Woodturning on TV

[Kalia Kliban]

Several of my gallery customers have told me about the show "The Last Thing He Told Me," in which Jennifer Garner plays a high-end turner in Sausalito, CA. The one shot of her at the lathe in the first episode was, um, not entirely plausible (to put it diplomatically), but I am curious about who makes the bowls that are shown as hers. They seem to be mostly open-form natural edge bowls, pretty nice from the quick glimpses we get. Anyone know whose work that is? The first episode has some shots inside the shop with work on the shelves, plus one shot of the swanky store in the San Francisco Ferry Building where her work is sold. The show as a whole is getting meh reviews, so I don't know how much of it I'll be up for watching, but I'd love to know about the turner behind the scenes.

At least she was wearing a face shield...

Are there any other depictions of turners in movies or TV shows? I can't think of any.
Kalia

 

[Ron Solfest]

Same experience here…

 

[Jeff Jackson]

I had an eye opening experience about turning and TV. Back about 2015 I had a lady from Maggie Valley NC wanted one of my bowls on my Etsy shop Fedexed to her. I gladly obliged and the transaction went well. But I did notice her email address was a production company and it turned out she was a TV producer.
Time went on and I was watching the show Hillbilly Blood where these two mountain men are like Macgyvers and they were mounting a burl to a truck axle to make a bowl, and you can tell it wasn't going well. But lo and behold they show this finished bowl in the end and it was MY BOWL I SOLD TO THAT PRODUCER!!! I recognized it right away because of the eye figure! I confronted them about it and instantly got deleted and blocked, as well as anyone else who tried confronting them. Unfortunately I was barely scraping by at the time and couldn't afford pursuing it legally. It spread like wildfire on social media and forum boards. Shortly after that the show went off the air.

 

[hockenbery]

Actual turning shows up once in a while on tv shows.
There are frequently turnings shown in the background

Several actors are turners. William Macy is a pretty good one- we had him conditionally schedule for a symposium - unfortunately the conditional shooting schedule changed making him unable to attend.
Bob Prosky (hill street blues, Mrs doubt fire) is no longer with us. Bob was an active member of the Chesapeake Woodturners when he was between projects. Just another turner at the meetings.

When I took Liam O’neils class in 1994 Robert Kennedy Junior stopped by at the end of our class to take Liam to dinner. He pitched in with us to clean up. While he was helping me carry a lathe around, I asked him if he did any turning and he replied, “ no, I’m just a lawyer.” He also explained he had met Liam on a trip to Ireland.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

William Macy

Back in the mid 1990's when they were filming parts of the Movie Fargo in Minneapolis Macy looked up one of our members and took some lessons from him.

 

[Aaron Gesicki]

Several of my gallery customers have told me about the show "The Last Thing He Told Me," in which Jennifer Garner plays a high-end turner in Sausalito, CA. The one shot of her at the lathe in the first episode was, um, not entirely plausible (to put it diplomatically), but I am curious about who makes the bowls that are shown as hers. They seem to be mostly open-form natural edge bowls, pretty nice from the quick glimpses we get. Anyone know whose work that is? The first episode has some shots inside the shop with work on the shelves, plus one shot of the swanky store in the San Francisco Ferry Building where her work is sold. The show as a whole is getting meh reviews, so I don't know how much of it I'll be up for watching, but I'd love to know about the turner behind the scenes.

At least she was wearing a face shield...

Are there any other depictions of turners in movies or TV shows? I can't think of any.
Kalia

They should have gotten William Macy to consult while doing a cameo. He learned to turn when spending time in Minnesota while shooting Fargo. He's acceptably good at it.

 

[Michael Anderson]

A video clip of her turning a bowl randomly came across my Instagram feed several days ago. She had been takin lessons with a guy named Aaron Hauser. Maybe she’s not super skilled, but at least she was able to do something and get introduced to the craft. I didn’t really think too much about it, but now I’m curious to check out the scenes from that show.

 

[Chris Hoehle]

I was hoping that show would have the same impact on enrollment for my classes that Patrick Swayze and Ghost had years earlier for people getting into ceramics. So far, that hasn't materialized unfortunately! Too bad it's on Apple TV instead of something with wider reach like Netflix or Prime. Please step it up Ms. Gardner! (But like Micheal says, props to her for at least taking some lessons).

 

[Kevin Jesequel]

At the Oregon Symposium, Mike Mahoney was telling a story about some bowls he turned for a movie or T V. He said there was a scene where the turner got angry and threw the bowls against the wall or floor. They were supposed to break, but only bounced. The director wasn’t pleased and told Mike to “fix it”. So, he cut them apart and glued them back together so that they would break when they re-shot the scene.

 

[Chuck Engstrom]

I saw a nice natural edge bowl in a TIDE laundry soap commercial a couple of days ago, but it went by pretty quickly.

 

[Joe Penn]

I haven't seen the show.

From an Internet search:
Jennifer Garner studied the art of woodturning for her role in 'The Last Thing He Told Me.'

In The Last Thing He Told Me, Hannah is a master woodturner who uses her skills to craft upscale salad bowls. As defined by Merriam-Webster, woodturning — which is more specific than woodworking — is "the art or process of fashioning wooden pieces or blocks into various forms and shapes by means of a lathe."

Dedicated to embodying Hannah, Jennifer learned to turn bowls under the watchful eye of furniture maker and wood master Aaron Hauser (his box joints are impeccable).

"I knew that I was only going to turn wood once or twice in the show, if at all, and but I wanted to know more about Hannah," Jennifer said. "I had an incredible teacher. His name's Aaron Hauser, and we worked together every week for hours. It got to be where I would be there for five or six hours because I just wanted to see a project through to completion."

From Instagram:
Jen first came into my shop in the fall to learn how to turn on the lathe for an upcoming role. Even for seasoned woodworkers, the lathe is an intimidating machine. But Jen is courageous and tenacious, traits that have made her excel in her craft and now this craft. It's pretty remarkable and inspiring that, in just a few sessions, she's gone from learning the basics to turning beautiful bowls. Can't wait to see what she creates next!

Maybe Hauser or even Garner, or both turned the bowls.

 

[Dave Landers]

AAW shared this on their Facebook page (Apr 14) https://www.facebook.com/reel/3080582422181373

 

[Kirk Amidon]

I had an eye opening experience about turning and TV. Back about 2015 I had a lady from Maggie Valley NC wanted one of my bowls on my Etsy shop Fedexed to her. I gladly obliged and the transaction went well. But I did notice her email address was a production company and it turned out she was a TV producer.
Time went on and I was watching the show Hillbilly Blood where these two mountain men are like Macgyvers and they were mounting a burl to a truck axle to make a bowl, and you can tell it wasn't going well. But lo and behold they show this finished bowl in the end and it was MY BOWL I SOLD TO THAT PRODUCER!!! I recognized it right away because of the eye figure! I confronted them about it and instantly got deleted and blocked, as well as anyone else who tried confronting them. Unfortunately I was barely scraping by at the time and couldn't afford pursuing it legally. It spread like wildfire on social media and forum boards. Shortly after that the show went off the air.

Dumb question perhaps. What is the issue here? I read that the bowl was sold to someone who then used it as a prop in a TV show. Is that not a right for the buyer? Or is it a matter of not having the work attributed? No idea how hollywood, etc. works.

 

[Jeff Jackson]

Dumb question perhaps. What is the issue here? I read that the bowl was sold to someone who then used it as a prop in a TV show. Is that not a right for the buyer? Or is it a matter of not having the work attributed? No idea how hollywood, etc. works.

It's how someone else takes credit for turning it themselves. If they would have approached me beforehand I would have thought about it differently. But when I approached them about it they instantly silenced me so they can keep the credit for it.
How would you feel if it was your work?

 

[Kirk Amidon]

It's how someone else takes credit for turning it themselves. If they would have approached me beforehand I would have thought about it differently. But when I approached them about it they instantly silenced me so they can keep the credit for it.
How would you feel if it was your work?

That I totally get. The reaction you received is unwarranted as well. Thanks for answering.

 

[Tom McClellan]

I think that hillbilly blood tv show was one of the “reality” shows and the guys in the show claimed to have made the bowl themselves. Different scenario than just a prop sitting on a table in the background.

 

[Donald Pratt]

If there are any HGTV fans, watch for a show called Home Town. The husband (Ben) is often seen turning different items that are used in the furniture he makes. I don’t think I’ve seen him do any bowls, but could have just missed it.

 

[Kalia Kliban]

Actual turning shows up once in a while on tv shows.
There are frequently turnings shown in the background

Several actors are turners. William Macy is a pretty good one- we had him conditionally schedule for a symposium - unfortunately the conditional shooting schedule changed making him unable to attend.
Bob Prosky (hill street blues, Mrs doubt fire) is no longer with us. Bob was an active member of the Chesapeake Woodturners when he was between projects. Just another turner at the meetings.

When I took Liam O’neils class in 1994 Robert Kennedy Junior stopped by at the end of our class to take Liam to dinner. He pitched in with us to clean up. While he was helping me carry a lathe around, I asked him if he did any turning and he replied, “ no, I’m just a lawyer.” He also explained he had met Liam on a trip to Ireland.

I knew about William Macy, but not the others.

 

[Kalia Kliban]

AAW shared this on their Facebook page (Apr 14) https://www.facebook.com/reel/3080582422181373

Thanks! Nice to see this!