Community Highlights: Meet Peewee Piemonte of JMP Productions

Today we’d like to introduce you to Peewee Piemonte.

Hi Peewee, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was working background on a movie. A couple of the stunt guys asked if I wanted to be involved in part of the riot scene. I gladly jumped in. After that, they took a liking to me and began to show me the inside of the stunt business.

I later met my best friend, Brian Smyj, who was, at the time, also breaking into the stunt business. We began working out together and honing our stunt skills. After a couple of years working in New York, I moved to Los Angeles and was fortunate to begin working right away. I met Julie Michaels, who at the time was an actress. If not for her, I would never have succeeded in this business. She helped open doors for me and made connections to get me started as a coordinator. We married in 1993 and together, we formed JMP Productions Inc. A stunt coordinator and friend from NY, Cort Hessler, recommended me to coordinate a couple of TV shows, “NUMBERS” and “SouthLAnd”. The connections made from those two shows have directly led to many of the jobs I do today. Two, in particular, have led to four EMMY nominations and two EMMY AWARDS for Outstanding Stunt Coordination.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part, I have been blessed. I started working in LA as soon as I arrived, and my consistent training paid off and lead to a successful career as a stunt performer before transitioning into stunt coordination. Since I had done many types of stunts, it gave me a perspective on how each stunt is done, the danger behind it and most importantly the easiest and safest way to achieve the shot needed. The experience of being severely injured on a TV pilot, requiring a spinal fusion and nine months of recovery time, and also fracturing my pelvis working on a feature, inspired me to create action, not only spectacularly but more importantly safely. I also took my experience dealing with stunt coordinators who were very hard on stunt performers and decided that I would let them, the stunt performer, be more involved in the setup of the stunt they would be doing, creating an environment of less suppression and more inclusion, giving them the ability to have a say in everything. All the while, still overlooking every detail and changing and instructing when necessary so that if they missed anything, they would see it and why we needed to alter it Giving them a say gives them the ability to perform at their highest level. I wanted that and to change the landscape of how a stunt was set up. It worked and to this day, I have had a very successful career of keeping people safe and still getting an Emmy-worthy performances.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As President of JMP Productions Inc and Julie as Vice President, we are a stunt coordinating team. We work together from preparation to completion. We analyze the action requirements and decide which of us would be better suited to coordinate it by our strengths, and in some cases, the action requires the attention of both of us on set. This was the case on SEAL TEAM for CBS as we would oversee hundreds of performers with never before seen action on television and led to us BOTH being nominated for an EMMY award for Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series. We have become known for our realistic-looking action and our ability to work with production and the studios to enable the actors themselves to jump from building to building over 100ft in the air like Ben McKenzie did on SouthLAnd and my winning my first of two EMMYS, and members of the cast of Seal Team to perform a Spie Rig themselves that garnered an additional Emmy nomination. We know that the audience today knows when it’s real and went it’s not, and Julie and I want real. REAL SAFE, REAL LOOKING and of course REAL GOOD.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
The covid restrictions had many levels of roadblocks. First, many stunt performers opted out of getting the vaccine, limiting the amount of availability of vaccinated performers. Second, the mask and shield mandates made communicating almost impossible creating a challenge for safety. Sometimes we even resorted to megaphones when calling out our instructions. Testing was also problematic in that you had to travel to get tested prior to working and having to find time on your day off to do it. And finally, having to replace someone last minute when they test positive meant a gamut of work for us stunt coordinators and productions as well. New contracts, new testing, new wardrobe fittings, new wigs, etc. And if it was a lead actor that could not be replaced, that meant the show would shut down, and put everyone out of work for the recovery duration.