A few years ago, it would have been common to mistake a title like “The Pirates of Silicon Valley” as a “Baywatch” spin-off.

But we live in a TV movie world now, where network and cable channels are spitting out low-budget flicks like “Dawson’s Creek” clones.

When “Pirates” first aired a few weeks ago, posters of Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall (the film’s odd-couple stars) wallpapered just about every subway or blank wall in Manhattan.

It wasn’t “Phantom Menace,” but it was a big deal.

In August, VH1 will join the ranks of TNT and USA with its very own made-for-TV movies: “Sweetwater,” the story of the band that opened Woodstock and disappeared shortly thereafter, and “The Ricky Nelson Story,” the story of the guy who didn’t play Woodstock but did star in the longest-running TV show of all time, “Ozzie and Harriet.”

As intern for the executive vice president of production, I have been along for the ride as these two films have gone through production, which is the cool way to say “make movies.”

During production, the production company sends the producer (my boss) what is called a daily (pronounced like the paper you are reading). A daily is several shots of all the scenes that are filmed each day.

I have learned numerous things from these dailies that I have often wondered about.

The most important bits of knowledge came from Daily 15 of “Ricky Nelson,” which has been re-named in the office as the “Porn Daily.”

It is important to note that scenes are not filmed in the order they appear in a movie.

They are often grouped by location (such as outdoor shots or bar shots) or by certain props that scenes revolve around, such as all of the scenes in which Ricky drives his Porsche (low budget means one-day car rentals).

But Daily 15 does not revolve around that sort of prop.

For some reason, the director decided to shoot all of Ricky’s sex scenes on the same day.

What I learned was the answer to the question everyone ponders while viewing these scenes: Are the actors really naked?

And the answer — sort of.

The females are definitely topless (although the scenes are carefully edited to remove nipples and things), but they wear flesh-colored undies.

As for Ricky, he is not as fortunate. Or maybe more fortunate, depending on how you look at it.

So the only thing between you-know-what and you- know-what is one pair of the aforementioned undies.

To answer the other common question about these scenes, Ricky does rise to the occasion.

Now that we got that out of the way, let me clue you in on some other TV movie-making secrets.

First of all, when casting, the actor’s talent is not as important as his look.

Not to insult our Ricky, but let’s just say he looks an awful lot like the real Ricky Nelson.

The look is so important that producers find ways to alter major physical features.

For example, Amy Jo Johnson, the “Felicity” actress who is playing Sweetwater singer Nancy Nevins, measures in at just over five feet. But with low camera angles and several pairs of high heels on hand, you won’t be able to tell.

Another interesting facet of TV movies is that most of them are filmed in Canada, where talent work for half the cost they would in America.

Once I learned this, I began noticing the accents and looks of most of the actors to be very similar, eh?

And then there is the amount of time spent on production. For big-screen movies (unless they are directed by George Lucas or Stanley Kubrick,) production takes about a year.

For TV movies, “Sweetwater” and “Ricky” began filming in June and will air in August.

But I suppose when 40 years of sex is filmed in one day, why stretch out the other stuff?

---

Corey Moss is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Urbandale.