A dream come true!! The long story of the most amazing day of our life is posted at the bottom. Short version is that we got to be extra's in our favorite TV show One Tree Hill. They were filming in Park City so we HAD to take work off to go see the action. It was so much fun!!! Me and Daniel were in a lot of shots and got to stand right next to all of the actors for hours and hours. I can't even begin to explain how unbelievable great this was! ~
Me and Daniel with Mark Schwan, the director, producer, THE MAN of the show!..
This is where a lot of it was filmed. The Egyptian Theater...
The first time we saw Mark Schwan from across the street. I thought I was going to faint. =0)...
My adorable husband!...
Us with Paul Teal..he's an actor on the show. He was so nice to us...
The amazingly beautiful Sophia Bush and Austin Nichols...
Me by the movie premier sign...
Some of the actors on the show...They are all so STUNNING!...
awww, "Julian" ~played by Austin Nichols...so cute...
James Lafferty...plays "Nathan Scott"...
The Crew...
James Lafferty and Jackson Brundage... "Nathan Scott and James Lucas Scott" (father and son on the show)...
She is BEAUTIFUL!! I didn't think she could be any more gorgeous. She is STUNNING in person. Sophia Bush...plays "Brooke Davis"...
Austin Nichols....
A day we will NEVER forget!!!! ~
Shandi and I heard that One Tree Hill would be coming to Utah from Twitter. They announced, ‘we’re going to a state with four letters in its name and 2 vowels”, and we knew it had to be Utah. We’ve been huge fans of the show for years and they always film in North Carolina, this is one of only two or three times they have filmed outside of Wilmington.
Shandi and I went up on Tuesday night after work, we thought they might be hanging around but didn’t really know for certain where. We did know they would be filming at the famous Egyptian Theater in Park City the next day, but considering how much we love this show, we were willing to make the 2 hour round trip drive just have a chance to see something. Before we knew they were coming to Utah to film the season and possibly series finale, we talked about going to Wilmington to see them film, that’s how much we love this show. Anyway, we drove up to Park City and found the theater and noticed a movie poster that was in place for filming the next day (Part of the plot of the show is that one of the characters is a movie producer\ screen writer and he and another character get their movie to Sundance.) We saw the poster and knew we were in the right place. We hung out and got pictures and planned where we would park the next day. It was getting pretty late and things looked slow so we headed home.
We got up the next morning at 6:30 am, got ready, and were up at Park City by 8:30 am. Other than a few crew members, we were the first people there. We knew from some news articles that they would be filming at the theater and this was confirmed by the equipment being setup. Shandi and I knew it was a few hours off so we decided to grab some hot chocolate and hang out.
Later we noticed several people gathering in a conference room in a mall across the street so we headed that way. We realized they were gathering extras, all of them were called from agencies etc. and few knew much at about the show, nothing compared to Shandi and I, the local One Tree Hill experts. :) We asked some of the people in charge of extras if they needed more people; they said they were full, but to hang out just in case. A little bit later we were asked if wanted to be extras, and of course we did, so we filled out some paperwork and we were in like a dirty shirt.
So an hour or two in, things were looking up, we had planned to go stand out in the cold all day just for the chance to see some of the people from our favorite show and to snap a few pictures, we were already getting much more. Oh, did I mention we were going to be paid 100.00 for the day, for being on the set of our favorite TV show? We were informed of the script and filming plans and were placed outside the theater. Shandi and I got split up at this point and were for an hour or so, I was pretty bummed about that, but considering everything going on, I was still having a great time. Shandi got picked to stand in front of the theater by Sophia Bush and Austin Nichols, probably the two best looking people I have ever seen in my life. No trick photography involved here, if you didn’t know them or anything about the show and just saw those two walking down the street, you would think “wow, that they must be movie stars”.
These shots took up a lot of the morning, and as most of the extras were taken back inside, Shandi and I, the die-hard fans, decided to go back outside to snap pictures and hang out.
The one downside to being on set was that while we got to stand right next to them most of the day, we also couldn’t take any pictures. So as we were hanging out, the set director asked Shandi and me to come back out for something.
In the next shot it was me and Shandi walking into the theater and only us and Austin Nichols (Julian), it was pretty awesome. We got to walk into the theater to open the shot and then hang out inside while they finished that take. This theater has a very small foyer, so it was me and Shandi and Mark Schwann the creator, director and screen writer of the show. One Tree Hill exists because of Mark Schwann. Anyway, he was the nicest guy you could ever meet, he joked around with us and we got to hang out with him for an hour or so while they did the scene. Inside we also saw Jana Kramer quite a bit; she plays Alex Dupre on the show. For me, this was one of the highlights of the day. Several times we had to pinch ourselves, we’ve watched this show religiously for years and to be able to hang out with the director and stars of the show was way beyond anything we had expected.
After this scene was finished, they packed up and headed up to do a snowboarding scene. Shandi and I didn’t bring gear for this, because we hadn’t even planned on doing anything but taking pictures from the sidewalk. For the next few hours we got to go eat a good lunch, (all paid for by the show)and got to see Jackson Brundage, who plays Jamie Scott on the show, funny little kid.
After lunch we headed back to wait for the next scene. One thing I learned today is that there is a lot of waiting for everyone and an incredible amount of planning and people involved. The cast and crew work unbelievably hard and work long, long hours. It was really interesting to see how many takes it took to get it just right, and how many setups they had to do to get all of the camera angles they wanted. Many times they had two cameras going.
We knew the night scene was going to consist of filming people coming out of the theater, like they were leaving the movie, and to film a night club scene. We knew all of this was going to be outside, and it was only getting colder. We waited and waited and believe it or not, extras have to go through hair and makeup and wardrobe, so this adds to the waiting time. As they started filming the night scenes, before they needed extras, a lot more fans started to show up and the cast started doing pictures with fans. Shandi and I were able to sneak away and get a picture with Mark Schwann. Of course, our camera broke, so we had to ask one of our new friends we met that day, to take the picture for us. Mark was awesome; he remembered us from earlier and said he made sure to hold the shot of us coming in the theater so we would be on screen. He was probably my favorite person we met. He was involved in every aspect of what happened on set.
After we got pictures we headed back inside, there was something of an Extra’s Nazi watching over us, so we had to sneak back in unnoticed. When we headed back outside, we skipped right to the club scene. Most of the extras were in a line, like they were waiting to get into the club. Because my wife is gorgeous, we got picked to stand in this hallway\ alley that was made up to look like the inside of the club. We and one other couple got to stand inside. As they started filming, we didn’t really know who would be in the scene, and from where we were standing, we couldn’t tell for sure. But after they said their lines and got into the “club” they walked down the alley way towards us; in this scene were Jana Kramer (Alex), Shantell VanSanten (Quinn,) Lee Norris (Mouth), Robert Buckley (Clay), Stephen Colletti (Chase) and Antwon Tanner (Skills). They did about 15 takes and every time they came down the hallway and walked past us. As they went back to reset, we got to talk to them a little bit, but like before, no pictures on set. This group was similar to the first in that, they were all unbelievably good looking.
The show took an 8 week hiatus from the air to film the final episodes of the season, so the episodes that have already aired, weren’t too far from what they were filming while we were there, so we knew a lot of what was happening with the story line. We had a great time, it was far better than anything we could have expected. We don’t know the exact air date, but it will be a Monday night in May. We already own all of the seasons and will of course buy this one when it comes out on DVD. Although this is all a bit childish, we felt pretty lucky, how many people can say they got to be on set and on camera of the series finale of their all time favorite TV show? Pretty cool.
As you can see I got.... New Moon! Two freaking cute headbands! Way cute pants! Gift card to Victoria Secret! and concert tickets to see Tyler Hilton next month!!!!! (he is a "real" singer/musician, but he also plays "Chris Keller" on One Tree Hill) I can't wait to go.
Dan's sister got me this super cute jewelry holder and a way cute bracelet.
Not photoed...I got a "Team Jacob" shirt from my family along with a gift card to Nordstrom and DSW shoes... LOVE IT!!!!!!!! Daniel's family got me the most comfortable mattress thing..(I can't remember what it's called) You put it on top of your mattress and it feels so nice.
