Judy Farinet - photo by Patrick Harbron

“We’re seeing it all unfold and putting it on the air for everyone,” she says. “I get a rush sometimes from knowing that we’re in the hub of things that are making history or affecting the nation and the world.”

Not that Farinet, who has clocked 42 years at NBC, and 33 as an AD, comes across as excitable. She takes a seasoned and practical view of her role producing the nation’s top-rated newscast. “To an outsider, it might appear nerve-wracking, but we know our jobs and what has to be done, and it’s comfortable,” she says. “The only thing that makes it nerve-wracking is that you have to make instant decisions.”

There have, however, been some notable highlights. “The night launch of Apollo 17 was totally thrilling,” she admits. “I was able to be right there at the launch pad for the taping, as opposed to seeing it on TV.”

A specialist in politics, she recalls the absorbing drama of the 2000 election: “It was Bush and Gore and back and forth, and everyone called Gore as the winner in Florida, and then it all turned.”

Her first convention, worked onsite as a PA, was the 1968 Chicago Democratic event, which had no shortage of drama as troops battled demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War. And she fondly recalls her work as an AD on the 1976 DGA Award-winning special NBC Reports: A Day In The Life of President Carter. I have a picture standing at the desk of the president in the Oval Office, but they wouldn’t let me sit down in his chair.”

A native New Yorker, Farinet entered the TV business with an assist from her father, then a press agent at CBS, who got her a summer job in media relations at NBC.

After graduating from NYU, she returned to NBC as a secretary, then did production work for the Huntley-Brinkley Report. A job as a vacation relief AD became permanent, and she joined the Guild in 1973.

“The DGA was a front-runner in having women as ADs, and a lot of those women were my mentors. But other unions had no women in production jobs,” notes Farinet. She joined a class-action suit filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that succeeded in opening doors. Since then, she says, “things have changed tremendously.”

But even several decades at the center of events hasn’t been quite enough for Farinet, who also directs for Dateline NBC and various live specials. “I hope to be doing this for a while longer,” she says. And while technology continues to evolve–the network just moved to digital servers–she observes there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: “So far, it still requires people to actually make the product.”

Ken Stein - photo by Brian Davis

Ken Stein:
Mr. White Gloves

To Golden Globe or Academy Award presenters who may be balky, inebriated, or missing glasses to see the teleprompter, Stein is the guy who’s backstage to soothe, smooth and solve the problem.

An L.A. native, and son of a radio and TV game show writer, Stein landed his first showbiz job as a gofer on Laugh-In. He got his big break and was able to join the DGA in 1976 when a daytime kids show promoted him from production supervisor to stage manager.

He’s part of a core group of seasoned pros–perhaps 25-30 on each coast–who keep things on track and moving at large live television events such as variety and awards shows and beauty pageants.

“A lead stage manager is like the 1st AD on a film,” says Stein. “They’re the first hired, and get to bring in a lot of the other people.” The lead–typically hired by the director–might bring in up to a dozen managers, each delegated to a specific area of the production.

On a big show like the Oscars, “our value is that the presenters are comfortable with us because we’ve helped them get through other awards shows,” he notes. “Film actors get a little nervous with live television, so if we can put them at ease, that’s a big plus.”

Stein is particularly fond of doing beauty pageants, and this year turned down a Golden Globes assignment when it conflicted with Miss America. “You’re surrounded by 50 to 80 girls, which keeps me young,” says Stein of the pageants. “I get a kick out of them.”

He takes a paternal attitude toward the women, who call him “Mr. White Gloves.” “They get so pumped up with adrenaline and excited that they forget where to go,” he says. “I keep them in place for the director to get the shots he needs, and then release them to go to their next mark.”

Although Stein has never experienced a complete “crash and burn”–the greatest fear of any live show manager–the specter of disaster can still hover. It’s that fear, he says, that keeps stage managers on their toes and doing their best.

“In the live picture, the level of tension gets stepped up a notch,” he says. “There are moments that put the fear of god in you.”

James Roque - photo by Jackson Hill

James Roque:
New Orleans Bound

As a longtime 2nd AD on features, he’s learning to cope by using the same skills that make him effective on set. “You have to plan everything–what time you’re going to eat, where you’re going to eat, or you can get stuck with everything closed or very crowded,” he reports.

Before Hurricane Katrina hit, Roque evacuated to stay with friends in Atlanta, having just wrapped the New Orleans-based romantic comedy Failure to Launch. When he returned, he found the devastation “hard to comprehend.”

“The hurricane was nature, but the failure of the levees–that’s politics, that’s a failure of people, and that kind of hurts,” he confesses.

His allegiance to the flood-damaged city runs deep. After majoring in mass communications at the University of New Orleans, he built his career patiently and doggedly, working for many years as a PA on area productions such as The Pelican Brief and Dead Man Walking.

The typically talkative Roque landed his first DGA job on Sonny, Nicolas Cage’s directorial debut. Developing a bond with New Orleans-based AD Ann Salzer was key to his progress. “I became her guy that she’d take on all her jobs,” he says.

In the aftermath of Katrina, he relocated temporarily to Shreveport to work on Roadhouse 2 and Factory Girl, but itched to get back to New Orleans.

Now that he’s home, he’s feeling the weight of the disaster. The bottom half of a duplex he owns had to be gutted, thanks to weeks of standing water. He’s committed to making the top half of the property habitable again, but anticipates having to make his living away from the city for some time to come. “As a member of the DGA, I have opportunities to go elsewhere and keep working, so I can’t feel sorry for myself,” he says, “but it’s not fun right now.”

Still, Roque says he can’t imagine not maintaining some kind of home in New Orleans, where he cherishes the music and food, and sense of community. ”It’s an easy way of life, and I have family and friends here who will never leave,” he says. “This city has given me a lot. I think I can help in some way. I just don’t think you can walk away.”