Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/569837
36 dga quarterly rriving at the Jimmy Kimmel Live! studios means braving the throngs that everyone in Los Angeles tries to avoid. Near the corner of Hollywood and Highland, tour guides hold flags as their charges line up like ducklings behind them. Other free- range visitors pose for selfies while Spiderman and his costumed cohorts exhort passersby to pay for the privilege of shoot- ing them. A guard watches it all impassively from the show's front steps as a line for that day's audience starts to form. "We're lucky we're right in the middle of this craziness," says di- rector Sandra Restrepo Considine. "We use the space that we have, every inch of it." She regularly sends camera crews out in front of the building during the show to shoot live bits. In one of her favorites, Jim Carrey stood out on the sidewalk giving atrocious haircuts to willing victims. Hollywood bowl cuts! Once inside, however, all is calm at Kimmel. Could be because much of the crew, including associate directors Kathleen Fortine and Jeri-Ann Wong and stage manager Josh Wader, have been there since day one; stage manager Alec Potter has been there a mere five years. Sandra Restrepo Considine has worked on live concerts, comedy acts, and variety specials throughout her career. Now as director of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, she and her team have it all under one roof—every day. By LISA ROSEN PHOTOS: RANDY HOLMES/ABC Hollywood Beat A "A lot of my stage manager peers told me, 'You're crazy to join the Guild for that show, it's going to be gone in 13 weeks," Wader recalls. "Well, we're on Season 13, and all of those people work here." In fact, Restrepo Considine is one of the newest kids on this block, having been at the helm of ABC's late night show for less than a year. But you'd never know it from watching her work. The morning goes by in a flurry of meetings. At 10:00, Kimmel talks with his segment producers to sketch out the day's show. Re- strepo Considine attends whenever possible, to get an early look at their plans for the guests. At 10:20, she holds a 10-minute production meeting with her department heads. "The minute we finish, we hit the ground running," says Wader. "We go to the main stage, the Bou- levard, the lobby, and get started." Any pre-taped sketches will be handed off to segment directors for shooting, while live bits, like Liam Neeson's angry reading of a bedtime story, fall under Restrepo Considine's purview. "I have from 10:30 to 11:00 to figure out how to shoot [the bits] before Jimmy comes down for his rehearsal at 11:00," she says. "One of the things about this job is you have to look and work fast."

