[Music]
>>Narration: High noon in downtown Nassau on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas.
Now if you're a local, you've seen a lot of movie companies invade the islands to take
advantage of the world's clearest waters, however even the most jaded Islanders did
a double-take when the Wet Gold crew set up near an area of downtown called Rawson Square.
>>Crewpeople: Please don't talk.
>>If I can get all you people back on the other side of the street, thank you very much.
>>Director: Roll please. And action.
>>Narration: With the call of action from director Dick Lowry, Brooke Shields saunters down the walk
for the first shot of the 23rd day of shooting, a day that will not end until well past midnight.
In this two-hour movie of the week from Telepictures,
Brooke plays a young waitress who teams up with a hard drinking, down-on-his-luck sailor
played by Burgess Meredith. Their aim? To retrieve a treasure of sunken gold.
>>Director: There's our cut. >>Crewperson: Marker.
>>Narration: After nine features, Wet Gold is Brooke's first movie for television,
an area Brooke and her mother, best friend and manager Terry Shields,
have long considered but until now had not explored.
>>Teri Shields: I didn't like the title [laughs] because I had,
I had no idea what it was about and it seemed a little um
risqué for some reason. [laughing] I don't know why. But it's being done with a lot of quality.
>>Brooke Shields: It came at a perfect time, the month before I have to go
back to school. It wasn't a full-length feature that would have taken three months.
>>Narration: School, of course, is Princeton where Brooke is now in her second year. Here in Nassau,
however, Brooke is learning that shooting a television movie is a unique experience.
Smaller budgets mean faster shooting schedules, 12-hour days, 6 days a week.
>>Producer: She's very accessible. She's very,
very down to earth and she's a real professional. She's been absolutely terrific.
>>Narration: Filming began in August and this production is the first to shoot entirely
on location in The Bahamas. One thing they soon learned was to schedule interiors during
the early afternoons. Something about it being hurricane season.
[Sound of rain and thunder]
A few hours later, like clockwork, the skies would clear, Brook would
find her favorite rest spot, and exterior filming could continue.
For Burgess Meredith, Wet Gold's make-believe treasure hunt is not so far from the truth.
>>Q: I heard you actually came here 20 years ago to look for sunken treasure. Is that true?
>>Burgess Meredith: Yes, I came here with uh John Steinbeck and uh Peter Gimble, you know,
the diver, and Kevin McClory who was the originator of it, and we came here because
we heard there was some uh silver that, not gold in this case, but silver bars that were
sunken in a ship. It's exactly the same story, except we found nothing except a good time.
[Music]
>>Director: ...as he stops here she comes in, and as they drop, we drop, and I'd like
to see as much, Jimmy, I'd like to see a lens height about there, wouldn't you?
>>Narration: If you think that making a movie in such a gorgeous setting sounds
like an appealing way to make a living consider this. Except for a meal break,
it's either non-stop work or hurry up and wait in 90 degree heat with 80 percent humidity,
and after several location changes each day,
the glorious sunsets are a welcome sight, never mind the mosquitoes.
With co-stars Tom Byrd and Brian Kerwin, filming continues Into the night.
>>Crewpersons: Rolling. Rolling! One seventy-seven Francis 4. Speed. Mark.
>>Brooke: I say we risk it one more time.
>>Actor: Well, then we'll have to go down tonight. >>Brooke: Let's go.
>>Director: There's our cut. [indistinct] We're about to leave.
>>Crewperson: Good night everybody.
>>Narration: Throughout shooting, Teri is rarely absent. Now we had read that in the
past her watchful eye for every detail of Brooke's career has rubbed some the wrong way, however
the Teri we saw was a dedicated parent, and on the set, the number one Wet Gold cheerleader.
>>Burgess: You ought to come to London then you'll be back in time for Princeton.
>>Brooke: Sorry, Mom. I'm going to London. >>Burgess: Yeah, I'll give her a free trip.
>>Narration: There can be a special camaraderie that develops when 60 or so people
all work intensely toward the same goal. Well, despite the grueling schedule,
that camaraderie was evident during our visit to Nassau.
>>Teri: See you boys in the morning, huh?
>>Everyone: Okay. Bye. Goodnight.