d have to give you money to rent it from you, for you to use on set.”

  
  

  And I’m sure Waggoner with a raised eyebrow then thought to himself, “Oh really?” 

  
  

  Waggoner’s career post “Wonder Woman” was “okay” with projects such as ”Love Boat II” and “Cyber-C.H.I.C” — but that didn’t matter.  Because Waggoner put the money he made acting into a line of trailers — and hence Star Waggons was born.  The company is now the largest supplier of studio location rental trailers in the entertainment industry.  Pow.  How ya like that?

  
  

  The guy had the right idea.  Lots of different irons in the fire. 

  
  

  I always think of this story whenever I’m in my trailer because it shames me into wondering, ”What else can I do with this downtime?” 

  • 2:03 pm
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