Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Smirnoff, Nick
- Abstract:
- Nick Smirnoff was a production manager, assistant director, producer and photographer who has worked primarily between the 1970's-2000's in Los Angeles. His work includes numerous projects in the television industry, in addition to motion pictures and commercials. His most notable projects include Felicity, The Toolbox Murders, and Miami Vice. The collection is comprised of production and industry materials such as scripts, production reports, crew and cast contact lists, and publications containing industry guidelines and procedures.
- Extent:
- 16.4 Linear Feet (30 boxes, 3 record cartons, 1 shoe box, 3 flat boxes)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Nick Smirnoff Papers (Collection 2247). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Containing materials between the 1970's and 2000's, this collection is comprised of production and industry materials, as well as ephemera from Nick Smirnoff's career as a production manager, assistant director, producer, location manager, and still photographer. The collection contains material that documents the tasks involved within these roles, giving an insight into the behind the scenes work of the film industry. Within the collection are production files from television and motion picture works that document many phases of production such as scheduling, equipment budgets, reports, location scouting, vendor correspondence, promotion, and crew management. This collection also contains a breadth of publications by Los Angeles based film industry associations and unions such as the Directors Guild of America, The Screen Actors Guild, The International Cinematographers Guild, The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, and various local unions. These publications document a span of industry guidelines and procedures such as safety protocols, labor practices, union rules, insurance, and U.S. and international visas.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Nick R. Smirnoff was a production manager, producer and assistant director who has worked primarily in the television industry. Smirnoff was born in Santa Cruz, California in 1944 and was raised in the San Fernando Valley. He entered the film industry working as a gofer by way of his brother, David Smirnoff, who was a cameraman for FilmFair productions. Smirnoff earned an AA in theater arts and film from Valley College before serving three tours in Vietnam as a photographer in the Marines. Upon his return, Smirnoff went on to be a union craftsperson for FilmFair, working his way up to assistant director. From 1982-2009 Smirnoff worked as a Production Manager on projects such as T.J. Hooker, Coach, and Reasonable Doubts. Smirnoff has also worked as an assistant director on projects such as Miami Vice, Vega$, and ChiPS. From 1994-2000 Smirnoff was a co-producer on the television shows Felicity, and Silk Stalkings. Smirnoff has also worked as a still photographer, and exhibits his personal photographic work. He currently has a website, www.glasseyephotos.net, in which he displays his fine art, photojournalism and commercial work. Smirnoff retired in 2009 and currently lives with his wife Catherine in Tehachapi, California. His son, Chris Smirnoff, is an Emmy-award winning producer for the television show Modern Family.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift, 2016. Donated by Nick and Catherine Smirnoff.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Jessica Tai in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT) with assistance from Courtney Dean and Jillian Cuellar, 2016.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.
- Arrangement:
-
This collection has been arranged in the following series:
- Series 1: Projects, 1975-2009
- Series 2: Industry Material, 1970-2009
- Series 3: Industry Ephemera, 1980-2009
- Physical / technical requirements:
-
CONTAINS DIGITAL MATERIALS: This collection contains processed digital materials. All requests to access digital materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Nick Smirnoff Papers (Collection 2247). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988