Hacienda Heights


This summer of 2011 I worked as first AD for a TV pilot called Hacienda Heights, directed by Desmond Gumbs and produced by Sam Sapp.

This TV show will be picked up by a distributor and for that reason I can’t tell a lot about the details of the show. What I can say is that we had major challenges during the shoot due to very hard to solve production logistics. Even with these problems, we managed to finish everything with the resources we had.

In the beginning of the show, I was working with Jorday Paley as 2nd AD. We worked pretty well the first week, but then on the second week he had to go for another gig that he had scheduled before signing with us. So after he left, I worked by myself with the producer and 3 PAs. The PAs did an amazing job at everything that they had to do. We were overloaded with managing a crew of 30 people and getting all the pieces together for the shoot. After 12 days of shooting and 8 days of office work, we finished 52 pages of material.

For this gig I had the pleasure to work with a very talented set of actors (which I am not allowed yet to reveal names) and an awesome crew. I also had the satisfaction to shoot at the LA river with a helicopter camera, drive expensive 300K cars, act in one of the scenes, and travel to Malibu to shoot a scene on a mansion overlooking the ocean.

I am hopeful that the show will be signed and we will be working more. When I get more information about the show, I will definitely post here.


9 responses to “Hacienda Heights”

    • Yes it is funny reading all the negative reports about Sam Sapp online because I also had a very bad experience with Sam Sapp back in 2008. I was hired to work on a production that was supposed to shoot in Oakland, CA. The day that I was supposed to travel up to Oakland with the film crew the project was suddenly canceled approximately 20 minutes before the I was supposed to leave. Sapp said “that the financing fell through at the last minute”. However, Sapp promised me that I would allow me to work on another productions he was working on in Los Angeles. Typically, I am not that gullible because from the onset of my ordeal with Sapp I began to think that he was full of it , however because a good friend whom I trusted vouched for Sapp so I agreed to stay on and work for him in spite of what my gut was telling me. I did a lot of work setting up Sapp’s so called production company along with several other people whom I assume were also the victim of his scam and again at the last minute without warning Sapp pull the plug. I worked for over a month without pay, and I never heard from Sapp again.

    • yeah man. word spread fast when you do bad for people. but I have nothing to do with them, I just worked as assistant for the producers and director

  1. Scumbags. Thats what they are! Nothing against you. It seems that you worked with them only. But Samuel Sapp and Desmond are two low life

  2. Good afternoon,

    I’m trying to find out when this TV series will be coming out? I did a scene that was filmed in Ruby Hills and haven’t heard or seen anything yet. I tried contacting SF csting to see if they heard anything and nothing has been provided.

    • Hi Mario,
      I also shot a scene with Jimmy JR Ramirez for the pilot in the summer of 2011 and I haven’t heard anything either. I tried contacting Sam Sapp and he won’t get back to me. I also tried contacting casting for some footage for my reel and no one will reply. Do you know who I can contact regarding this? Thanks

      • Hello Sara, sorry for not having any info on this project. If I discover anything I will definitely keep you posted. Thanks for asking.

    • Hi Michael, I don’t have any of the guys contact from this project. I don’t even know the status of the project. I will keep you posted if I hear anything. thanks for the message

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