The filming of Ask This Old House finally took place last Thursday. Funny thing, as I write this, I am watching past episodes on the Dish TV my current Song flight offers. Zone seating might be awful, but Song got it right with their satellite TV.
Anyway, in case you have not been following my fascinating life, please let me recap the Ask This Old House story (<a href="http://www.dobrindts.com/movabletype/main/archives/000194.html" target=_blank>you can read the details here </a>).
Earlier this year I sent the TV show <a href="http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tvprograms/asktoh" target=_blank>Ask This Old House, </a>a home improvement show based on the popular television show <a href="http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/" target=_blank>This Old House</a> a couple of emails with questions about my house. I am a home improvement enthusiast (but glad it?s not my full time job) and had a problem with a door not opening up all the way. On April 1 (yeah, I know, it was April fools day, good thing I didn?t think someone was playing a joke on me) one of the show?s producers called me. He said he looked over my email and thought my door problem might be interesting for a show. We talked for a while, I emailed him some pictures, and a week later the producer, Chris, and <a href="http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tvprograms/asktoh/bios/article/0,16528,420219,00.html" target=_blank>Tom Silva </a> came out to look at my house.
A couple of weeks went by and I didn?t hear back so I figured they were going to take a pass. But Chris called and said they were not going to do the show on the door, but wanted to do a show on something else we talked about, a pass-through. For those who might not speak the secret language I do, a pass-through is a big hole in a wall, often between the kitchen and the dining room, which is like a big window with a counter and without glass. Our kitchen is pretty small so we wanted to put a pass-through between that room and our dining room. Chris said that Tom thought it would be interesting so we schedule the shoot to take place on Thursday, May 13.
To start, the night before the shoot I had a softball game and since I need to work on my ability to fall, I hit the ground pretty hard trying to catch a ball and scraped up my face. So even before I began my television career, I had a big bruise right above my left eye. Oh well, the viewers will think I am tough.
At 7 AM on Thursday morning, the crew started to arrive. First the camera guy, Deano, arrived in his SUV. This was followed by Tom Silva driving the Ask This Old House trailer behind his pick up, the producer Chris, the sound guy Jim and an assistant Anna. There they all were. An entire television crew, with little mic things clipped to my shirt and the transmitter in my back pocket, wearing headsets and speaking ?TV? language, doing stuff to lights and reflections, all there for little old me. All there to shoot a story around my little problem. My little pass-through. Some plaster, drywall and wood that is in my little house. The Emmy award nominated show with its crew of cool television people focused on my house, in my town, with my family and my home improvement problem.
The first thing we did was figure out what to do. While the crew set up around the house, Tom, Chris and I talked about the first ?scene?. It was actually the second scene because they filmed Tom driving up, getting out of his truck, and approaching my front door. But the first scene with me in it. While the producer was telling me what to say, and Tom was going over his lines, and the camera guy was telling me where to stand, and the assistant was checking sound quality on my mic, and the lighting guy was directing light onto the ceiling, I was daydreaming about how freakin cool the whole thing was. To be honest, I thought they would say ?just start talking?, the camera guy would capture it, and I would talk like I usually do when I shoot the breeze. But nope. Doesn?t work that way. So all of a sudden the camera guy yells ?speed?, the producer yells ?action?, Tom rings the bell, and I have no idea what I am suppose to do. I remember they mentioned something about me walking from the kitchen to the front door, passing Patti and Emily playing in the dining room, but after that I was not sure. So I fumbled with Tom at the door, introduced myself as Tom Silva, told the actual Tom Silva he should know who I am, and interrupted my wife saying hi.
So after about 4 or 5 ?takes?, I got the idea that I should pay attention to the crew and cast because they know what they are doing. Oh sure, I could improvise here and there, and offer a more personal line, but if I wanted to look like anything better than a total idiot, I best pay attention.
To cut to the end, the day was awesome. We ran into a small issue with electrical wiring, but that was easily written into the story as something I had to follow up with. They had catering delivered to the house and while eating it, Richard Thretheway stopped by. He was suppose to film a segment in the afternoon and knew we were running late. Since he heard he had the option of meeting the famous actor David Dobrindt, he decided to stop by and have lunch. Very nice guy. Actually, they were all very nice and very down to earth. While people might recognize them from being on TV, they are all blue collar, working men who grew up in working class neighborhoods working in a dieing trade.
The day ended around 3 with the crew going to their next shoot and me helping Tom clean up. Emily, our daughter, gave him a hug and kiss, we talked for a little while, and Tom and the Ask This Old House trailer pulled away, out of my life. I had to do some electrical work to reconnect two outlets, had put up sheet rock beading and finish the trim work, but the pass-through was framed in a professional and safe manner, I got a once in a lifetime experience, and had a blast.
I will post some more pictures as well as the release date of the shoot (Chris said to check with him over the summer). Good times and I encourage everyone to bring a film crew and TV personality to their house to do a project.
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