Whitney Houston
The Nightmare of Working with the ‘Late' Whitney Houston
While living in Japan, I was hired to direct a TV commercial featuring Whitney Huston. The client was Nissin Financial Bank. The TV commercial was to run in collaboration with an advertising ‘print’ campaign. In the 30 second TV commercial, Ms Huston was to sing the company’s jingle and say the company’s slogan “Make it happen with Nissin”. And for the print campaign I was to take a series of photographs, on the same day, in a pre-prepared photo studio, directly after the filming of the TV commercial. These ads were to run in magazines and newspapers. For this Whitney Huston was to be paid $4,000,000 cash.
There was a cut-off date for the work to be completed in order meet the deadline for the air-time that had been booked with the TV networks for the running of the TV commercial. However, the dates scheduled for the shoot coincided with the Academy Award Ceremony that Ms Huston was co-hosting in Los Angeles.
It was decided that the filming for the TV commercial and the still photoshoot would take place in Los Angeles, directly after the Academy Award Ceremony. During which time the elaborate set for the TV commercial was to be constructed on a movie sound stage. As Ms Huston lived in New Jersey, (close to New York) it was agreed that she would remain in Los Angeles for an extra two days until the commercial and the advertising campaign had been shot. Addition budged had been agreed with the client for Ms Huston and her sizeable entourage to occupy one entire floor of a luxury Beverly Hills hotel, until the work was completed.
hEADING tO la
The concept for the commercial, conceived by myself, was storyboarded and presented by me to Ms Huston and her manager, at her home in New Jersey, prior to leaving for Los Angeles. Everything was on schedule until we received a message from Ms Houston’s manager two days before departure, informing us that Ms Huston had decided that her fee of $4,000,000 was insufficient for her to sing the Nissin company’s jingle. With the client refusing to pay any more, the storyboard had to be changed to accommodate a revised concept, minus the singing. I had to come up with a new idea, get the new storyboards made and delivered again to Ms Huston in New Jersey for her approval, all within 24 hours. This was done by myself and a loyal assistant. The new story boards were delivered, again in person. With the approval granted, and having had no sleep, myself and my crew boarded the plane for LA.
Upon arrival in LA, a 30 man crew worked through the night and all the following day building the set, while Ms Huston was co-hosting the Academy Award Ceremony. Filming was due to commence at 8:00 am on the following day.
tHE wAITING gAME
The morning of the shoot arrived. Of course nobody expected Ms Huston to arrive on time. But after hours passed without her arrival, we finally called her hotel to see if she had left. We were informed that indeed she had left, but not for the studio, she had left for the airport and was on her way back to New York !
Chaos ensued as we told the client the news. Of course she was not returning and consequently the entire set had to be broken down. All the crew members had to be paid off and sent home. It was now left to me to attempt to salvage the entire operation.
aND sO tO nEW yORK
It was decided that the only course of action was to re-schedule the entire project in New York, as soon as it could be confirmed with the great Diva ! Silver Cup Studios in the New York Borough of Queens was selected as the only studio sound stage appropriate, (and available at short notice). A new crew was hired and the set re-built. A lavish dressing room was prepared for Ms Huston, adorned with flowers, champaign and exotic fruit.
Only after all the lavish preparations had been made, were we informed that Ms Huston had sent strict instructions for her requirements. She insisted on having her own mobile private dressing room installed directly in front of the sound stage. She also wanted a covered walkway leading from her mobile dressing room to the studio entrance, so she could enter the studio in privacy and unseen. In addition she wanted 2 armed security guards standing on each side of the covered (tunnel) walkway. All the painstaking preparations we had made for her dressing room were in vain, she never even entered the room !
We Got There In The enD
The TV commercial was finally shot, to the satisfaction of myself, the director, and the client. All that was left was for me to shoot the still photographs for the ad campaign. Apparently this had slipped Ms Houston's mind, so reluctantly she granted me 10 minutes to photograph the entire campaign which consisted of five layouts, including costume changes, (timed by her partner Bobby Brown, who was ‘loudly’ present for the entire shoot) . At the end of the ten minutes, without a word, she just walked out… Fortunately I was able to get the shots required… With a huge sigh of relief, the whole ordeal was finally ‘a wrap’ !
Ultimately the TV commercial and the advertising print campaign run on time to wide acclaim, nobody outside of myself and the production team knowing what a nightmare it had been to produce.
Whitney Houston is unquestionably a great singing talent and loved by millions, she was however, (second only to Steven Seagal) the most difficult and unpleasant celebrity I have ever worked with.
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