CineMontage

Q2 2019

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25 Q2 2019 / CINEMONTAGE by Peter Tonguette B eth Stiller is not a professional basketball player. She isn't known for shooting from the three-point line or for scoring fast-break points. In fact, she prefers surfing to basketball. But, for about eight years in the late 1990s and 2000s, Stiller found herself on the road with the Los Angeles Lakers. From the 1998-1999 to 2005-2006 NBA seasons, Stiller served as the technical director on Lakers road games shown on KCAL in Los Angeles. Although her job was strictly behind-the-scenes, she nonetheless felt connected to the excitement that was happening on the court. Any Lakers fan can call to mind the electricity of those years: Head coach Phil Jackson was cooking up plays on the sideline while players like Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were working their superstar magic at game time. "It's such a trip to be on the front of a wave," Stiller says. "You felt that synergy both with the production team and with the sports team itself. We always felt like we were little barnacles on the side of a whale, just flying along with them." For Stiller and her colleagues, the stakes weren't quite as great as winning or losing a championship, but the pressure of delivering games to viewers tuning in at home could be intense. "We work as a great organism together, and if one of us is derailed, another member has to take over," she explains. "If you're thinking about, 'Oh, did I take the laundry out?' or 'Did I forget to turn off the heater?' or silly little things like that, it can derail the train." A native of Brooklyn, New York, Stiller moved with her family to Los Angeles when she was 10. She did not grow up as a sports fan in general, or a Lakers fan in particular. "Personally, I don't enjoy watching sports too much, but it's really fun to technical direct," she comments. And, with a bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz, her ultimate career path in show business was not a foregone conclusion, either. "I love literature," she explains. "I love stories." Upon graduation, the TD-to-be planned to return to New York, but before she could make the trip back to her hometown, she had a chance encounter with an acquaintance who ran an audio studio in Los Angeles. "He invited me to learn how to audio engineer," she remembers. "I said, 'Oh, what the hell' — I was young." MY MOST MEMORABLE FILM Beth Stiller on Los Angeles Lakers Road Telecasts Beth Stiller. Left: Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant flies high for a rebound against the Houston Rockets in January 2003 in Houston. Photo by Pat Sullivan/Associated Press

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