Trials and Error (But Mostly the Former)

Hola, Bay Staters!

First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NAN!

Necessary celebratory picture.

It's blog-update time in the Wednesday night TV Shop. We had a great shoot in Studio East last night: not only were director's trials starting, but we revamped an old set, designed a new set, and had a professor reprise her recurring role on the show!

First set of the day: Hospital Room. Classic set made more interesting by C-stand IV's and the ever-hard-to-find curtain. Erin's air mattress is so tall that we feared that we'd need a stepladder to get Gus into that bed, but it worked out. Check out a few of the pics:

Liz begins hanging the infamous hospital room curtains.

Chris works with freshmen actors Kelsey (Jaime) and Gus (Max).

BU Acting Professor Amanda Good-Hennessey as "Dr. Michaelson."

Next set of the day? "Basement." A new set, one with the ability to create a cool lighting plan. Last week was all about the red emergency lights, so we made this week about the fake-dark of television: blue, blue, blue. Taylor pulled a lot of great props for this set, and built a fun lever and fusebox.

The three Basement scenes were also the first scenes ever directed by Liz, Anthony, and Taylor. Director Trials are the most fun part of the year (I think), because everyone puts so much work into perfectly their scenes, and everyone pitches in to make sure every job gets shadowed and every jobs gets done. The set is never buzzing with as much nervous excitement as the first week of Trials.

Taylor, arranging props on the table.

Sophomore PA's Ian and Kevin agreed to be frat pledge bit-players in the scenes.

First up: Director-Wannabe Liz!

Executive Producer Lauren and Director Chris reminisce about their respective Trials.

Actor Cody (Zack) gets ready to pull the lever. Will he do it..?

Second up is Anthony! This is him post-directing, all smiles. Rock on!

Third up: Taylor! He had fewer actors, but one giant variable...

...his scene involved the Smoke Monster.

Which Melissa and I battled with for far too long. She's the Smoke Master, now.

But everything came out alright! We got some good pick-ups, finished early, and went to Sunset with BS-alum Megan, who stopped by to say hello!

Finally, tonight's TCB went to...

Super Nice and Super Tough Kevin and Ian! Word. Up.

See you this Saturday, crew! It will be fun...and pizzalicious.

I still can't believe that the entire time we were hooking up...you were MARRIED,
-Jenn

People Ride In Elevators ALL The Time!

Hello, Beacon Hill College Enthusiasts!

What are we spray-painting? You'll see...momentarily.

We had an exciting (and well-staffed!) Saturday shoot this past weekend, and I'd like to tell you about it. Episode 115 is really coming together, and I'm already counting down to the viewing party. So...welcome to the picture post!

The first set we built was the revamped RA Office, looking much warmer with our newly painted flats. Actors Neil (Hudson) and Madelyn (Ava) started us off on the right foot with an RA Showdown.

Then, we moved onto the typical RA Office Scene: The welcome-back-let's-listen-to-Ava's speech old chestnut, in which we learn some valuable information about the state of the dorms.

We should mention that this was the first shoot ever for actress Jenn (Robin)! And I would also like to mention that actor Alex (Ethan) is silly, but awesome.

Next set of the day? A Hallway with an Elevator.

It looks kind-of mazelike from this angle, but it really came together.

Some people doubted that the elevators could be moved, but Lauren and I headed that project once we finished spray-painting Taylor's foam-boards. We heard from the directors and the associate producer that the elevator motion looked good, so I'm going to check this one off the "Bay State Victory" checklist. Besides, my parents will be amused by my forced cameo as "Girl in Elevator."

Mad props to actors Valentina (Olivia) and Alex (Kyle) for putting up with the terrifying smoke machine.

The smoke machine in question...oh, how it has driven us crazy so many times before.

We finished the shoot with not a minute to spare, and I can't remember the last shoot so fun. Everyone should come again next Saturday: we'll lure you there with free pizza again.

I'd like to end today with my favorite shot of the day, and ask you: have our actors ever looked sexier? Look at that lighting! The set! The gorgeous people!

That's how we do.

See you all tomorrow for our regular Tuesday shoot, and again next Saturday for another epic day. I know we ask a lot of the crew...but look at what great work we're putting out together! That's what it's all about: having fun and making something we can all be proud of.

I think you guys ARE cut out for this job,
-Jenn

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Hello, Bay State enthusiasts!

Sir Joshua Brown reminded me that I did not post about the 116 Read-Through! Travesty, as I'm Head Writer.

Before talking about the script itself, let me mention another success of the night: creating the Bay State Punch.
It's made of Strawberry Kool-Aid and Blueberry-Pomegranate juice. Laur took this color-accented picture as I was mixing it together. Get it? We were finally drinking the Kool-Aid, as people so often say about our organization. Because we can take a joke :)


But back to the read-through! The episode went over really well. There's some very intense fraternity threatening, a few secrets revealed, a kiss or two, and a whole lot of typical college flirting and mischief. If Episode 115 was a solid back-to-school meet-and-greet, and Episode 117 is an epically dark final episode of this three-ep arc, Episode 116, "We Can Go to My Room," is the sweet, light-hearted middle episode (with the typical Bay State dark edge) that sets up everything to explode in 117.

Laura and Amanda can't believe a certain scene at the end of the third act. You'll know the one when you see it. Yeah, we're going there. Or are we? Someone's character is put in quite a dangerous position.

I think you'll all enjoy 116. It's going to be a lot of fun to shoot, since it centers around one thing we do the best at--giant party scenes with too many character for one 2nd AD to handle.

And...other big news! WE PAINTED THE FLATS. Goodbye, Mint Green.

Liz, Amadeo, and I got to COM at 8:30 in the morning to pull them all out and lay everything down. We pulled off all the tape and staples, sanded down the nail holes, and got to work. Professor Cav bought us supplies and paint (Laur and I debated over the color forever, but I like the warm yellow we chose), and I got to work edging the doors and windows while Liz and Amadeo rolled a first coat onto all the flats. Jon and Taylor came by soon, and they helped do the second coats and paint the trim.

Here they are! Ready to be used in a few hours...on our Saturday shoot!

See you soon...we can go to Studio East,
-Jenn

Outtakes.

Hello, readers!

Normally, I'd have a lot to blog about while at work in the TV Shop on a Wednesday night, but Columbus Day has delayed this week's Bay State shoot. However, since I was going through pictures to send to Tiffany, the graphic designer we commissioned to do our poster, I figured I'd share a couple of the outtakes.

The top picture was snapped while Lauren and Chris set up the dolly shot for the intro (BANG!), and the bottom picture is one shot of our beautiful crew (thanks, Laura!).

Have a good week of midterms, guys!

Off to join some innocuous clubs,
-Jenn

The Wheelchair Diaries.

Hello, readers!
Welcome to the latest guest blog. This one comes from Taylor, who has been with the show for two years now. He started as a lowly PA, but quickly became an editor, and has spent the past year being a truly kickin' propmaster and art director. No matter what we've thrown at him, Taylor always figures out a crazy and innovative way to get every prop we ask for, and twice as many brilliant ones that we didn't even think of.

So they told me that I needed to get a wheelchair…

As you can imagine I was “thrilled,” and by thrilled, I mean contemplated suicide. The thing about wheelchairs is to get them from any hospital/student health services you need a prescription, as it is an expensive item, and probably too many frat boys have had accidents with them.

So I started trying to find one, I went to Goodwill, I checked thrift stores, anywhere that might have one. Then I turned to the internet. I wanted to see how much a used wheelchair was, I found one without wheels for $25, but that wouldn’t work. I also found many that were $300, but that wouldn’t work.

And finally, after an entire weekend of looking for a wheelchair, let me repeat that, AN ENTIRE WEEKEND OF LOOKING FOR A SINGLE PROP, THAT’S ONE ITEM FOR A COLLEGE TV SHOW, I found an add selling a wheelchair for $75, but there was no picture, and the guy was in Malden.

Taylor, March 2009, with a briefcase for the crack den.

I think I can make this work…maybe…I mean I am awesome.

So come Wednesday, Chad (Lauren) and I load into her car for a little road trip. And by road trip I mean getting stuck in traffic for an hour trying to decipher Beyonce lyrics. It was fun, except for the traffic, we talked about how I should watch Glee, Chad’s friends, my brother, and such. It was fun until we reached our final destination.

As soon as we pulled up to this man’s, who I never met, house we heard this “sceetch scretch sreetch screeeetchhhh” It’s the kind of sound you hear in a horror movie right before the two unsuspecting kids who are only there to pick up a wheelchair for a college TV show get killed, kind of sound.

I turned to Chad and said, “Maybe they just have a giant hamster?”

Taylor, April 2009, checking in with the directors.

As we got closer to the door, the sound stopped, suddenly. You’d think that in a situation like that it’d probably be comforting that a sound like that would stop, but it made everything creepier, until the man, “Mike Wheels” as he’s labeled in my phone, answered the door.

He was a very nice man and we had no need to worry, and then he said this,

“I’ll be honest with you guys the person this was for, well, she, never really, got the chance to, uh, use this.” He almost cried. It was beyond awkward. He asked, “Who this for? A Grandparent?” Because Chad and I look so much alike. Chad answered for me, “It’s actually for a television show.” Mike Wheels was obviously a little upset that we were using it to film with rather than helping some elderly person.

Taylor "inserting an IV" into actress Farrell.

He was very polite though and asked all the questions people normally do when they find out you make something they can watch. You know the, “Oh what is it?”’s and “Where can I find it?”’s.

We left with the wheelchair and found no traffic coming back to Boston. And there were no further problems, except, I paid for it out of my own pocket, and have yet to be reimbursed by BUTV, so I guess now I own a $75 wheelchair stored in studio east.

Needless to say, Taylor won the TCB award this week.

Thanks for writing, Taylor! I promise you'll be reimbursed when the paperwork goes through :)

I hope everyone's looking forward to flat-painting on Friday, and our first Saturday shoot this weekend!

Mint green flats are okay freshman year, but after that, they're just skanky.
-Jenn

We told you so.

Actor Laura on screen, and Sparkplug Liz on camera.

We had a *crazy* shoot yesterday--it involved three sets (one old, one new, one revamped) and so many actors. In fact, I even drove down to BC to pick up actor Alex, so he could shoot a scene with BU's Dean Zamojski! Our adult guest stars are always so much fun to have on set.

The day started off in the newsroom, with new actor Torre ("Grace") rockin' out in several scenes with vets like Melody ("Camryn") and Laura ("Claire").

Actors Torre and Melody, reading through their first scene of the day.

Also, I can't say much here, but fan favorite Amanda ("Bailey") has returned after a semester abroad, and there have been some interesting developments in her storyline. You'll see.

Actor Amanda, all smiles.

Stayed tuned: we're a couple weeks behind on guest blogs, so expect several in a row! It's midterm time, so I'll cut the crew some slack.

Saturday shoots start this weekend, and the read-through for Episode 116 ("We Can Go to My Room") is this Thursday!

Sure know how to write a script, that's so hot...
-Jenn

Kill the lights!

The photoshoot on 9/29 was definitely successful. We've got a lot of really cool and dangerous promo shots, which are being made into a kickin' poster. The group shot of the cast is so gorgeous that it is my desktop background right now, and I'll see what I can do to get EP Lauren to release it to the public :)

However, I feel like I need to give you guys some hint of what's to come, so...
Our gorgeous cast, muggin' for the camera.

More pictures will be up soon, and look forward to a Guest Blog from Art Director Taylor!

Keeping my sophomoric thoughts to my senior self,
-Jenn