Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Take two
Came home last night from Towson Town Center, (where I underwent a nightmare experience trying to find formal wear, shoes and jewelry for a charity fundraiser event this weekend, when I really just wanted to be home in my flannel PJs sipping tea), to find Hollywood camped out on my street again. The cops even asked me for ID before they let me pull into the alleyway and my parking spot.
I thought it might be a crew shooting scenes for The Wire, a pretty common occurrence in Baltimore, at least in the drug neighborhoods, less so in Bolton Hill. I asked one of the crew, who was busy handling the tether on one of the light balloons, what was going on. He said they are filming a pilot episode for a new ABC Drama called "20 Questions". A little Googling tells me that Actor John Heard has been tapped as one of the leads. I met John Heard while Christmas shopping at Smith and Hawken about 8 years ago when Homicide was filming in Baltimore. Ended up having coffee with him. This was right before he was arrested for stalking his ex girlfriend Melissa Leo. Nice.
Ennneeee-way, back to "Twenty Questions". It's being produced by Touchstone TV, and centers on a young State Department employee played by Jesse Bradford who stumbles onto a international conspiracy which threatens the U.S. It also stars Ben Shenkman. Apparently, Bolton Hill will once again stand in as Georgetown. The crew member thought that the house on my corner was going to be the house for one of the key characters in the series. If that's so, I suppose I can get used to further disruptions of parking, and set lighting cables strewn in my alley.
Hmmmm - the crew guy was pretty specific, and I can't imagine there were two productions filming on the same street corner simultaneously. I immediately thought Nicole was re-shooting a scene, that's why I asked the film crew. Is Paul sure it was her?
A close friend of mine walked away from his high-tech computer job last year to become a professional actor/playwright. He's been hired as "background" (I learn a new term every day) for "20 Questions". Mr friend gives me a nightly play-by-play on this production's progress. He said the people of Bolton Hill were very nice to all the actors 2 days ago and the neighbors let them use their bathrooms. The night they were in Bolton Hill the background actors spent most of their time standing outside in the cold and nobody gave them any food.
In a few days the whole production will go to DC to shoot.
Hmmmm - the crew guy was pretty specific, and I can't imagine there were two productions filming on the same street corner simultaneously. I immediately thought Nicole was re-shooting a scene, that's why I asked the film crew. Is Paul sure it was her?