While the California studio was working on Tuesday, the Austin studio was having a brief brush with fame. Our house, which is a casual, kid-and-dog-friendly abode, became a hip, mid-century home for a scene in an upcoming ABC Family TV show, The Lying Game. Everyone was all a-twitter, especially Neville, our beloved mutt, who, as many of you know, is a talented fella. (Here is a taste of his crooning when he was but a pup!) When he heard that a film crew would be here, he immediately started practicing his talent, in hopes that a part could be written into the script just for him. He imagined his scene might go something like this:
Camera pulls back. Handsome dog (from uncertain background much like the mysterious past of the twin-girl characters in The Lying Game) begins to look imploringly at Sutton, the rich twin high-school girl who is reading a magazine in the kitchen.
Neville: (thinking to himself) Can this really be Sutton? (He sniffs her Gucci scarf.) What? This is not Sutton. This is an imposter! (Just to be sure, he begins to display his crooning talent, knowing that the real Sutton would praise him, hug him and feed him steak bites.) But, this girl, this so-called Sutton, is not impressed.
Sutton: Be quiet, dog.
Neville (shocked by her disinterest) lowers his head with remorse and whispers softly: Woof.
Sutton’s father enters: Hm. I’ve never seen Neville act this way. What’s going on Sutton?
(The plot thickens.) Neville gives Sutton a heart-broken glance as he exits camera right.
Cut. Print.
Of course, that was just Neville’s dream. In real life, he was actually sent to doggy day care, to avoid the possibility of a stray bark in the midst of a cliff-hanging scene. But, we did take a few pictures, so Nevs could see what he missed while he was at the “spa.”
The most impressive aspect about our day was observing the large number of talented technicians, directors, producers and actors that it took to put together about 2.5 minutes of television-watching pleasure. Here are a few glimpses. (We were trying to stay out from under all these feet, so I just have a few peeks into our afternoon in Hollywood, Texas.
Above top left clockwise: 1.The first to come in were the lighting technicians. 2. Our entry became a “video village” when it wasn’t being used as an entry. 3. A cameraman in the study, where we will watch the first episode. (We might even have to have a Lying Game party … I wonder what to serve? Liar’s lemonade, fib figs with prosciutto, deceptive donuts … you know how I love a theme.) 4. This giant tube is called ‘the worm’ and it is probably one of the most important pieces of equipment of all … it supplies quiet air conditioning, which is much needed when the lights are on and the loud air conditioning is off. 5. Another video village is hurriedly set up in our kitchen before the sun sets.
Above top left clockwise: 1. I love this shot of our gal watching, while trying to blend in with the woodwork. 2. Here are two of the actors taking direction. Mads was played by Alice Greczyn and Eduardo was Rick Malambri. All of the actors, by the way, were not only pretty and handsome, but polite and friendly. (I am inspired to teach Neville the importance of manners if he becomes the famous crooning dog he hopes to be.) 3. The actor who was the pretend-owner of our house, Alec Rybak, was played by Adrian Pasdar. Here he is in costume looking over his lines. 4. This was a remote video set-up in a back bedroom. It was odd to see the high-tech equipment sitting in front of our bookcase full of children’s books, topped with Winnie-the-Pooh bookends. Hey, wait a minute, Baby Bot, what are you doing there? Oh, I forgot you had your eye on the world of video. 5. Going over a scene with Rick, this is the director, Elodie Keene, who calmly directed all involved in the midst of the controlled chaos.
So, that’s a little peek into a few minutes of television fun. The good news is that our house was returned to its former kid-and-dog-friendly self within about 20 minutes of the last shot. Everything is back to normal … well, almost everything … Neville is still a little upset that he didn’t get the part of Sutton’s faithful dog. I told him that with a crooning gift like his, he might be better suited for a part on Glee. (Don’t you think Kurt needs a crooning dog, and Nevs could even save him from a life-threatening accident like Lassie. Grab a writer. Let’s do lunch.)
Be sure to watch the first episode of The Lying Game on August 15 at 8pm CST, on the ABC Family channel, so you know what’s going on by the time our house shows up about four episodes later! (Cathy puts moviestar sunglasses back on and exits blog, camera left.)
Related Articles
4 Comments
-
I love the shot of the camera in the study and the camera man up on his perch.
-
Gosh. Director’s chairs are really…….chairs for directors!
-
You are so brave!
Neville looks so cool with the glasses and scarf; he must go to Hollywood.
And that Bot — he really gets around. But he is so handsome no one would mind.
