PRESS
2016
HOLOCAUST FILM PRODUCER AT MUSEUM SEPT. 14
Click here to view this article on langiappemobile.com
By Kevin Lee, September 7th, 2016
Nearly seven years ago, Gary Scovil set out to document the stories of Mobile Bay-area Holocaust survivors. The finished film, "We Remember," includes interviews not just with locals who had been prisoners or liberating troops but also those who were hospital volunteers, U.S. intelligence officers, German citizens and even German soldiers.
Scovil will appear at the History Museum of Mobile’s monthly Learning Lunch, Sept. 14 at noon (111 S. Royal St.). Admission is free. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own lunch and enjoy complimentary beverages.
2013
HOLOCAUST DOCUMENTARY MADE IN MOBILE TO BE SHOWN AT WWII MUSEUM IN NEW ORLEANS
AL.com, by Carol McPhail, July 1st, 2013
MOBILE, Alabama – "We Remember," a documentary on the Holocaust that includes interviews conducted by two young Mobilians, will be screened this month at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.
The screening is set for 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 14, at the museum, located at 945 Magazine St.
Victoria Hirsch and Cory Garfunkel, members of the youth group at Springhill Avenue Temple in Mobile, wrote and conducted the interviews for the documentary, which relates the personal experiences of six people during the time of Nazi totalitarianism in the 1930s and 1940s. All six have ties to Mobile.
The film was produced locally by filmmaker Gary Scovill, and Kimberly and Stanley Zimmerman.
Hirsch and Garfunkel will introduce the film prior to the screening. Hirsch is a pre-med major at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Garfunkel is studying astrophysics at Auburn University.
The museum event requires an RSVP, which can be completed online or by calling 504-528-1944 x229.
YOUTH-LED HOLOCAUST DOCUMENTARY FROM MOBILE AT NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM
SJLMag.com, June 30th, 2013
 | | A documentary that was the product of the Springhill Avenue Federation of Temple Youth in Mobile will be screened at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans on July 14 at 6 p.m.
"We Remember: A Documentary" was developed by SHAFTY members Victoria Hirsch and Cory Garfinkel and describes the events of the Holocaust from the perspectives of a range of people living on the Gulf Coast. |
The project began when Rickie Voit introduced Stan Zimmerman to Agnes Tennenbaum, a Holocaust survivor and author who had moved to Mobile in 2006. Tennenbaum is author of "A Girl Named Rose: My Holocaust Journey," and has spoken extensively throughout the area about her experiences in Auschwitz.
The original idea was to preserve her story on film, and Springhill Avenue Rabbi Donald Kunstadt suggested the youth group get involved.
Zimmerman had been working with documentary producer Gary Scovil, who knew Hilmar von Campe, who had been a member of Hitler Youth and served in the German military. Von Campe, who died last summer, spoke out against totalitarianism and the ideologies he had been part of in his youth.
James Philpot, a local veteran who was among the first American troops to enter Dachau, was interviewed. In April, he was officially presented with a Bronze Star he was awarded in 1962 but had never received.
Hirsch's grandmother gave the perspective of an American Jew who was living in those times. Von Campe's sister, Sibylle von Campe Heidrich, and Springhill Avenue Temple member Roland Fry gave their perspectives, and the stories from the six participants were woven together for the film.
Hirsch and Garfinkel conducted the interviews. The film debuted in Mobile in November and has been screened in venues in the area since then. The students will introduce the film at the museum.
SCARY FUN: HORROR MOVIE SEQUEL 'HAYRIDE 2' FILMING AT LOCATIONS IN MOBILE, BALDWIN COUNTIES
By Mike Brantley, AL.com, April 16th, 2013
Click here to read this article on AL.com...
Producer, left, Jonathan Kelly and director Terron Parsons, center, are pictured with crew members on the set of "Hayride 2," a horror movie sequel being filmed during three weeks of shooting at locations in Mobile and Baldwin Counties, Monday, April 15, 2013, in Mobile, Ala. (Mike Brantley/mbrantley@al.com) | | MOBILE, Alabama - There's a "killer" running around in the old Providence Hospital, but he's not really murdering anyone. He's a character played by actor Shannon Box in the horror movie sequel "Hayride 2," currently being filmed over three weeks at locations in Mobile and Baldwin counties.
On Monday, it was Halloween during the spring as the Catherine Street lobby entrance to the former Providence Hospital -- an old building that once housed the University of South Alabama College of Nursing for a time after Providence moved out -- was decked out in All Hallows' Eve decor for the movie camera. Inside, an independent film crew and actors busied themselves with getting shots done for the production.
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The first movie in the series, "Hayride," which was filmed last year at locations in Mobile, Fairhope and Citronelle, will receive a limited theatrical release and a nationwide DVD release May 7. Show times will be posted at hayridethemovie.com.
As well, “Hayride” cast members and writer-producer-director Terron R. Parsons will sign DVDs and give out movie posters Saturday, May 11 at Moviestop, at 3691 Airport Blvd. in Mobile. Parsons said on set Monday that a time for the event was still being worked out.
Some local patrons of downtown Mobile's Crescent Theater already had a chance to see "Hayride" during a premiere screening at the Dauphin Street venue in November.
The sequel will follow the story told by the first film, in which Muscle Shoals actor Jeremy D. Ivy plays a character who must face a crazed killer during an annual Halloween event called the Haunted Hayride. A number of players from the first film are reprising their roles in "Hayride 2," including Richard Tyson, Sherri Eakin, Jeremy Sande and Box, playing escaped murderer Guffin. Other players who'll be in the credits this time include David "Shark" Fralick and Rachel Varela.
"I wouldn't call it a throwback to the '80s slasher movies or anything, but it's absolutely in the slasher genre that we don't see as much now," Parsons told the Press-Register last fall, talking about the first film.
For more information, visit hayridethemovie.com...
FILM 'WE REMEMBER' RELATES MOBILIANS' ACCOUNTS OF HOLOCAUST
By Carol McPhail, AL.com, April 3rd, 2013
Click here to read this article on AL.com...
Victoria Hirsch and Cory Garfunkel, members of the youth group at Springhill Avenue Temple in Mobile, Alabama, wrote and conducted the interviews for the Holocaust documentary, "We Remember," released in November 2012. | | FAIRHOPE, Alabama – In a small conference center at the Fairhope Public Library, Agnes Tennenbaum and James Philpot watched themselves on film relating the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps – Tennenbaum as an Auschwitz survivor and Philpot as a U.S. Army soldier who helped liberate Dachau.
"It's unbelievable. People that say it never happened surely were not anywhere near there," Philpot said in the opening moments of the documentary "We Remember." |
Produced locally and released in November, "We Remember" calls on six local eyewitnesses to tell their personal experiences in the 1930s and 1940s during the time of Nazi totalitarianism. Interviewing Tennenbaum, Philpot and others in the documentary are Mobile teens Victoria Hirsch and Cory Garfunkel, members of the youth group at Springhill Avenue Temple.
The film, produced locally by Gary Scovil, and Kimberly and Stanley Zimmerman, was shown Friday at the library’s Giddens Conference Center to about 50 viewers, including local residents and students. The viewing sets the stage for Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins Sunday evening.
Two years in the making
"We Remember" was two years in the making. It began, said Stanley Zimmerman, when the Mobile Area Jewish Federation approached him about shooting some archival footage of the remaining Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans. Zimmerman reached out to his sister-in-law, who was adviser to the youth group, and Scovil, a filmmaker with a studio in Fairhope.
Garfunkel and Hirsch, officers in the youth group, signed on to the project in 2010.
"I became involved with this project because I believe that preserving the truth about the events of World War II and the Holocaust is of utmost importance, especially since there are so many skeptics," said Hirsch. "I believe that being aware of the evil that human beings are capable of inflicting upon one another is the only way to prevent such events from ever happening again."
Hirsch is now a freshman pre-med major at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Garfunkel, meanwhile, is studying astrophysics at Auburn University.
"I'm not sure Victoria and I knew what we were getting ourselves into, but I'm pretty sure I speak for both of us when I say that this project -- which from those first meetings to our official screening took just over two years -- turned into an amazing number of experiences that we'll never forget," he said.
The teens wrote and conducted all the interviews, fitting the work in after school and on the weekends. They drove across Mobile Bay to Fairhope almost every day after classes at UMS-Wright Preparatory School, said Kim Zimmerman. "I think we should celebrate Cory's and Victoria's zest for seeing an opportunity, realizing it would involve a lot of work and saying, 'I'm going to do it anyway,'" she said.
In addition to Tennenbaum and Philpot, the teens interviewed Hilmar von Campe, a German solder; his sister Sibylle von Campe Heidrich, then a German citizen; Roland Gup Fry, a U.S. intelligence officer; and Violet Hirsch, an American hospital volunteer. Since the documentary was filmed, von Campe, has died, a fact that emphasizes the importance of the project.
"This is the most difficult film I have ever worked on," Scovil, the producer, wrote of the documentary. "Many times while editing the footage I had to stop because I could not see the computer screen through my tears."
The local footage was filmed at Tennenbaum's and Philpot's homes in Mobile and at the temple using a single camera, which had to be repositioned to film the interviewers and interviewees. That footage is mixed with historical footage to more fully portray the horrors that Jews and others faced under the Nazi regime. Because some of the images are graphic, the film isn’t intended for young children.
Stan Zimmerman said the group gave Tennenbaum, as the only concentration camp survivor, the most input on the project. "We had to portray what she felt was relevant," he said. "She insisted the story had to be told correctly."
My mother's hand
"Many times while editing the footage I had to stop because I could not see the computer screen through my tears,"¯ said filmmaker Gary Scovil.
In the film, Tennenbaum, who grew up in Hungary, tells how the Auschwitz guards shaved her long blond hair and separated her and her mother into different groups.
"One minute I had my mother's hand in my hand. The next minute she was gone. And I was directed to go to the right side, so I did," she said in the film.
During her time at the camp, Tennenbaum came into almost daily contact with Josef Mengele, the "Angel of Death," who was a German SS officer and physician who conducted cruel experiments on camp prisoners.
"I saw him every morning," she recalled.
Philpot talks about his time in combat in Europe, how he earned the Bronze Star and how his unit came upon the concentration camp at Dachau.
"They were located away from the city, and of course, the Germans who were there had never heard of a concentration camp," he said. "The first thing I 'saw' was the smell. It was absolutely horrible. The incinerators were running day and night."
The soldiers were warned not to give the sick prisoners anything to eat, which could have killed them. They also had to contain the survivors in the camp until they could be treated medically. "This was a very difficult thing to do," he said. The soldiers made a milkshake substance out of concentrated eggs, milk and sugar to feed them.
A different kind of documentary
"We Remember" is different from some other films on the Holocaust because it includes stories from the pre-war years as well as the tales of how those interviewed eventually made their way to -- or back to -- America.
"We wanted to focus on life before, during and after the war as well," explained Garfunkel in the introduction.
Tennenbaum, for instance, recovered at a U.S. camp in Europe after the war, was married and migrated to New York to be with relatives. In recent years, she moved to Mobile from Arizona. In 2010, Tennenbaum wrote "A Girl Named Rose," a book about a girl who died of tuberculosis in the camp.
"To me, it didn’t seem like it was as depressing as watching some of the other Holocaust films," said Carol Zimmerman, a temple member who attended the event. "Life did go on for some."
Following the showing of the film on Friday, Tennenbaum and Philpot took questions about their experiences. Louise Bowen, 72, of Fairhope, shed tears as she expressed her appreciation for a chance to meet the Auschwitz survivor.
"I am very happy you are here,” responded Tennenbaum, 90.
(DVDs of "We Remember" can be purchased on the website www.werememberfilm.com.)
MOBILE EVENTS TO MARK HOLOCAUST REMEMBERANCE DAY
AL.com, by Carol McPhail, April 3rd, 2013
A stained glass panel representing the Holocaust is shown at the Ben May Chapel of Springhill Avenue Temple in 2000 in Mobile, Alabama. (Springhill Avenue Temple) | | MOBILE, Alabama – Two upcoming events in coastal Alabama will mark Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. The day, which begins on the evening of April 7, commemorates the millions of Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s.
On Friday, April 5, the documentary "We Remember" will be screened at 1 p.m. at the Fairhope Public Library, 501 Fairhope Ave. in Fairhope. The film tells the personal stories of those who witnessed the horrors of the Hitler regime.
On Sunday, April 7, the Mobile Christian-Jewish Dialogue will hold a Yom HaShoah Commemoration Program at Ahavas Chesed synagogue, 705 Regents Way in Mobile. The program will begin at 7 p.m. |
2012
SPRINGHILL AVENUE YOUTH TO PREMIERE HOLOCAUST-ERA DOCUMENTARY
Southern Jewish Life Magazine, November 2nd, 2012
In 2009, Rickie Voit introduced Stan Zimmerman to Agnes Tennenbaum, a Holocaust survivor and author who had moved to Mobile in 2006. Tennenbaum is author of "A Girl Named Rose: My Holocaust Journey," and has spoken extensively throughout the area about her experiences. They wanted to see about preserving her story on film.
After two years of work by a group of volunteers and the Springhill Avenue Federation of Temple Youth, "We Remember" will debut on Nov. 10, the anniversary of Kristallnacht.
When the idea was first mentioned, Zimmerman was working with documentary producer Gary Scovil. In discussing the project with community leaders, Springhill Avenue Rabbi Donald Kunstadt suggested that the youth group get involved, and shape the story so it has a hopeful ending.
Two of the SHAFTY members, Victoria Hirsch and Cory Garfunkel, volunteered for the project and they started to develop the story.
Scovil knew Hilmar von Campe, who had been a member of Hitler Youth and served in the German military. Von Campe, who died this past June, spoke out against totalitarianism and the ideologies he had been part of in his youth.
Zimmerman knew Jim Philpot, an American veteran who was one of the first troops to enter Dachau. They also decided to interview Hirsch's grandmother, Violet, to get the perspective of an American Jew from that time period.
Hirsch and Garfunkel conducted the interviews for the film. As the interviews began, they met von Campe's sister, Sibylle von Campe Heidrich, and Springhill Avenue Temple member Roland Fry came forward to tell his experiences during the war. The film documents those six participants, describing that time period from their different perspectives and showing the human spirit to live.
The entire community is invited to the premiere, which will be at 6:30 p.m. at Springhill Avenue Temple.
The premiere is presented in association with the Gulf Coast Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education, the Alabama Gulf Coast Holocaust Library and the Mobile Area Jewish Federation. DVDs will be available at a discount for the premiere, and there will be an Agnes Tennenbaum book signing. Donations to SHAFTY are welcomed, and proceeds will go toward the NFTY-South spring conclave in 2013 that Springhill Avenue will host.
SHAFTY advisor Kimberly Zimmerman said “we hope to have the documentary used for educational purposes, perhaps included in Holocaust curriculum and use filming as a method of teaching historical events."
She said the response from advance screenings "has been incredible" and "we are very excited to show our film to our community."
2010
GET TO KNOW GARY SCOVIL
FILM PRODUCER HAS UNEXPECTED JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH
Press-Register, May 6th, 2010
 Gary Scovil | | Scovil had the chance to come to the Gulf Coast area in 2007 when he worked with Tom McKnight on the documentary "Thunder on the Gulf." He loved the area, he said, especially Fairhope.
"Fairhope reminded me of where I grew up in Connecticut. It had such a great small-town atmosphere and was such an artsy community just like back home," he said. |
He bought a house in Mobile in the spring of 2009 and started his search immediately for anyone in the production industry so he could continue his endeavors here. Scovil came into contact with Andrea Faust Holloway. Scovil and Holloway immediately hit it off and the wheels began to turn as they started looking for their first documentary they could produce together.
The state of Alabama held a kick-off campaign at the Grand Hotel to promote its 2010 project to promote small towns and downtowns as a way of promoting tourism in the state. Scovil and Holloway, along with the help of local attorney Corey Lipscomb and many others, decided the best way to promote tourism in Fairhope was to produce a documentary about the town and the people and places in it. "The Utopian Fairhope" documentary was born.
After nine months of hard work and dedication the final product was ready for release. "We are so proud of the way that we have portrayed this wonderful little town," Scovil said. "We are excited to share it with others."
"The Utopian Fairhope" has only been out for a short time but the accolades are already coming in. At the Alabama International Film Festival a few weeks ago in Troy, the "The Utopian Fairhope" won the Alabama Showcase Award. "It is truly an honor and one we are very proud of," he said.
A public premier is set in downtown Fairhope for 7 p.m. May 15 at the University of South Alabama’s Fairhope campus. "We are really hoping people will come out and see what we have done."
FILMMAKERS UNVEIL FAIRHOPE DOCUMENTATY THIS WEEKEND
By Russ Henderson, Press-Register, April 9th, 2010
FAIRHOPE, Ala. -- With beautiful shots of the city's flower-lined downtown and interviews with several notable local artists, authors and politicians, the film "Utopian Fairhope" premiering this weekend is intended to interest residents and outsiders alike, the movie's producers said.
"We know for sure there will be interest in Fairhope, but we made the movie to introduce anyone and everyone to this unique city," said Andrea Holloway of Feather Head Productions, the movie's executive producer. | |  Andrea Holloway of
Feather Head Productions |
The documentary was filmed last year as a collaborative effort between two local film companies, Feather Head of Fairhope and Scovil Productions of Mobile. The budget for the project was about $80,000, said co-producer Gary Scovil, who recently moved his production company from Connecticut.
Two invitation-only screenings will take place this weekend at the Performance Center on the University of South Alabama's Fairhope campus. The first will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday. Another showing will follow at 2 p.m. Sunday.
A public premiere is scheduled for the same location at 7 p.m. May 15. Tickets for that show are available at Fairhope's Page and Palette Bookstore for $10 apiece, Holloway said. And, starting Monday, DVD copies will be on sale at the bookstore for $25, she said.
Mayor Tim Kant said he's looking forward to the screening Saturday evening.
"From what I've seen of who all they interviewed, I thought it was a good representation of Fairhope and what we're about here, from artists and writers to community volunteers," said Kant, who himself appears in the documentary.
This weekend's premiere was originally going to be a one-night event. But there was so much interest that a second showing had to be added, Holloway said.
"Of course we had to invite everybody who's in it, and then more and more people were interested," Holloway said. "There will be about 280 people coming. The Performance Center only has capacity of 140."
Holloway said she is working on a deal to distribute the movie nationally through Barnes & Noble Inc.
The documentary focuses on the experiences of Scovil as a new resident of the Mobile Bay area. He is inspired during his first experiences in Fairhope.
In the film, Scovil says he told Holloway that: "People in New England have no idea that towns like this exist in the South. I said to Andrea, 'We have to make a documentary about this serene town.'" Filming began during last year's Arts & Crafts Festival.
Filmmakers interviewed a wide array of locals, including Donnie Barrett, director of the Fairhope Museum of History; Dean Mosher, a painter and local historian; former Mayor Jim Nix; author Winston Groom and the artist Nall.
"We tried to give people a good overview of some of the most interesting people and best things about Fairhope," Holloway said. "Mostly, we just had fun with it. Now, hopefully was can make a little money, too."
GET A SNEAK PEEK AT A 'UTOPIAN FAIRHOPE'
By Thomas B. Harrison, Press-Register, March 14th, 2010
Page & Palette Bookstore will offer DVD copies of "The Utopian Fairhope," a collaborative documentary film, from 1 until 5 p.m. March 19-20 at 32 S. Section St.
The two-day event will give local residents an opportunity to own and view the film before its April 15 opening at the annual Arts and Crafts Festival in Fairhope. The P&P will sell the DVD for the discounted price of $19.95. Regular price is $24.95.
"The Utopian Fairhope" is a collaborative effort between two local film companies, Feather Head Productions of Fairhope and Scovil Productions of Mobile. Andrea Holloway of Feather Head is executive producer; Gary Scovil is co-producer. Business manager Stan Zimmerman and production assistant/second cameraman Corey Lipscomb also were part of the production team.
The film will be released April 10 at an invitation-only event at the University of South Alabama-Baldwin County. To see a trailer for the documentary, visit www.theutopianfairhope.com.
The film views Fairhope through the eyes of Scovil, a newcomer inspired by the upscale artists' colony on Mob. The and focuses on outstanding artists within the community and features music by film score producer Brian Keane and artwork by local artists.
Scenes range from sunsets at the Fairhope Pier to the Eastern Shore landscape of cotton fields and pecan orchards. Other familiar scenes include the colorful flowers and trees of Fairhope streets, tree lighting at Christmas and hanging flower baskets.
Information, call the bookstore at 251-928-5295. Web: www.pageandpalette.com.
NEW DOCUMENTARY COMING ON FAIRHOPE
By Mike Odom, GulfCoastNewsToday.com, January 31st, 2010
Two local production companies, FeatherHead Productions of Fairhope and Scovil Productions of Mobile, are completing work on a new documentary called "The Utopian Fairhope" that will premiere in mid-April at the University of South Alabama Baldwin County Performance Center. From left, Stan Zimmerman, Andrea Holloway, Gary Scovil and Corey Lipscomb. Staff photo by Mike Odom. | | FAIRHOPE, Ala. — A local film crew has been working in town recently interviewing shopkeepers, artists, writers, public officials and others for a new documentary on Fairhope that will premiere in mid-April at the University of South Alabama Baldwin County campus.
Called "The Utopian Fairhope," the "film is a documentary encompassing the charming and visual beauty of the Southern Alabama town of Fairhope from its founding in 1894 to the present," according to promotional materials for the film. "This film tells the story of how Fairhope was built upon a belief in the arts and how the tradition ontinues."
The film is the work of two local production companies, FeatherHead Productions of Fairhope and Scovil Productions of Mobile.
Andrea Holloway of FeatherHead is producer with Gary Scovil as co-producer. Stan Zimmerman and Corey Lipscomb are also part of the production team.
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"This little town of 16,000 residents has historically been a haven of free-thinkers from artists authors, sculptors, musicians, photographers and the like," the promotional materials state. "This production focuses on members of the art community as well as politicians and other notable members of the Fairhope business community. A featured interview with Mayor Tim Kant brings to light such simple and varied ideas from the people of the area such as the many colorful flowers and trees that adorn the streets of Fairhope. Artistic and aesthetically pleasing touches such as soft lighting, hanging baskets and even handmade flower boxes on trash receptacles make Fairhope a sight to see.”
During a recent interview, Scovil said the current budget for the project was about $80,000, and Holloway said this week that a trailer for the film would be ready next week.
"The film has interviews with everyone from Winston Groom to the tomato lady," said Holloway, referring to the famous Point Clear author of Forrest Gump, and the popular local vegetable vendor seen most days at her truck parked on Church Street just east of Fairhope Avenue.
"Most people above the Mason-Dixon Line don't know that places like this exist in the South," said Scovil, who moved his production company from Connecticut to Mobile in recent years and met Holloway last summer, resulting in their collaboration on the current project.
The premiere on April 10 and 11 is by invitation only, with Anne Nix helping to select the guest list, said Holloway, referring to the wife of former mayor James P. Nix. However, a number of tickets must also be set aside for USA students, she said. The general public will also be able to purchase copies of the film for $24.95.
The invitation-only April screening of the film is a joint project of the two production companies with USABC, Holloway said.
"This work wastes no time getting straight to the point with speedy interviews and images of this Southern aura," the film info states. "Detailed shots include views of sunsets on Mobile Bay with shadows reflecting off the big oaks and magical moss indigenous to Southern Alabama. It is evident from this piece that the ideals of the 1890s are still alive and thriving in this multitalented and amazing time capsule of the south."
2006
GARY SCOVIL- MONROE'S VIDEO MAN EXTRAORDINAIRE
By Christine Cooney, The Chronicle, April 26th, 2006
Gary Scovil is Monroe's one-man, veteran video man. He is the founder and production guru behind Vision Media, a state-of-the-art video and audio production company.
"I have several buildings on my property. The cottage is an office and I turned my two-car garage into a studio." said Mr. Scovil, who doesn't need a lot of space now that everything is computerized. "Almost everything I shoot is on location, because I don't have a sound stage like they do in Hollywood."
Mr. Scovil had many media/entertainment gigs, including owning his own recording studio and touring as a sound-man, before finding his niche and passion was video and audio production.
"Going back to the '70s, I got started because I had a lot of friends who were musicians, guys like Brian Keane, and the one thing they needed was to find gigs so I started being their booking agent," Mr. Scovil said. He quickly learned that in order to book gigs, you needed to send the club owners a demo tape. "That led me to doing the recording for them and going to school." By 1975, Mr. Scovil had received two certificates from the Recording Institute of America, a subsidiary of New York University.
In the midst of promoting regional bands, Mr. Scovil landed his own gig as the sound-man for the Talking Heads. "I toured every major city in the United States and then some doing audio. I was the knob twiddler," he said. "I decided I hated touring so in 1978 I opened a recording studio [Scovil Productions] in Norwalk."
While op erating his recording studio, Mr. Scovil worked with many jazz artists including Larry Coryell and the Brubeck Brothers as well as artists like Vicky Sue Robinson of the famed, "Turn the Beat Around." "Back in those days my niche was working with a lot of jazz artists, simply because most of my friends were jazz artists and I met a lot of them socially," Mr. Scovil said.
As the 1980s approached, Mr. Scovil added video production to his job offerings to stay current with the latest trend and changed the name of his company to Spotlight Video. "By the mid-80s I had made the transition to doing video production since there was hardly any broadcast or cable networks back then," Mr. Scovil said.
By the early 1990s, he was fully immersed in video and audio production. That's when he changed the name of his company to Vision Media and that's when his cell phone started burning with video work. "I went back to school and took a crash course in TV and Film Production and immediately started getting offers for commercials and work from independent production companies," he said.
"The thing is there's a lot of television shows, especially news magazines like 'Current Affair' and 'ET' that are made by independent production companies that sell the show to the channel," said Mr. Scovil, who moved his business and his family to Monroe a decade or so ago. "There is a lot of syndicated programming out there, for example Oprah Winfrey owns her own show and sells it to the networks under her production company, Harpo Productions."
Over the years, Mr. Scovil's work has become quite popular among the television circuit. He's done production on a number of notable television shows, including "Entertainment Tonight (ET)," "America's Most Wanted" and "Inside Edition." However, the bulk of his TV work has come from cable television and audio production for national news clips and documentaries like the renowned, "The Battle Over Citizen Kane" in 1995, Ric Burns' epic "The Way West" and the full production of "Yale and Public Service" featuring former president George H.W. Bush and many, many more.
What happens, in most cases, is that Mr. Scovil will receive a call from an independent production company to film part of a show, say a segment of the show that has to do with Connecticut. "I'll get a call from a talk show that will say something like, Ray Romano is going to be on our show and there's a guy who has a high school buddy and lives in Connecticut - will you go and interview him," said Mr. Scovil, who then finds the guy and feeds the footage live via satellite. "I do mostly short clips for news pieces, like one time Maury Povich sent me to Donald Trump's office to get a quick piece of him saying something."
He's quite the reporter, having interviewed many celebrities like Dylan Baker, John Turturro, Mickey Rooney, Eileen Ivers, Chris Noth, Liev Schreiber and Robert Klein. But, not all of Mr. Scovil's assignments are as easy and exciting. "I've had situations where I've been sent to prisons or federal courthouses." he said.
Since all of Mr. Scovil's equipment is high tech, he can get a call (on his cell phone, which never leaves his side), shoot and edit the footage and have it streamed live.
While most of his work is short-term, spur-of-the-moment projects, Mr. Scovil was producing a weekly religious television program called, "Voice of Vision," which aired on Fox for 13 years, and a weekly cable television show called "In His Name."
"What I've been doing since I lost the Fox program last year is live concert DVDs and I've been doing them with multi-camera production," Mr. Scovil said. "Being in the music business for so many years, I still know a lot of people and I get hired to do their live videos."
Will that mean another name change to reflect the new video market? We'll have to stay tuned.
1983
WESTPORT TEAM MAKES FILM ON IMMIGRATION
The Hour, August 6th, 1983
Click here to view this article on Google Newspaper Archive
 Westport residents (left to right) Gary Scovil, president of Scovil Productions Recording Studio, musician Brian Keane and Jim Burroughs, producer and director of Seven League Productions, relax after completing the sound track for the "The Closing Door: An Investigation of U.S. Immigration Policy." The 60-minute documentary will be presented next week on Channel 27 on cable television. | | WESTPORT – A team of residents have gotten together again to produce a 60-minute documentary, initialed "The Closing Door: An Investigation of U.S. Immigration Policy."
Jim Burroughs, a producer/director of Seven League Productions, recently put the final touch on his film, the music sound track, at Scovil Productions Recording Studio in Norwalk.
Engineering the session was: Gary Scovil; the music producer; and Brian Keane, one of the musicians. The three of them worked together before to produce "Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey" which was nominated for a 1982 |
Academy Award as best documentary of the year. Both films were funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Gary Scovil , who has been getting increasingly involved in Cablevision of Connecticut Public Access, headed by Thomas Arsenault and Maryce Cunningham, has submitted "The Closing Door" to Channel 27 to be cablecast to area subscribers every night starting Sunday and running through next Saturday at 9:30pm.
The film travels the nation, as well as Haiti and Mexico, in search of the causes and effects of the recent surge in illegal immigration, a surge that has resulted in public outcry to reexamine our laws. It looks at the Simpson-Mazzoli Bill, the first attempt at comprehensive immigration legislation in 30 years, and its controversial provisions.
It also explains the U.S. economic recession, which has created the fear that undocumented aliens are taking jobs, tax money and social services away from Americans, and its impact on the American public and its willingness to accept the present administration’s hard line on immigration issues.
This documentary also looks at the longstanding U.S. commitment to providing a haven for those fleeing political persecution and demonstrates how difficult it is to draw the line between "political" and "economic" oppression.
A case study is presented on the Haitian board people. The film examines their dangerous 700-mile journey in wooden boats from a totalitarian regime, their incarceration in detention camps around the U.S., and their slow progress through our judicial system. An investigation of Haiti throws light on the larger problems of U.S. relations with third world countries such as El Salvador and Nicaragua.
The documentary also examines the possibility of immigration from El Salvador precipitation our next "crisis" and whether the pending legislation, or any U.S. law can really handle this international problem.
CONCEPTUAL VIDEOTAPES TO FEATURE LOCAL ARTISTS
By John F. Coneybear, The Hour, March 12th, 1983
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Gary Scovil, Westport audio engineer who operates a sound studio at 69 Main St. in Norwalk, plans to provide area residents with a new experience – conceptual videotapes featuring local artists.
"The song is the basis for a story line," he says. "The visual has to do with the concept of the song."
Videotaping will add another dimension to the studio of Scovil Productions, already crammed with sophisticated audio equipment. "Cable TV needs lots of good programming," Scovil says. And that’s what he is aiming at.
His first project, already in the works, is an hour-long TV program, which he describes as an "avenue for more than | |  Tom MacKnight, standing, and Gary Scovil work with sophisticated mixing equipment in the control room at Scovil Productions studio at 69 Main St., to produce taped entertainment. The studio plans to begin producing videotapes featuring local artists. - Hour Photos, Steve Zavatski, Bramac Studio |
pop rock ... a wide variety of music." It will feature popular area musical groups.
Some of the tapes will be shot in Scovil's studio, but he plans to do much on-location. He and associate producer Tom MacKnight are talking with the people at Players' about shooting some of the live acts at the new South Norwalk club.
The musical program would be sponsored by local businesses and would help cable television expand its programming, the two believe. They say, too, that it would help local artists and clubs and further the already keen local interest in the arts.
Both men know music and have production experience.
Scovil, 29, who was born in Denver, grew up in Westport, attending Bedford Elementary School and Coleytown Junior High School. He was graduated from the Center for Vocational Arts in Norwalk as an automobile mechanic. Then he studied audio engineering at the Recording Institute of America.
In the mid-1970s he was a booking agent for several musical artists and groups, including Eddie Gomez, Jeremy Stieg and Larry Coryell.
Then he became road manager and audio engineer for the rock band Talking Heads. That last for about eight months as the band toured coast to coast. When the band left for a European tour in 1978, Scovil left the band and opened his Norwalk studio.
Among his clients have been Vicki Sue Robinson, Teo Macero, Don Alias, Miroslav Vitous, Larry Coryell and Scott Zito. He has done radio and audio-visual productions for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ford Foundation, WBGH-TV Boston, Seven League Productions Inc., Webster's Dictionary and Stanley Tool Co.
Among Scovil's credits is recording the music and narration for a film which was nominated for an Academy Award for the Best Documentary film last year. The film was "Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey," made by Jim Burroughs and Suzanne Bauman of Westport.
Gary, who is a member of the Norwalk Chamber of Commerce, devotes his spare time to writing a book on foreign affairs.
Tom MacKnight in the studios
of Scovil Productions. | | MacKnight, 24, is a 1978 graduate of Norwalk High School. He has played lead guitar with the Ariel Band for two years.
Today, he’s a part-time video jockey, assistant recording engineer and associate producer with Scovil Productions.
Already videotaping commercials, the two recording artists have already started videotaping for their new musical project, having completed a segment with a live concert by the Tomorrow Band with Dean Pickering. |
1978
BLIND STUDENT ON WAY TO FULFILLING DREAM
By John J. Kenny, The Hour, June 15th, 1978
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 | | With uncommon sensitivity, the recording engineer examines the fine threads of sound with his ears. With a sense of touch more advanced than the average human, he adjusts the sound controls to achieve musical perfection, living up to his reputation as one of the industry's best... |
This is Tom Keegan Jr.'s dream. Sightless from birth, the 14-year-old student from Greenwich has been honing his auditory nerves for years at home with his tape recorders, intending some day to actually sit behind the controls in a professional recording studio.
Through the efforts of his parents, teacher and executives at Scovil Productions, a Norwalk recording studio, he spent Thursday afternoon behind the sound board, hands on the controls, ears picking up minute changes in timbre and frequency which few people with sight could do.
Tom's understanding of many technical aspects of sound engineering brought praise from Dan Pickering, the promotional director at Scovil Productions, who sat with him for an hour at the controls explaining such functions as panning, assign matrix technique, and sound mixing.
"He'll have no problem at all." Pickering said. "There are very few times a sound engineer actually has to use his eyes, and with ears like his he will go far."
Dana Uhrynowski, Tom's special teacher for the visually handicapped in the Greenwich school system, said his powers of learning and retention are great, and that he has harbored this dream of recording engineering for years.
Vicki Sue Robinson, a vocalist currently working on her fourth record album and veteran of national tours, was present at the studio Thursday to welcome him. Working with tapes of her voice on a Pickering composition, Tom was able to experience the fine points of mixing singers with musical instruments.
Studio owner Gary Scovil opened the doors of his business to Tom after hearing about the youth’s interest through Miss Robinson's manager. The studio, at 65 Main St., has been active for four months and features 16-track recording.
Through this studio connection, Tom Keegan will soon be introduced to a contemporary keyboard giant, Mike Mandel, who spent several years touring and recording with Larry Coryell and the Eleventh House. Mandel is also blind.
One of Mandel's musical devices, a bi-phase machine, was in the studio this week, and to Tom’s delight contained indicators in Braille, the language of the blind. Tom was told how Mandel would sit on stage surrounded by half a dozen keyboard instruments, turn them all on and astonish audiences with his skill, all the while smiling at the crowd.
The only son of Greenwich Dep. Chief of Police Thomas Keegan, young Tom listens to hard rock, reggae and calypso music at home. He's anxious to get into a radio broadcasting studio, and has made tapes at home to satisfy his creative urge. Without training, he has taught himself how to play drums and harmonica.
Gary Scovil and Dan Pickering promised to have him return to the studio – soon when a recording session is in progress to experience the operations first hand.
"This is really cool," said the soft-spoken boy.
Someone once posed the question: "How do I know what you head?" Tom Keegan Jr. knows that he can respond to this metaphysical mystery by proving that what he hears with his sensitive ears can become a reality on tape.
The people at Scovil Productions learned this week what his parents and teacher have long known. "He can do it!"
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