Grant Gravitt on LinkedIn: Location Scouts, Chicken Fingers and Lionel Messi. The Thursday blog… (2024)

Museums, Mitzvahs and Beauty Pageant Memories. Happy first day of June! The Saturday blog begins now——Turned out to be a pretty good Friday. Last day of May was highlighted by an Evening at North Miami’s MOCA complex. And in just a few hours I saw a fashion show, toured the art exhibit and then caught a pretty cool jazz concert. The event happens the last Friday of every month. I had this wonderful asset to the community on 125th St. in downtown North Miami.MOCA has a soft spot in my heart as I was one of the founding members back when we opened I believe in 1993. Was there when Bonnie Clearwater and Lou Anne Colodny conceptualized, built and opened this art museum. Now under the direction of the city of North Miami it feature art from the diaspora of Haiti and the Caribbean. Always a fun visit when you’re in the north side of town.——Speaking of traveling. I found some of my old production badges when Tel Air Interests produced television shows in North Carolina, Arkansas, and of course Florida. Loved doing the shows in North Carolina and Arkansas as that meant road trips with the crew. We had a 24 foot GMC motorhome where we carried the equipment in staging.Normally, the driving was spread between our staff members Abe DeJesus and Derek Fremd with yours truly being the third. We would always stop in Savannah on the way to North Carolina and Biloxi on the way to Arkansas. So much fun! I even directed one of the Arkansas broadcast on crutches. The show must always go on.—Did a mitzvah today as I decided to underwrite the soccer scoreboard at the soon to be Ralph Lundy field at Erskine College. I played soccer for the Flying Fleet back in the early 80s and decided to get involved after visiting from my 40th college reunion and Due West. we are all doing this in honor of my former Coach Ralph Lundy. He was a good man to me back in the day.Now I get to assist those who will be playing well into the future. The cool thing is it’s going to say donated by Grant Gravitt, Class of 1984. I am very proud to assist in the education and advancement of the attendees of Erskine. Next year will be the hundredth anniversary of soccer at Erskine. I’m looking forward to attending the event celebrating the anniversary and the opening the new field and honored to be a permanent part of my alma mater.—Speaking of mitzvahs. I received a lovely note from our friends at More Haven Junior and Senior High. Right before the Christmas holiday I donated Mary lou‘s iconic suits and wardrobe to the young women of the school. it was a goosebumps moment for me and could not have found a more perfect place. I have since learned that the new wardrobes were taken advantage by many of the young women in their college visits and in job interviews around the region. My ability to spread joy and happiness is truly the best part of my life. These are my truths. My pronouns are he, his and him. Much love from North Miami.#MOCANoMi#ErskineCollege#RalphLundySoccerField

Production Meetings, Playoff Hockey and Guilty Verdicts. What a historic day it was. Our Friday blog begins now.——-What a pretty eventful Thursday it turned out to be. It started off innocently enough with a 10 o’clock production meeting with our Director of Photography Egon Stefan along with his wife and business partner Kat. The agenda was our June 9 Foom! Concert and fiesta shoot. Of course we want to shoot the cinematically so it requires quite the game plan and of course a lot of lights!Our dilemma is shooting under a 100-year-old Banyan tree. There is some available sunlight, but how much is undeterminable. So we need to fill it up with enough foot candles to make Alexa look great. If we pull that off, this will be some of the best concert footage seen in ages. But of course we will! we’re also figuring other tricks to make this look like a feature film shoot. Stuff my dad taught me. One hour preproduction saves an hour of production. Always be the best prepared for Shoot day. Just the way we roll.———-After a celebratory Thai and sushi lunch for our past weeks successful shoot. Line producer Tiffany Terrell and I completed the workday at the band house. Of course, like everybody else around 5 PM. We turned the television on to see the historic verdict on CBS News. Afterwards a lot of horns were beeping and pots and pans were clapping in celebration in our———Found this picture of Tel-Air’s last big business meeting before Grant Sr. passed away in 2011. We were full out in preparation to prepare for a National Geographic special on the building and design of the brand new Florida PolyTech Institute in Polk County. The feature was on the design by iconic and world-class architect Santiago Calatrava. Two of my dad’s Best friends, Gene Eagle, and John Underwood, were at this meeting at the University of South Florida.Shortly after Grant Sr. passed the entire documentary project became controversial for its spending and fell apart. Internal Florida politics saw one fraction (University of Florida) wrestle it away from another fraction (USF). Sadly, we were caught in the middle. My name was even dragged through the mud in news articles in such publications as the Lakeland Ledger and the Tampa Bay Times. We finally were offered a pittance to go away.Nothing worse than getting caught up in Sunshine state politics.———Finally, I have to say a few words about my Florida Panthers. Game five was tonight in New York. This was a pivotal momentum game as it is now a best of three series. For the first period the home standing Rangers were absolutely in charge. But the Panthers tied it in the second and dominated the final stretch and pulled out a wonderful 3 to 2 win. Now it’s back to South Florida for game six and hopefully the clincher. Go Cats!What an amazing and historic day it was. These are my truths. My pronouns are he, his and him. Much love from the greatest country in the world.

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Edit Sessions, Playoff Hockey and Julio Iglesias. The Wednesday blog begins now.———-You gotta love a Tuesday that feels like a Monday. After a four day Memorial Day Weekend it was all about post production here at Tel Air Interests. Our goal was to get all of our footage from last weeks short film shoot into the computer and colorized. Being that it is shot with our Alexa Min LF the files are insanely big. Our engineering in charge John MacDonald set us up with a great editing suite and colorization station utilizing both Adobe Premiere and da Vinci Resolve set ups. Of course we use Apple products.When I say these files are big, I mean 40 minutes of camera time for 3 TB. But the files look feature film brilliant. During the day I finally spent some time on the edit suite and getting the hang of cutting film. As many of you know I have been cutting television shows since I was 19. But film work is different. So the fact that I stayed so long away from editing was out of character. After a few hours of sitting in the chair and driving the suite. I am now excited about learning all the new technologies.Who says you can’t have personal growth?———One of my Facebook buddies sent me a picture of Julio Iglesias on his private jet. Julio was a fabulous client of both Tel Air Interests and Criteria Recording Studios. I was fortunate enough to produce and direct a few of his music video shoots. Also did an insane amount of television stringer interviews, as we knew exactly how he liked to be lit for interviews. Always shoot the right side of his face, not the left! Never once was it not a fun shoot. But personally, the best gig I ever had was for Julio was the simplest. I used to convert all his VHS tapes from PAL to NTSC so he could watch on his jet touring the world. I spent a little bit of money on a universal VHS to VHS tape converter. Probably one of the best investments I ever made.One of the nicest guys ever. ——-Tuesday night was all about game four of the Florida Panthers versus New York Rangers Eastern Division Finals. The players are getting to know each other, and it is chippy and hard hitting. Some fantastic defense also. Played just up the road in Sunrise so you know the joint was jumping. And the Cats were trying to even up the series at two games apiece.After a slow first period the Panthers caught the momentum midway through the second period as they finally found a way Into the net twice as up until then the Rangers goalkeeping had been outstanding. Of course the Rangers tied in the third. Then sent it to overtime for the third consecutive game. But the mighty Panthers stood the test of time and pulled out a much-needed victory. Now it’s off to New York for the pivotal game five. The momentum changes every night that’s why I love playoff hockey. Go Cats! These are my truths. My pronouns are he, his and him. Much love from Miami Dade county#TelAirInterests#AlexaMiniLF#JulioIglesias#StanleyCupPlayoffs2024.

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Dinosaurs, Flamingos and Beach Runs. The Monday blog starts now.——-Memorial Day has always been my favorite summer holiday. Signifying the start of my favorite season. I think I am one of the few people who love hot weather. So traditionally I always begin the holiday with a long run. Monday saw a two and a half hour trek down Miami Beach making it from 73rd street to South Point Park. I felt more tortoise than hare today. But got her done. Saw a lot of beautiful sites along the way. We truly live in Paradise.——-Had a change in plans today so at the last minute I decided to play tourist and head up to Flamingo Gardens in Davie. I had not been there in years. After exploring all of my entertainment options, one thing stood out. Dinosaurs! It was Dinosaur display day at this iconic Broward tourist attraction. So my inner six-year-old me had to go because I was obsessed with the prehistoric beast. So you know I made the long journey to northwest Broward from Miami Shores.Prominently located amongst the garden inhabitants there would be dinosaur displays to show the prehistoric animals in what would’ve been their natural environment. They were robotic so there was movement by the beasts and lots of noises. I don’t think it was one of the better ones on tour. But it was pretty fun and awesome! ———Flamingo Gardens itself is quite a large display With some very impressive trees and exotic plant displays throughout the grounds, Adding to the fun were many art displays. Several artists had designed these unique and whimsical animals that were displayed with the exotic plants and trees. I even saw a few pieces from the Chihuly glass exhibit many years ago at Fairchild Gardens. It had to the lightheartedness of the day.——-But my favorite part of the park were the wild animals and exotic birds on display. They have Florida Panthers, Bald Eagles and some really large alligators. But my favorite were the flamingos. They have their own display area right next to the food stands. So a favorite of the visitors is to have the birds gather and feed them bird feed from the restaurant. Quite a few of the alpha flamingos were in front of us making quite the commotion. All their efforts showing off as the birds were primping for the guest as well as the different birds as it was mating season. They also have a very impressive Peaco*ck collection, none of which were from the park. They are all wild, and it was also their mating season so many of the males were showing off their feathers today.Let’s just say love was in the air. It was impressive!——Then it was back to Miami for a quick workout then an early evening as a busy week awaits. We are just getting over one shoot and are planning a video on June 9. So it’s back to production and planning at Tel Air Interests. Entertainment doesn’t sleep so neither do we! These are my truths. My pronouns are he, his and him. Much love from the shores of Biscayne Bay.#RunMiamiBeach#FlamingoGardens#DinosaursRule

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