elrhiarhodan | My Day At A White Collar Location Shoot

Friends, I am sorry that it's taken so long to finish this write up. Friday was DAY FROM HELL at work, and I barely had 5 minutes to call my own, let alone a block of time long enough to organize the rest of my thoughts. This weekend was taken up with finishing the Leather!Kink piece that I submitted to FicFinishing (it's done and in beta, whew!) and a little downtime from the writing. I did buy a white linen trilby at a craft show...and I admit to doing it because it was tres Neal...and I look pretty good in hats.

(Pictures and very minor spoilers - same as in Part I of my write up - under the cut)

I left off my tale with having my picture taken with Matt. My friend Carol is actually on the other side of Le Bomer (you can see her hand on his shoulder), but since she didn't give me clearance to post her image, I employed a little crop magic.

After the pictures and the autographs and the handshakes and the hugs, Tatt DeBomer (my new name for Tim and Matt, courtesy of

hoosierbitch ) went off to shoot another scene and we were allowed to stay pretty close to the action, which was being filmed on the median between the United Nations Plaza and 1st Avenue.

(Image courtesy of Google Streetview)

This is what I meant about the crew being so wonderful. I don't recall if I mentioned, but it was a crewmember who took the pictures of Tim and Matt and us (a production assistant named Ellen). When we asked if we could hang around, she was really cool - and showed us where we could stand (which was near the CHAIRS).

I must note that I almost fatally embarrased myself. Carol had started to mention that she sort of read my fanfic...but had abandoned the vampire story. I asked (and my voice must have been a bit loud) if she read the death fic - the "one where I killed Neal and drove Peter insane). A production assistant was standing near ue (Tim and Matt were 30 feet up the block) and hushed us very sternly - but here eyes looked a little freaked out.

As we were watching the shooting (again with many, many takes), the Andrew Saxe, the Location Manager wandered over and just started talking with us (he said he recognized my friend Carol from her earlier location visit). Andrew was a delight and a font of information. We talked about the airport used in Out of the Box - it turns out the airport of doom is not the airport that I thought it was (and which I pass by on a daily basis). I joked that I was getting steadily more and more depressed every day, imagining poor Kate and poor Neal and poor Peter (actually poor Alexandria, Matt and Tim) and that plane going kaboom! Andrew told me that that was a hellacious filming day - it was at the start of the December 19th blizzard (dumped 23 inched in 24 hours), and when they started shooting, there was no snow on the ground, but when they finished Tim's reaction shots, an hour later, there was nearly 6 inches.

We talked about how much being in New York matters to the show - and the whole "Blue Sky" filter (the USA thing). Andrew was not a native New Yorker, but had lived in and around the City for more time than he hadn't. And I finally got to mention my pet peeve about getting into the Burke's back yard. How there is really no way one can do that with Brooklyn row houses. You see, the Burke's house (which is supposed to be off DeKalb Avenue) is a fully attached row house (common walls on either side), and the back of the house would face the back of another house on the other side of the block, The only way to get into the Burke's backyard is by climbing fence after fence after fence. The expression on Andrew's face when he realized the production error was almost as precious as getting the hugs Tatt DeBomer. He offered a suggestion - that access is gained from the apartment building next door...and I conceded that it was plausible, but at least one fence would need to be climbed. Andrew nodded. I don't expect to have this mistake fixed...but I'm glad I got the chance to say my peace.

We asked about the episode being filmed - it's #2.10 - What Happens in Burma. I'm not saying anything more about what we saw being filmed, because those could be major spoilers (I've sort of figured out the episode from the little bits and pieces, but I'm going to keep my theories to myself).

As I said before, Andrew was a sweetheart - he talked about John Bolz - a crew member who was killed in a car accident during the filming of "Copycat Caffrey" and he was clearly broken up. John was a great guy, left two small children behind and Andrew had come to consider him a close friend. We talked and talked - about where the shooting would happen, the production schedule, Andrew's work on other projects.

But the best was when Tim and Matt came back to the CHAIRS, Andrew took my camera and got this shot.

They have their SERIOUS BUSINESS FACES ON. GAH!

A bunch of other fans wandered over and Andrew chatted with them - and took their picture with Tim and Matt. And then came the chance again. Carol and I got our pictures with both the boys (I am way too hot and sweaty to post those pics here).

The production moved back to the area directly in front of the UN, and Andrew hearded us back there and let us hang a bit with the crew. We got to take a look at the carts with all the neat stuff, LIKE MATT'S ANKLET.

We chatted with some of the other production assistants until we were finally shoo'd back across the street.

By this time (a little after noon), I was dying of thirst and more than a little hot and tired. I walked over to a hot dog vendor and bought a few bottles of water, which I consumed way too quickly (my stomach let me know how displeased it was). We sat at the end of the production zone and watched stuff happen.

At some point, Matt looked aggravated with something. He wandered off into the middle of the street and it actually looked like he was arguing with one of the directors.

A little while after this, Matt and Tim left the set to get changed. I honestly don't recall what suit Matt changed into, but Tim had on that gray suit that fits him beautifully.

I lasted for another hour and Carol and I both decided to call it quits. It looked as if the exterior location shoots were wrapping, and we had been told that after the lunch break, they'd be shifting to interior filming, which we wouldn't be able to watch anyway. We ended up taking a breather at an outdoor Turkish restaurant - just to relax and review the day, before heading back home.

SOME THINGS I LEARNED:

1 - Did you know that there's an all-day Green Market on 46th street between 1st and 2nd Avenues? The produce looked beautiful, but I was a bit too exhausted to care.

2 - I parked on 45th Street, which is for westbound traffic. The garage was a mere 20 yards from the corner of 2nd avenue. But because of the freakin' MIDTOWN NO TURNS DURING HIGH TRAFFIC TIMES rules, I had to go all the way up to 6th Avenue (through the heart of Manhattan and past Grand Central Station) and then back to 2nd Avenue. 25 minutes to go 20 yards as the crow flies. ACK!!! At least the rest of the trip home was pretty swift. Good traffic vibes in both directions is a rarity. NEXT TIME, PARK ON A STREET WITH EAST BOUND TRAFFIC.

3 - Behave yourself, and you can get really close. We were in the thick of the action for the better part of three hours.

4 - I hate the fucking telephoto lens I used - now I see why my sister gave it to me and didn't want any money for it. Almost all of the pics were bad. My hands shake way too much to use a telephoto without a tripod (it's a congenital thing...). So, WC has cost me yet more money - I bought an 85mm F/1.4 (Canon, non-"L") for the next location shoot.

The best of my pictures (about 50 out of 200) are posted to Photobucket, and I haven't watermarked them yet. Please don't abuse them, but they are there for you to enjoy.

I have this dorky fantasy (as opposed the the fannish/pornish fantasies I write about)...that all my White Collar friends converge on the City and I get to take you to a White Collar location shoot. We're all dressed in white collared shirts and black pants and black trilbys and fedoras. Tim and Matt recognize me and wave me over during a shooting break, and I take all of you with me (sort of like a bunch of Madelines) and I introduce everyone and Matt and Tim are thoroughly charmed. Maybe Marsha and Willie and Sharif are there too.

I said is was a dorky fantasy.

Current Music: Here for Now - Ani DiFranco (Canon)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

jrosemary.livejournal.com

Thanks so much for posting this! What a great recounting of your day!

(Glad you asked about the yard--a lot of my family live in Brooklyn row houses like that, lol. But maybe that's why Neal could use the yard without attracting attention. What with breaking into other places and hopping fences, maybe the Bureau was careless and/or had no real good way of watching what was going on out back! And, really, what's a little fence hopping to Neal?)

And the pictures--I'm so excited to see these!

Please tell me this post is public and that I can rec it! And thank you again. :)

From:

My Day At A White Collar Location Shoot - Part II

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