TV show.

Drewtree · Mar 30, 2016

So I've been approached by a television production company that wants me to take their host out to experience arboriculture, and to try to do what we do every day. They want him to effect a tree removal. I'm of course all for it, but I am having trouble thinking of how I can take a complete novice (albeit very physically capable) from never having worn a saddle to removing a medium sized tree over the course of two days of filming, safety is obviously paramount here. I think with the right tree it's possible to do, I'm thinking a medium sized conifer dismantle.

Anyone want to brainstorm some ideas here?

Drewtree · Mar 30, 2016

Drewtree said:
So I've been approached by a television production company that wants me to take their host out to experience arboriculture, and to try to do what we do every day. They want him to effect a tree removal. I'm of course all for it, but I am having trouble thinking of how I can take a complete novice (albeit very physically capable) from never having worn a saddle to removing a medium sized tree over the course of two days of filming, safety is obviously paramount here. I think with the right tree it's possible to do, I'm thinking a medium sized conifer dismantle.

Anyone want to brainstorm some ideas here?

I'm planning to be in the tree with him at all
times and never out of arms reach to supervise the entire process.

William bascome · Mar 30, 2016

That's good because they approached me also

macswan · Mar 30, 2016

I wonder if you in a lift beside him could work. Two people in a medium sized removal sounds crowded. Cool concept though. If the host has some common sense it could work.

roxy · Mar 30, 2016

My first thought is that if he really wants to experience Arboriculture, he should be doing long term structural pruning on a young shade tree...handsaws and thinking caps! But if it's got to be a removal, that's cool. Don't let them make you look bad, though. Two days is what, 10 minutes of tape? Make sure this guy has his chainsaw merit badge before he gets to use it aloft. I wish you much patience, and thank you in advance for being a public educator for professional Arboriculture.

Drewtree · Mar 30, 2016

roxy said:
My first thought is that if he really wants to experience Arboriculture, he should be doing long term structural pruning on a young shade tree...handsaws and thinking caps! But if it's got to be a removal, that's cool. Don't let them make you look bad, though. Two days is what, 10 minutes of tape? Make sure this guy has his chainsaw merit badge before he gets to use it aloft. I wish you much patience, and thank you in advance for being a public educator for professional Arboriculture.

Yeah,my aim is to just get through it without making myself look like a bumbling idiot. I've never been on TV Before.

Drewtree · Mar 30, 2016

macswan said:
I wonder if you in a lift beside him could work. Two people in a medium sized removal sounds crowded. Cool concept though. If the host has some common sense it could work.

William bascome said:
That's good because they approached me also

Oh cool, what's the show? They've been really hush hush about the details.

Drewtree · Mar 30, 2016

roxy said:
My first thought is that if he really wants to experience Arboriculture, he should be doing long term structural pruning on a young shade tree...handsaws and thinking caps! But if it's got to be a removal, that's cool. Don't let them make you look bad, though. Two days is what, 10 minutes of tape? Make sure this guy has his chainsaw merit badge before he gets to use it aloft. I wish you much patience, and thank you in advance for being a public educator for professional Arboriculture.

I agree, however they really want the action and smash ups of a cut and drop removal. They wanted your stereotypical tree felling episode, complete with host felling the trunk.

welltree · Mar 30, 2016

I think having a bucket there would be good strategy,maybe see if you can find a 20-30 cm ash or even better Norway or linden .conifer can be a pain especially to someone green .ie saw pinch or false crotch top . Deciduous you have a clear view of guy for filming as well

Tom Dunlap · Mar 30, 2016

Wait a minute...then, wait an hour...then, let's stop the train.

Don't we agree that arbo work is dangerous and requires intensive training and then lots of coaching...along with experience?

Would ANYONE take a raw, first-day hire, and put them in a tree, with a chainsaw, to do a removal? Even a crabapple type tree out in the middle of a stubble field?

I'm not familiar with OHSA in Canada but I do think that employers are required to provide training and testing to assure competence. How are you going to cover those responsibilities?

About a year ago I was approached be a Hollywood promoter about being a technical advisor for a show that they were planning. Of course, a really nice ego stroke! After a few short phone discussions I told them that I would never be involved with a show like AxMen, Nosak or My Big Wood. He was familiar with all of them. I told him that those shows presented the wrong image of our profession. Unsafe and stoopid! He agreed...but...never called me back.

Would you give a client a good deal on a removal if they did the work under your supervision?

D x D · Mar 30, 2016

I am sorry Tom, but I disagree a bit.

First, I have been lurking on this site for bit, kept quiet and learned as much as I can. Heck still a ton to learn and have come to enjoy, respect, and appreciate so much of you as people and your abilities and your profession. Please don't forget that...because here comes a BUT.

But, like most skilled professions, a lot of what you guys do can be done by competent people that are motivated amateurs - seriously. Many amateurs do very competent carpentry, electric, and plumbing work all the time which are also skilled professions with a degree of danger as well. I have never understood as many times as I have read it here, that somehow tree/arbor work is in a whole different level/category than some other skilled professions.

I am not saying that some of what you guys do isn't close to amazing, but this request isn't one of those as medium sized chop and drop removal isn't that big of deal Sorry. No disrespect, meant.

Regarding the danger, well sure it is there, but it is manageable. And constrained danger also is a thrill. Think rock climbing and skydiving. In those fields there are some ridiculously skilled folks too, but they take amateurs along all the time to promote, advance, and grow the profession. Why not arbor work?

Kris Anderson · Mar 31, 2016

Do a medium removal with rigging. I know when i first started it seemed easy but was a bit tricky when you thought about it. Makes a dismantle look a bit harder and more professional on tv. Coach and run the ropes...

CutHighnLetFly · Mar 31, 2016

There's a gray area between winging with a TV host on the tree and what Tom d is saying, but Tom is speaking some serious truth. I don't think having the dude in spikes and climbing gear making cuts sounds like.the best idea. Maybe out of the bucket with someone else climbing or setting the rigging before cuts.
Not everyone is Bob Villa........

Good luck with that Drew, rep us all well!
Just don't make the host be your ground guy, no one wants to watch someone just tieing on a pole saw all day.

Just kidding! I couldn't help it!

Kris Anderson · Apr 1, 2016

CutHighnLetFly said:
There's a gray area between winging with a TV host on the tree and what Tom d is saying, but Tom is speaking some serious truth. I don't think having the dude in spikes and climbing gear making cuts sounds like.the best idea. Maybe out of the bucket with someone else climbing or setting the rigging before cuts.
Not everyone is Bob Villa........

Good luck with that Drew, rep us all well!
Just don't make the host be your ground guy, no one wants to watch someone just tieing on a pole saw all day.

Just kidding! I couldn't help it!

Yeah good call.

treehumper · Apr 1, 2016

Negotiate the minimum training required to properly run a chainsaw aloft and do some basic rigging, safe climbing techniques, etc... Have the final authority to be able to call "cut" when it appears to be out of the host's range of ability. As it was mentioned, out of 2 days of filming you'll get about 10 mins. of footage that goes to air. So you start low and slow where he/she can get the feel of being aloft and working the tree. This footage wouldn't be of any interest to them anyway since it'll be dull stuff.

It's not that it's so gosh darn crazy difficult but that it can go sideways really fast. Our jobs aren't more dangerous than those others mentioned but it ranks high because so many amateurs decide they could get paid for doing it.

TimBr · Apr 1, 2016

Something I've heard about a lot of these "reality" TV shows is that they are often highly scripted affairs. I get the impression that they like to add in fake arguments and fake safety incidents all in the name of creating drama. Some of this stuff looks really unprofessional, and seems damaging to the image of the industry being portrayed.

Don't let them make you do anything stupid just for the sake of trying to make things interesting.

Come to think of it, the show I would much rather see is the one in which some production company throws all of its resources at Reg Coates, as far as having as many cameras, cameramen and photographers available as he cares to have. Reg would retain full creative control, over the finished product, and the action on the ground. He would, in essence, hold the position of a motion picture director. Full trust in his instincts, and in his ideas for possibly acquiring footage nobody has ever tried to capture before.

To be able to watch a whole team of people that are really good at what they do, start to finish on one of his giant conifers; that is a show I would want to see. No drama, just excellence.

Tim

Treespotter · Apr 1, 2016

Don't forget to write a waiver that has to be signed by the dude, the complete film crew and the production company.

Wolter

Drewtree · May 12, 2016

So the day I was so anxious about has finally come and gone. The show has been shot, I went out with the host and did a removal with him in the tree with me.

This was the most stressful day of my life. I had plans that changed on the fly, I had to keep
an eye on wandering cameramen who wouldn't adhere to drop zone boundaries and protocol. I had to free fall limbs past a complete novice situated on the trunk 15 feet below me. I had to stand on my spikes for 8 hours of shooting on a job that would have taken me an hour and a half.

I am ragged and burnt out but the job is done, no one got hurt, and the host even got to do some cutting. Some snap cuts etc.

I imagine I will get a lot of flack from the community for the show and the techniques i used but they were all chosen to protect the host from all potential hazards. I measure success with safety.

I did my best in a stressful situation and I hope anyone that thinks of criticizing me for my choices first thinks of putting themselves in my boots for the day.

Resisting constant pressure from the production company to let the host perform
more dangerous tasks was very difficult to deal with.

I hope that I represented the community in a good light, I have no control over the editing process or what footage or scenes they cut or manipulate. Looking back there are some things I would have changed but what's done is done.

-A