Inside NBC’s “Inside the Obama White House”
Obama captures prime time
Obama Walks to Oval Office -- courtesy Antoine Sanfuentes
Mark Lukasiewicz (a.k.a. “Luk”) is one of the biggest names in TV news, yet he operates behind the cameras and lights — and notoriety — as a Vice President of NBC News.
He has been leading NBC News’ digital efforts and on the side (ahem) over the years he has created and produced some of NBC News biggest events, the most recent: NBC’s “Inside the Obama White House, Brian Williams Reports.” With amazing access and resources, he and his team shot 150 hours of tape and created two primetime network hours, which also appeared on NBC’s cable channel MSNBC.
WHCInsider talked to Luk about the two-night special report, both of which captured a “top 10″ TV ranking for that week. about how the NBC the program came together.
Linda Rozett: Did you plan what everybody would be shooting beforehand, or did you just show up with lots of people and start shooting … and sort it out in the edit room?
Mark Lukasiewicz: The White House puts out a public schedule each day, so we certainly knew in advance some of what would be on President Obama’s schedule. But in terms of exactly how it would unfold, there’s no way to know that. You just roll with it. In the end, the broadcast included an entire chapter on how the White House managed the Sonia Sotomayor story — and that episode completely unfolded before our eyes. No one could have predicted it.
Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest and NBC News VP Mark Lukasiewicz on the South Lawn of the White House, consider camera locations for "Inside the Obama White House: Brian Williams Reports" – courtesy Subrata De
In the process we followed, every producer submitted an outline of their best material, what they saw what was noteworthy, what unfolded. Each submitted the outline by midnight on Friday, a few hours after they left the White House.
Before leaving the White House Brian, Subrata De and I were also able to compare notes — and overnight I put together a 12-act outline of the two hours incorporating all the best material from the producers, and laying it out and structuring it into a rough narrative.
By noon Saturday everyone was back in New York and the entire team went to work on that 11-page outline, in a two-hour meeting. We moved some things around, added some things, took some others out. And at the end of that meeting, a producer/editor team was assigned to begin producing each act.
Sunday was another full day in a “war room” on the 5th floor of 30 Rock, where Brian worked with each producer/editor team and scripted each act in sequence. Brian recorded his scripts for those acts Sunday evening. By Monday morning, we were screening a largely completed version of the two-hour special. It was an incredible process.
In addition to the NBC Special, didn’t you have time on MSNBC?
On NBC, we had one hour on Tuesday, June 2, and one hour Wednesday, June 3. We combined those into a single, two-hour program on Friday, which also ran on MSNBC on the weekend. And very soon, it will be a DVD.
And had our own website for the broadcast: www.whitehouse.msnbc.com. Pieces of video that we let run longer and stuff that didn’t make the broadcast, we put that on the website. We also had web-exclusive elements — our web producers were involved from day one; and msnbc.com had its own editorial team with us at the White House. They had access to everything. The website also has the full two-hour video, as well as all the previous “Inside the White House” broadcasts going back several years
With that much material, you must have had some good stuff that got left on the cutting room floor … what were your favorites that just didn’t quite make the cut?
There is. We had 150 hours of material. One thing we couldn’t get into the Monday, Tuesday broadcasts, but got in on Friday was a section about White House photographer Pete Souza. The producer who shot that material made the case for a great segment; a lovely and fascinating little glimpse of how the White House photographer works, how he works with the President. The segment told the story behind a particular photo, hanging in the West Wing, of a young boy in the Oval Office. The picture shows a 4-year old standing in front of the President’s desk and Obama is leaving over so the young boy can touch his hair. Souza told us the little boy had recently had his hair cut and wondered if their heads felt the same. In the photo, Obama is leaning over so the boy can feel his head.
How would you describe Obama’s comfort level with cameras following him that closely for an extended period?
I can’t speak for the President on this, but it appeared that he was very comfortable. We certainly had extraordinary access to him all day long in different settings: casual interactions with immediate staff members, casual interactions with the First Lady, walking from place to place, backstage, meetings in the Oval Office, in the Roosevelt Room, in the limousine, getting off the elevator in the morning and getting on the elevator in the evening. He seemed very comfortable.
Any surprises during shooting?
Preparing NBC Nightly News June 2, 2009 in the East Room -- the first ever evening newscast to originate from the East Room. Left to Right: Subrata De, Megan Marcus, Brian Williams, Dan Linden – courtesy Antoine Sanfuentes
The rain was an unfortunate surprise. I mentioned earlier how we really used every part of the NBC organization — well one relatively new part of NBC is the Weather Channel and we even relied on them! When it became clear that weather was going to be a concern, we got hourly, White House specific weather forecasts to help us figure out whether we were going to be able to be outside at specific points. An excursion to the vegetable garden with First Lady Michelle Obama got rained out.
Another interesting surprise was this: on Friday the 29th, when we interviewed the President, Brian Williams asked him about his basketball/worklife balance. And President Obama described a plan to paint lines for a basketball court on top of the tennis courts. So the following Tuesday, on our day of air, I sent a crew to get pictures of the tennis court. And just as they arrived, a work crew was beginning to paint the basketball lines.
Any unexpected stars?
I don’t think so. We knew who would be prominent. It’s not terribly difficult to figure out who the key players are in the White House. But what was fascinating was to see them in their work environment, sleeves rolled up, jackets off. The degree to which some of the people opened up about their families and the impact of their jobs, for example, as surprising; David Axelrod describing the separation from his daughter in Chicago and Rahm Emanuel from his family in Chicago. That was a little surprising and a real insight I thought. As Brian pointed out in the script, people burn out of these jobs, it’s very intense.
You produced “Inside the White House” during President Bush’s administration in 2002. Did you notice any differences between the two administrations?
In terms of our planning, from an outside observers’ view, the President’s day in the George W. Bush administration seemed to be more regimented and more planned down to moment than Obama’s day. I say this in full awareness that each administration, when they allow us to come in, they know that we’re going to be there, and they make sure the President’s schedule is reflective of what they want to reflect. But of course they can’t control everything, like the weather or the news cycle, like the Sotomayor story.
It seemed to me we saw a President here that spends more of his day than his predecessor in unscheduled ways. Like walking down the hall to find someone when there’s something he wants to talk about. In the Bush administration we saw the President’s staff ushering people in and out of the Oval Office while the President was inside. In the Obama administration, more often we saw the President himself come out to see who was waiting for him and deciding who was next up.
The time rhythm of this White House is also very different from the Bush White House. Bush was a notoriously early riser and also early to bed. Obama is very clear that he’s more of a night owl. His day starts a little later, and he reserves a significant chunk of work for late in the evening. He described his office on the second floor, where he does a lot of his thinking and his reading.
We pointed out in the broadcast, and it was noticeable, the Oval Office looks a little sparse. Presidents have tended to change the Oval Office to reflect their interests, tchotchkies, art work, carpets, and even which desk they choose. President Obama uses the Oval Office for official business, for meetings. When he’s working on his own, he tends to work in the private study off the Oval office or upstairs. Not a lot of tchotchkies on the desk in the Oval Office.
Take a virtual tour of the White House and check out the panoramic photo of the Oval Office.
Are you pleased with the way it turned out? Any disappointments?
Yes, very pleased. It was great to work with such a team — and to have Brian Williams taking the ball and running with it. Brian was a White House correspondent, and he’s as well-read as anyone I know on Presidential and White House history. There wasn’t an office he was in or a corner he turned that didn’t have some great history attached to it, and he had it in his head. I was also pleased because it’s the first time we’ve done one of these programs in high definition; every frame was HD. I can’t swear to this, but it was probably the most extensive filming ever done in the White House in HD. As a producer, it’s fun to work with material that had that kind of quality. Extraordinary access to the President himself — behind the podium, talking to Brian about the issues of the day, about his life in the White House and his family — and I think we got to see different sides of a lot of people around him and a real glimpse of how he works, how he solicits advice. Very revealing.
Was Brian Williams with the President all day? How did that work?
Brian Williams, Subrata De, Mark Lukasiewicz after Brian’s interview with President Obama – courtesy Antoine Sanfuentes
Brian and his senior producer, Subrata De, were on the move from very early in the morning until the President went upstairs to end his day. Much of that time was spent with the President — including a formal sit-down interview in the Blue Room and a trip to “Five Guys” in the President’s limousine, as well as numerous walks back and forth from place to place. But Brian also spent a lot of time in the “Outer Oval,” where top administration officials and Cabinet members congregate when they’re waiting to go in to see the President. And he also had a slew of interviews to do, not just the President, but the First Lady, as well as all the key officials — Biden, Emanuel, Axelrod, Jarrett, Gibbs, General Jones — and some of the young staff members who are also key players: Reggie Love and “KJ,” the President’s secretary.
Any feedback from the White House?
The White House is fairly mum, but I think they were thought we were fair and representative. I worked very closely with Robert Gibb’s staff on the logistics of this program and I think they did a great job. On the day we were at the White House, there were dozens of small and large problems they had to help us solve and I think we ran some of them off their feet. If I had to guess, I’m not sure they loved the section of the program that dealt with the Sotomayor controversy — after all, it started with a couple of the press staff telling Gibbs it wouldn’t be a big story that day, and it was — but they had a good sense of humor about it. I don’t think they regret having invited us in to do the program.
Tomorrow, we’ll share Luk’s stories from behind the scenes, as the cameras rolled.
