Monday, July 14, 2014
I woke up at 4 at left San Diego at 4:25. It took less than two hours to drive to Neil's. I arrived at his place a little after 6:30. I showered, dressed, and drove to the Occidental Studios set where I met Dorian's son Hakim, who's an electrician/lighter on the Disney TV show Dog with a Blog.
Hakim showed me around the studio. It was very cool to see so many people working to create an episode of television. There were about seven or eight sets tucked inside the main building. Surrounding the sets were pockets of production personnel in their cubbyholes preparing for the day. It was like walking down a hall of college dorms with everyone setting up their small space for maximum efficiency. Hakim's space consisted of a boarded up door with a small room that housed a desk, couch, flatscreen TV, and not much else. It was conveniently located right next to craft services.
Shooting began at 8. The set was prepped, then the stand-ins took their places while the four camera operators and two boom mic operators worked with the director (Joel Zwick, Director of My Big Fat Greek Wedding) to block each shot. At 9, the real actors came on set, three girls whose character names are Avery, Lindsay and Max.
They shot two scenes in the classroom, which took about three hours to capture before they moved on.
The next scene was at the park.
These scenes took most of the afternoon. The cast and crew broke for lunch around 2. There were Emmy cupcakes because Dog with a Blog was just nominated for two Emmys, Outstanding Children's Program and Outstanding Character Voiceover Performance (Stephen Full for Stan the dog).
By early evening, the final few scenes were shot in the living room with Chloe and her parents.
The director Joel Zwick was a real veteran. He's been in TV and theater for decades and knew his stuff. Everyone on the set liked working with him and appreciated how fast he was.
I also enjoyed watching the Executive Producer Michael Kaplan and his team of producers and writers brainstorming and tweaking each scene while the actors rehearsed their lines. The director serves as the go-between with the producers. Joel often came up with solutions to the problems they encountered, along with better lines and smoother word choices. It was great to watch this cast and crew work their magic!
Stan the dog was a rescue dog who was this close to being put down because he was in such bad shape, but his trainer saw something in him and three months later the dog was staring in his own TV show. Only in Hollywood. The story gave me an idea for another book about the memoirs of a Hollywood hound.
Thanks, Hakim for the great day on set!
