#kansaspost

We got to the set and met Jim Michaels while we had breakfast from The Green Machine food truck the cast and crew eat from. No Richard was not working the buffet…that day

Susan (Jim’s Exec.Asst) lead the tour and our first stop was FAN FAVE Hair & Make Up Trailer, we met Zabrina & Charmaine and found out some interesting things… Neither J’s spend much time in makeup because they don’t wear that much but they do enjoy putting on the bruises and scars for fun. They had to reapply the Mark of Cain everyday, so they had about 200 made. Michael got a MoC on his arm then tried on Jared’s Mrs. Clause wig for fun. Charmaine still has Divalecki’s (mockumentary) It’s Not a Wig, Wig. I’m sad to report that Sam’s hair of the last two seasons was requested by JARED. She said he also does the Beanie Test, if any hair sticks out beyond his beanie, she has to trim it…it’s NOT HER STYLE CHOICE. 

The Visual FX truck was next and they showed us several examples of VFX and how they create them, some recent and some from the early seasons, how they work with the script early on and the Art Dept to create the visuals…super cool

Next was Video Village, where the Director, Producer, Sound Tech and Script Supervisor watch what’s being filmed. The Director, Phil Sigriccia, call action and cut from there. They had Director’s Chairs with each of our names lined up right behind them and the actor’s chairs!!! We watched a scene being shot with 3 characters for a couple of hours. The Master shot, then all the reaction/coverage shots and some stunt shots.  Lou Bollo stopped by and during the stunt takes one of the actors came and talked with us for quite awhile…They showed us some of their tattoos & gave us dining recommendations in Portland, spoke Japanese with the girls, then told us the name of their as yet, unborn child ;))   Phil talked to us a lot as well: fave episodes, Kim Manners, upcoming episodes and the next Director that was scouting locations and getting ready to film 11.19. Then Michael & Yasuko called ACTION & CUT for one of the takes. 

We broke for lunch with some of the crew and saw Brian Rose (Steadicam) and talked a bit with Clif. 

BABY it was raining so much that they drove Impala “Hero 3″ onto Stage 3 (constructing sets for the next epis). As soon as the car rolled in ALL 4 OF US BURST INTO TEARS we took tons of pics & we all sat in each seat, joking that we were Sam, Dean, Ruby 2.0 and Anna.They asked us to talk about why we had such a strong reaction to a car and what the Impala meant to us, queue more sobs…

The Wardrobe Dept was next, Kerry Weinrauch, talked about all the multiples they have to buy of Sam and Dean’s clothes and some of the things they do to distress clothing to make it look used and lived int…Fun Fact - when you see Jared or Jensen wearing the same thing, it’s because they usually have about 5-6 pcs of it in wardrobe. Even when they “borrow” clothes, they do bring them back. Often they’ll grab some of Dean or Sam’s clothes to wear to conventions so that they give that Sam and Dean vibe. 

We went to Set Decoration and the Production Offices after that

All of the sudden I heard something, I realized I never took off the headset and suddenly JENSEN was talking in my ear. He was on set now and just got mic’d. He had a single solo scene to shoot and it was done in a single take. He was hungry and went to the food truck to eat before the shot the next scene, with Sam and Dean. I was listening to him order lunch, talk to some crew, ask were Jared was and then… HE STARTED HUMMING TO HIMSELF & SANG AMAZING GRACE!!! I gave one of my headphones to Michael to hear this too… He ate lunch and was just super cool and nice to all the crew he was talking to. He had some pasta salad and a turkey,hummus, lettuce, tomato wrap and some pasta salad. Then Jared joined him and they were joking around talking to other crew. Before they headed back to the set, they threw a few hoops with the basketball. I had to turn the volume down to listen to our next tour but the J’s were just playing around, rehearsing their ines and cussing a lot. 

Jerry Wanek, is my other new BFF, after Susan. The Production Design team showed us some really cool stuff and how they start working on visual design and monster (looks) ideas, they also have kept all the motel/hotel room dividers over the years…so cool

We went back to Video Village and watched Jensen play with a baseball while he filmed a quick scene and rehearsed his lines for the next. Then Jared came in and they were both on the monitors as they were getting ready to film their scene. They kept joking around with each other, the crew and playing ring toss with some bottles on the table. They talked to Phil about Houston Con the day before and that they had gotten into Vancouver at 5am. They said that the con was one of the best ever, the energy and fans were great. Jensen talked about the Jared’s finger tweet and did something “sexually explicit” then LITERALLY SAID “The new MEME is going to be JENSEN FINGERED JARED”  Jared responded, “You complete me...” The whole crew was cracking up. The J’s said they were waiting to see it all on social media, D.E.A.D. Jared told them about Jensen’s hip thrusting and the fams losing their minds.They were still playing around when Jared knocked over one of the bottles and it shattered all over the floor, so when they were trying to clean it up, Jensen was joking that he was going to call Genevieve and tell her what a mess he was making and Jared started to laugh, Jensen pulled out his phone and was pressing SPEED DIAL. Jensen was playing like he was talking to Gen “Gen you need to get over here and do something about you husband...” Jared was laughing then said, “Wait, is she on the phone right now? Ask her if she can…” But then Jensen said he was kidding,she wasn’t on the phone. To which Jared responded “Oh, ok, remind me to call her when we’re done…” COMMUNE!!!

They then did the a few takes of the Master Shot, then a couple of coverage/reactions from different directions, an overhead, and different close up shots. Between set ups they came in to talk to us and take pics!!! When they first came in they introduced themselves and shook each of our hands and when Jared introduced himself to Michael, Michael responded, “I’m Jared.” Jared then said, “Hey, your name is Jared too? Coo!” and Michael had to say “No, it’s Michael. I don’t know why I said that.” We all laughed. Jensen talked to the girls and Jared talked to us for about 10 minutes. About everything, the contest, how we met, our blogs, Portland and Austin, conventions, AKF, Jared writing a piece for the Fangasm book. I mentioned Amy amyshaped & Valerie holdemsam, he loves those girls, and about our 4th of July plans and invited him. I also quickly asked about his photo op with Sim (electricmonk333) the day before and he said he was totally blown away by her and everything that happened. He said he was really sweaty, he was, I joked he’s always sweating and Jensen laughed and said he was sweaty too, they said to hang out some more and that they’d be back in a bit and Jared said he had something for each of us. 

They filmed some more and then when they cut well all moved over to the library to take pictures and talk some more. Then Jared ran to his trailer. I told Jensen I wasn’t trying to be creepy but I had still had my headset and I heard him sing Amazing Grace and that he had a really lovely singing voice, he smiled and blushed and said thanks while rolling his eyes. Jared came back and gave us each a pin he made for AKF with Jim. He said along with each seasons jacket, they also make a season pin, to give to crew and actors who come on the show. But for these they only made 300 pins for Jared to give to friends and family. 

They went back and finished filming the last shot, then a Dean shot and Jared came in again and gave us another of one of the AKF pins. Then asked if we were going to be here again tomorrow and that we should come watched them film on location of we could. If not, they’d see Michael and I at SeaCon next month. Jensen came back and we all got hugs from them before they left for the nite. 

They cleared the set and were moving onto a different stage to shoot another few scenes with other characters that nite SPOILERS and so they let us film and take pics around the Bunker set. 

When we were leaving someone called the driver and said to wait, that one of the actors who was there in the am, came back after J2 left to film another scene and wanted to meet us. So we went back in and that’s when we saw Misha. He said hello and everyone took quick pics and the girls gave him a small Castiel doll they made. 

Tuesday was the Location Tour, it was another 12 hour day

We got breakfast and met Russ Hamilton in the hotel lobby and started the location tour at the MoL Bunker exterior. Russ said that when they filmed Slumber Party S9, saying goodbye to Charlie had to be filmed down the road because the bridge next to the secret entrance was falling apart under the road. 

After that was the church that was used for We Need to Talk About Kevin in S8. He talked about how they have to talk out much of the church interiors to get the equipment in then replace everything after they leave. 

Russ said most locations, even churches, are happy to have them film there but there have been a few places that were problematic….He was also really impressed with all of Michael’s episode knowledge.

At one location he told us to each stand in this one particular spot & get our pics taken, in a few days a HUGE SCENE was going to be filmed and it was going to be amazing, so we could say we stood there.

We drove past the bar where DemonDean sang karaoke on the way to the DoD an outdoor 20 acre area that they’ve shot about 20 locations from. They still use it, but it’s already been, The Crossroads with the hole they dug for Dean to summon, Harvelle’s Roadhouse, the roadhouse from Like a Virgin, the diner in All Hell Breaks Lose, the Mexican Restaurant from Brother’s Keeper, the field where SamDean and the Impala landed after the Darkness came, Rufus’ cabin, Lil Levi’s gas station, where Dean was walking down the road in Lazarus Rising and the gas station where he was when Cas first spoke to him, the crossroads where they tried to get into Purgatory and they shot the SPN Harlem Shake video, and where they film creepy roads and random Baby driving by shots. The two roads where the truck hit the Winchesters in the Impala in the S1 finally and what they call the Kim Manners tree, which is in front of Rufus/Bobby’s cabin. At many times we and the crew mentioned Kim Manners…you could see that he still means a lot to all of them.

After that Russ took us to lunch at Chop, where they filmed the bar scene for the Bloodlines spin off. They also lunch there for scouting meetings and they had the crew wrap party there last year. It’s a cast and crew fave. 

We headed back to the studio after that to finish the interviews for the DVD Contest segment. 

All the while, our driver, Terence, pointed out all the places they shot on location including the tracks where Kate walked away in Bitten S8

Back at the studio they had to shoot video of Jim, Phil, Jerry, Susan who said “this was the best group and most fun they ever had with set visitors.” and that “The girls from Japan were amazing artists and that the show knowledge Michael and I had, was an art in itself” and some of the other Dept Heads, before they filmed our interviews. Most of the cast, crew and trucks were gone to location to shoot some more Sam and Dean stuff. They told us to just hang out and do whatever we wanted while we waited. 

So while I got the set WiFi password and checked my email Michael and the girls ran around and took more pics, I could here them all giggling and Michael came back to get me. We went back to SamDean’s room and took pics of each of us sleeping UNDER THE COVERS in Sam’s bed, then holding up Sam’s (Jared’s) jeans that were almost taller than me, and then covering ourselves with Sam’s flannel shirts that were hanging up…we fully geeked out, not sorry

Once the girls were doing their interviews Michael and I tried to get in every last but of set and stage pics we could, we were free to roam about, so much so that when we went to the bathroom or to get water no one questioned us and instead asked us how we were doing and how much longer we’d get to visit with them…WOW

While Michael did his interview I sat in the MoL Library and just looked around kind of stunned, all of our stuff was just sprawled all over the place and no one said a thing of tried to move it, it was like we were part of them now and we were home…I cried. 

I did my interview and was able to maintain my composure until Jeff asked me the final question…”What has Supernatural meant to you?”

As we got ready to leave and they were shutting down the stage lights the four us took one final look at each room, cried, then we all hugged each other and cried together…

Sadly, by the time we got back to the hotel and got a cab to the final scene location, they had finished about an hour early and were packing up to leave. Jared and Jensen’s trailers were pulling out and the Transportation Coordinator said Jared and Jensen had left 5 minutes earlier…

It was an amazing time, Michael is the best and the sweetest and we made many new friends…It was a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget. 

So thank you Michael, thank you Jim, Jared, Jensen, cast and crew, thank you Warner Brothers, The CW, Eric Kripke, Susan Milne and our crew, thank you. 

PS: They all told us that if we ever come back to Vancouver for VanCon or otherwise to contact them and they’d let us come visit again…

Just like Sam and Dean, Michael bearing The Mark of Cain, Jed Alecki & Jarsen Padackles, Jensen the PhotoBomber over Jared’s continuity shot

Michael entranced by VFX, Video Village is almost always in the dark, Jackles getting his grooming on (shave cream), our director’s chairs (we got to keep the seat backs), here she comes…

Hero 3 has a smaller engine, it’s not as loud, so it’s used for the quiet scenes in the car…many BM’s. Fun Fact: they removed the trunk lid and all the guns and stuff that’s normally in the trunk to put in a track for the camera operator to sit in while filming “Baby” S11

The Wardrobe Dept is MASSIVE, miles of plaid and denim, every outfit Sam and Dean have worn since the pilot has been saved and logged by season. 

My BFF, Jerry. Production Design is looking ahead at least 3-4 episodes to start creating the look for each one, the characters, locations and the monsters

And then we met J2…we chatted quite a bit a few times before they took individual and groups pics…lots of hugs too!!!

Running around and playing on set…I’m 5′1" and Sam’s jeans were almost longer than me…the sets are really cool and full of fun little things we don’t necessarily seen by the camera

Locations with Russ…the Creepy Road and the Kim Manners tree…

The Bunker and the Boys (on the monitors)…the best