elrhiarhodan | My Day At A White Collar Location Shoot

A some pictures and exceedingly minor spoilers under the cut.

The benefits of the White Collar Paley Event just keep on rolling in. I had mentioned in the write up of that event that I sat next to a lovely woman, Carol, who knew all about how to get information on the show's exterior shooting schedule (www.onlocationvacation.com). She had been to one shoot, back in early April (it was for Copycat Caffrey, which aired last Tuesday), and had asked me if I would like to go with her the next time she went to a shoot.

FUCK YEAH...OF COURSE.

It's not as easy as that...I do have a relatively important job, and the last few months have been stressful and it would have been difficult to get out for a full day. But all the stars were aligned, it seems. I got an email from Carol on Tuesday morning that she was going to try to find out about their location shoot for Wednesday, I thought about it for 30 seconss and said, YES! As of Tuesday evening, all she knew was that they were shooting new 45th and 1st Avenue, but onlocationvacation would be updated later that night, and she'd reconfirm our meeting point.

After Monday's fiasco with the sidewalk and the train, it was a no-brainer about driving in. It just meant that I'd have to be out the door and on the westbound LIE fairly early, but that was certainly doable. It wasn't as if I didn't spend 15 months commuting to Jersey and getting on the road at 5:30 am.

With those plans made, I gathered the camera gear (took my telephoto this time - more about that later), plus the beloved 50mm f/1.4. I also printed out a bunch of pictures from the Paley fest, grabbed my favorite sharpie (which is now being retired as the office PEN THAT HAS BEEN TOUCHED BY MATT AND BY TIM (TWICE), and prayed that the location shoot would be Matt and Tim (and maybe Marsha and/or Willie).

I know you're probably not terribly interested in my transit stories, but I am a linear storyteller, and this is all part of my tale. The traffic gods were with me. I couldn't believe that I made it from my house to 45th and 2nd (where I parked), in less than three hours during rush hour, mid week. Actually, in less than two hours. To be honest, it took me 1 hour, 32 minutes from the time I pulled out of my garage until the time I pulled into the garage on 45th Street. That is a record for me.

Carol and I had planned on meeting at the corner of 1st and 45th (in front of the United Nations building) at 9 am (she was taking the bus from NJ). It was now 8 am, and I had high hopes that filming had started, so I went to our meetpoint, and saw ...

NOTHING

Well, not exactly nothing. There were metal railing and a whole bunch of people hanging around, but without getting really close, I couldn't be exactly sure what was going on. I got worried...was I in the right place? Was anything going to happen here today? Was this trip in vain?

THEN I SAW IT...THE CART...THE MAGIC CART...THE MAGIC CART FILLED WITH ...

THE CHAIRS

You know the ones I'm talking about...the ones that hold the asses of THE PRECIOUS. THE ADORED. THE TIM. THE MATT (or in his case, THE NEAL). I saw this incredible thing from 50 feet away. And my breathing. It stopped.

The next think I noticed was this young thing in a headset standing on the corner, watching all the cars go by. I asked her if she was with the White Collar shoot....and you already know what I learned...this was the prissy bitch who couldn't understand anyone wanting to hang around for an hour to wait for filming to start.

As I was walking back up to 2nd Avenue to get a cup of coffee and maybe breakfast, I passed by a bunch of people getting instructions...turns out these were the street scene extras. Talk about a thankless job. There were about a tow dozen of them, and they were there all day. More on them later.

So, I had breakfast, went back to 1st Avenue and GUESS WHAT...

THE FILMING HAD ALREADY STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Tim and The Matt were in action. Well, as much as walking up the inside drive of the front entrance to the United Nations could be deemed "action." It was a long, long dolly shot, and they kept doing it over and over and over and over and over again. This fifteen seconds of footage probably too close to a half hour or more to shoot. The extras were constantly reset, and the set crew keep telling the people hanging around not to use flash or take photos into the camera (it would ruin their TV show). I obeyed...since the last thing I wanted to do was ruin White Collar.

My friend Carol finally arrived and we had a fun time watching the shoot. They kept setting and resetting...I wish I could lip read because I would love to know what the dialogue was. What was amazing was how they kept hitting the marks over and over again. There's this moment where a pretty, young woman walks by Neal, and he give her this brief look and Peter just rolls his eyes. A typical, subtle WC moment.

They did this 15 times, 20 times? Always at the right moment. The woman never walked by without this reaction from Neal.

At some point, the crew started whistling and clapping - which seemed to signal that the shot was finished. The crew started to pick up the dolly tracks and reset the cameras. We watched as Tim and Neal rehearsed another scene, mark tapes were put down and then there was a lull.

THIS LULL WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE DAY.

Carol and I noticed immediately that Tim was signing an autograph for woman we had chatted with for a few minutes. (She was wearing a dark pink dress). Carol dragged me across the street to where Tim and Matt were. I kind of stood there, like a fat, sweaty idiot - grinning and shaking. Carol introduced herself, and Tim immediately recognized her. She had been to the NASDAQ bell ringing event, as well. They chatted for a minute or so, and then Tim turned to me, a slightly quizzical look in his eye and said, "Hello - we've met before?"

I nearly died but managed to hold out my hand and I think I said something about Paley and babbled a bit and asked if he'd autograph some pictures. He was kind and gracious and was delighted to do so. He had a good laugh when I asked if he'd sign this one:

He looked at it, had a chuckled and said, "I have to caption this."

I am still verklempt at the moment.

I don't recall the order of what happened next. He signed the rest of the pictures, and a production assistant came over. She took photos of me and Tim.

We chatted for another minute or so, and I asked if Matt wouldn't mind signing the picture as well. "No, of course not."

HE CALLS MATT OVER...

"MATT, COME HERE ..."

MATT COMES OVER.

TIM HANDS HIM PICTURE AND SHARPIE.

Matt smiles at me. He looks at the picture and smiles even bigger. He thinks for a minute and starts to write something. I don't look at what he wrote (but I'm positive it's adorable).

He also signs the full cast picture I took from the Paley event (just need Willie and Marsha and Sharif' to sign as well).

Matt poses for a picture with me.

I am SO NOT PRETTY in the heat

(Carol had asked him to take the hat off, he just noted that he'd have hat hair. Neither of us minded)

I've got to stop now.

My stomachs full of the butterflies of joyful memory.

Will write more later.