Something Unexpected

Forewarning: This blog has very little to do with writing. In fact, any attempt I make to connect is pretty bad. 😉

Recently, I took a day and played hookie with my sister-in-law — away from work, kids, family — just two women, doing what they wanted to do. We decided on visiting the state capital, wandering at a leisurely pace that wasn’t dependent on toddlers, potty trips or anyone else but us. As we arrived at the capitol building (in Sacramento), I was struck as I am every time about how beautiful it is. And we appreciated the grounds, the beautiful trees, and noticed something odd: Star Wagons. Those trailers that you usually only see in Hollywood were lined up alongside one block of the capital. And as we approached, we noticed big, fat cabling, boxes and lots of interesting things that one wouldn’t expect to see.

As it turned out, that day, the TV show The Mentalist was filming at the capitol.  Now, I’m a big fan of the show to start, so I was excited.  I’ve been to a couple of different film studios before on tours, seen filming, sets, etc — so that wasn’t a surprise.  But what amazed me was discovering that the scene we were seeing shot from was about a 5 second scene, of the characters walking through the rotunda in the middle of the capitol building.  That’s it. Walking.  From one end to another.

And yet, it took hours to accomplish.  From the laying down of cardboard pieces taped together (to minimize sound) to the yards of cable laid, to the cameras, to the crew, to the lighting, to the rehearsals to filming multiple angles, looking for just the right lighting.  We were lucky enough to be able to stay pretty close to where the filming was taking place and spent a lot of time talking to some of the crew members.  I have to add — these folks were some of the friendliest, nicest people I’ve met.   I have no idea who these guys were on the crew, but at different times of the day, they were very busy.  *smile*  And in the times they weren’t, they were friendly and willing to answer questions and chat with us.

It’s really tough to see the pics clearly, so sorry about that.  We only had a camera phone and these folks move fast, so it was like trying to capture a blur.  But the image to the left (lower) is the lead of The Mentalist (Simon Baker) as he waited to retake the scene.

It was fascinating to realize that what ends up as a three-to-five second portion of an entire show can take an entire day to film and get just right.  It’s not so different, really, from what writers do.  Most of good writing is about rewriting, and I think that must apply to filming as well.  So much of what we see of a TV show or movie is about the setup behind the scenes and the relentless drive to make sure the final product is as perfect as it can be.

In any case, it was such fun to gain a different perspective on a show I love, to see a different view of something.  And I’m glad that we scraped our plans for a tour and watched the filming instead — it’s definitely not something you see every day.  We were told by one crew member that scenes from seven different episodes were being shot while the crew was in Sacramento, and it was also suggested that the scene we were seeing would appear in episode one.   But in any case, if you’re a fan of the show, in the upcoming season, if you see Patrick Jane and company walking across the Sacramento state capitol building?  I’m just to the left. Off camera. 🙂

So what about you? What’s something unexpected that came out of a day you had planned differently?