Some business owners say they bent over backwards to help producers for former Gov. Sarah Palin's new TV show -- only to then feel short-changed. (KTUU-DT) |
Some business owners say they bent over backwards to help producers for the show, only to feel short-changed afterward. Five businesses are accusing the show's producers of things like lack of communication, last-minute cancellations and making promises they did not keep.
Even after Palin's vice-presidential run in the 2008 election, media outlets have been enamored with Palin. So it's no surprise that Mark Burnett Productions wanted to cash in on Palin's fame making her the star of her own reality show, being produced in Alaska.
"I think it's good for Alaska, particularly for the tourism, all the interest we are getting," said Chuck Spaulding, owner of Nova River Runners.
The show's producers recently approached Nova River Runners to take the production crew and the Palin family on a whitewater rafting trip for the series.
"They came up and floated down the river with us and scoped out the whole thing and told us they would need four or possibly five rafts to do the shoot and they picked a specific date," said Spaulding.
But when that date came up, Spaulding said, the producers, the crew and the Palins didn't show.
"I never got a call back, but I maintained our status so that we could respond as I promised and the day rolled along -- and all of a sudden we realized up where we were operating, this other company was actually doing all the work for them," said Spaulding.
That cost Spaulding money, because he said the seats in the rafts could have been sold, with just a day's notice.
"We understand they have a lot of pressure on them and scheduling and so forth, but to be completely dished, that's a little disheartening," Spaulding said.
Sheldon Air Service in Talkeetna had a similar experience with the production company.
"We were expecting them and they called up and said they had other plans," said Sheldon's owner, Dave Lee.
According to Lee, he was supposed to fly the production crew and the Palins last week, but on the day of the scheduled trip the producers backed out and told him they went with K2 Aviation, which offered its services free of charge.
"I've been involved in the air taxi business for over 30 years here in Talkeetna and I've learned not to put all my eggs in one basket," said Lee. "All these people that make these plans, it's not really in their hands -- I mean, they're doing their job, but there's somebody that's not here that we don't see, that we're not communicating with that's calling those down the shots to them."
Spaulding said while that may be true, the producers ultimately cost him money.
The show's producers declined to comment on the accusations.
Contact Lori Tipton at ltipton@ktuu.com
