My Brazil Experience

WARNING: No bourbon content, although I did drink Cachaça and a lot of beer.

I did not vandalize a gas station.

It was 1982. I was making a video about oil shale. Our client was an energy producer who wanted to exploit Kentucky's shale oil reserves, an interesting story in its own right but this isn't about that.

Our client had worked with the office of Kentucky Senator Wendell Ford to get the necessary visas and permits. We were to have the cooperation of Petrobras, the Brazilian oil monopoly, as they were the ones exploring shale oil development in Brazil, and the conditions at their pilot plant in the small town of São Mateus do Sol in the southern part of the country were similar to conditions in Eastern Kentucky.

We flew into and out of Rio de Janeiro, where Petrobras had its offices. Although we spent most of our time in São Mateus do Sol, we wanted to capture some of the color of Rio so we also spent a few days there.

At the end of the trip, the day before our return flight to the United States, the Petrobras executive who had arranged everything for us called me into his office downtown and presented me with a rather substantial 'bill' for the 'services' they had provided to us while we were in the country. In the nicest possible way, he made it clear that we and our several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment would not leave the country until the 'bill' was paid, in cash. He casually mentioned our flight number.

This was the first I had heard about any expectation of compensation. I conferred with the client's representative and my account executive, and they conferred with the folks back home, including Senator Ford's office. This was news to everyone and was, we concluded, a shakedown.

We decided to pay. Happily for me, the account executive had talked his way onto the trip by saying he would handle the 'business stuff' so I could concentrate on the 'creative stuff.' I concluded this was 'business stuff' and went to the beach.

That afternoon, he scraped together an amount of cash (we all had company American Express cards) that Petrobras agreed to accept, but we were nervous until our plane (with our equipment on it) left the ground.

Otherwise, it was a great trip.