I WANT MY MTV...BUT NOT IN MIAMI!!!

I wasn't going to post about the VMA's, but by popular demand.....

MTV VMA's
Miami, Florida
1:30p check-in/5:45p arrivals
August 28, 2005

First off, there were a ton on NY shooters down in Miami. It was almost like a premiere in Manhattan. And I must give a shout out to all the Cali shooters out there. Good to see ya'll!

Why Miami? Why!

It's like working in a bowl of hot soup. Not fun. Not healthy.

Here are some tips for any shooters who may visit Miami for the first time:

* Any party in Miami doesn't start until at least 10pm...or 2 hours after the time on the tip sheet.

*Going from an air-conditioned hotel/store into a paparazzi street situation will result in a foggy lens, camera, mirror, and glasses. This in turn produces less that desirable photographic results.

*Whatever party you are covering, the better one is down the road.

*Pack lite, dress lite.

*100 iso 250/f11

Now for the actual awards:

The MTV PR REALLY needs to relax when it comes to dealing with the press. No water/refreshments were provided while we waited. And they were pretty rude about the matter, "It's not my job to provide water". Um..do they realize this is Miami, in August, 90+ degrees and high humidity? All the photogs were staged in the pressroom for 3+ hours. When everyone lines up to go out to the arrivals area, we waited for another 40 minutes standing around.
When we were finally released to the arrivals, we were told to basically run to our positions, "Arrivals start in 4 minutes..LET'S Go!” Are they so inept as to believe that 80+ photographers would be able to file into their spots, in and orderly fashion, in less than four minutes? Seriously now.
Hey, at least they provided coolers with water by the arrivals area. But security was so lax, that the back riser was flooded with fans, workers and other non-essential personnel.
Arrivals were a lot better than last year. Tons of room to shoot and cooperative talent.

The press room could have been run a bit better also.
High speed internet lines were provided on tables behind the photo riser. There were no clear announcements made as talent was brought into the room. This in turn resulted in a rather comical 'Mad Dash' from the tables to the riser. This happened every time someone was brought into the room.

I would like to get some feedback about your experiences. I want to send MTV a letter about what could make this event better. Feel free to post or e-mail me your thought.

ADVICE FOR FUTURE EVENTS:

High Speed Wi-Fi or hard lines to seats on photo riser.
Bare minimum- provide water for press PRIOR to the event