Friday, July 01, 2016

Burbank - Warner Bros. Studios


We had been to Burbank the day before, but the studio tour was booked. We bought tickets and returned the next day. I found us a place to have lunch on Yelp and it was delicious, although very loud and crowded. We walked to the studios and had to go through security. It said, "We take security very seriously" which made me think they thought we might be spies from another studio, and I wondered how checking my bag would give me away.


We hopped on our studio shuttle with our guide, Tara, who offered to personalize our tour by asked us what we all wanted to see. Having just started and been obsessed with Gilmore Girls via Netflix, we asked to see that. Everyone asked for different things, and I wondered if there really was such a thing as a "personalized tour". Why wouldn't you ask that prior to putting us in shuttles? Shouldn't different shuttles go different ways? I never figured that one out.

I was in the middle of the shuttle between a stranger and Darcy so it was hard to take pictures without encroaching into the stranger's space. Warner Bros. Studios sits dab in the middle of a neighborhood nestled among people's homes. I wondered if the owners just sat on their porches hunting for stars, but the girls guessed that they didn't. The shuttle sat fourteen people, and we tootled along at a nice pace as Tara gave us the history of Warner Bros.


We went through several iconic backlots where television shows and movies have been and are being filmed. Our favorite was Stars Hollow, CT, the town from Gilmore Girls, which with coats of paint, some missing trees, added scenery and signage is currently Rosewood, PA, the town from Pretty Little Liars. We got to see Luke's Diner, Stars Hollow High School, Kim's Antiques, Miss Patty's dance school, the Dragonfly Inn, and Sookie and Lorelai's house, which is actually the same house with two fronts. The lot and sets have been used in several movies and shows including The Waltons, Seinfeld, Dukes of Hazzard, and The Music Man. The trees along the sidewalks are all planted in pots that are then embedded in the concrete of the sidewalk. If a director wants the tree out of a scene, the concrete can then be hammered up so that the tree, in its pot, can be removed and the concrete redone to complete the empty, treeless sidewalk.




We got to get out of the shuttle at Sookie St. James house. We all snapped photos, and then Tara told us that it was actually a set inside as well, one of the few buildings on the lot that was more than just a front. She took us inside the building and there was Sookie's picture window, and then we went through and exited outside Lorelai and Rory's house. Whoa. We stood on the front lawn and saw the garage where Lane and her band practiced. Tara offered us a chance to take photos on the steps, but another group was going in, and before we knew it Tara was moving on. Madison and I were bummed we didn't get our photo.




From that set we continued on around the corner where the set from ER has been retired. There was the entrance to the hospital, the diner across the street, and a Chicago ambulance and police car parked in the ambulance bay. I thought it a bit odd that the set is still there, but Tara explained that it was so iconic that directors don't feel they can change the look of it to fool people. Pfft. Really? I think Warner Bros. just likes to have it as a stop on their $62 per person tour.



Tara gave us interesting tidbits into how sets are changed (like the trees in the sidewalks). All of the trees in town can have branches taken off or put on depending on the director's direction. Props are added and areas are hidden with huge rolling wooden slats that are covered with foliage on one side. This can then be rolled to the offending object and covered to look like bushes or trees, etc. Bricks on buildings were really a type of wall covering that could come off very easily. After awhile we weren't sure what was real or what was fake. Sneaky, these people.


As we moseyed on down a street a golf cart with four people on it drove by us. One of the girls waved at us, sort of how people in Florida on boats do when passing other people in boats. A little solidarity of high seas greeting. Suddenly Darcy was squeezing my arm hard enough to cut off circulation and making little squealing noises quietly. Tara turned around to look at her, her own eyes large in her head.

Tara: "Do you recognize her?"
Darcy: "Yes! Yes, I do."

It was Shay Mitchell from Pretty Little Liars, a show I do not watch, but one that Darcy does. Tara told us it was very unusual to see stars on the tour, but that if we did we were suppose to act cool and remain quiet. I stared down at my red arm and remarked how I thought Darcy did a good job at my expense. Tara seemed just as excited as Darcy and told us how nice it was that Shay acknowledged us. I couldn't have described the waver to save my life. Pretty Little Liars was filming on the lot that day, and if I was going to see anyone from that show I wanted to see one of their directors, Kimberly McCullough, better known as Robin from General Hospital. Alas, we saw neither despite actually going on and walking through the set.

Tara took us to the Archives, two floors of exhibits of memorabilia, currently from DC Universe and Harry Potter. I didn't care at all about the comic world, but seeing some of Harry Potter movie memorabilia was cool as it was different from the stuff we've seen in Orlando. There was a sorting hat, but that was a big disappointment as it was a voice on a loop so you could guess what house was next. Tara told us later it was actual audio from the movie and that Ravensclaw was not one of the house seen chosen in the movie, thus it was absent from this exhibit. I thought Warner Bros. could have put forth a bit more effort, frankly.



Back on the shuttle once more, we went through the actual soundstages where filming occurs for tons of shows and movies. We saw where Friends and Full House were filmed. We got out at the soundstage for The Big Bang Theory, and Tara took us inside that one since it was not currently in production. We saw the inside of the guys' apartment and the stage for the stairs, the broken elevator, and the two doors to the apartments across from one another. We got to see where the live audience sits, and learned how a show is worked from the writers table to run through to the audience viewing to filming. It was all cool. We were not allowed, however, to take pictures inside. Bummer.


All of the soundstages are in a row on the lot like one big street. Each one has a number and a plague outside telling what movies and television shows have been (and are currently) filmed inside. A handful were in production currently including Pretty Little Liars, Fuller House, and a new one that had a tentative title that I've already forgotten. From there we went into the PLL's soundstage where we again could not take pictures. It is a one camera stage so it is set up like a real house with rooms where the camera man and actors can move to and from within. Interesting.

Tara then took us to the Batman vehicle museum building where we saw the cars from the movies that all cost a huge fortune. We roamed around that taking pictures, and then she took us to the prop warehouse and let us stroll through that. It was huge! It reminded me of a big hoarder market with stuff packed everywhere. If there was a system, I couldn't figure it out, although there were areas with just chandeliers and just presidential belongings and such like that, but it was all very cluttered and looked disorganized.





Tara dropped us off at Stage 48 where we spent about an hour. There we sat on the Central Perks set where they took our photo. Darcy and Madison were there in time to recreate a film scene from Friends. They played extras in the coffee shop, and stole the show in my book. We got to do acting with a green screen and movable props. We strolled through a historical area and saw more memorabilia. Eventually we came out to a coffee shop and a gift shop where we made a few purchases before jumping back on a shuttle that took us to the start of our tour. We spent four hours on the two hour tour with all of the strolling and extra perks we got by being the last tour of the day. We all agreed it was worth it and we were all glad we made the effort to come back. I mean, if you're going to be in LA you really ought to learn the movie biz.



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