 |
| Rodney's Taping |
| - Summary by Rodney ([email protected]) - Visit Rodney's site to see where this came from (http://www.rodknee.com/features/friends.php) |
| friends taping - 8/23/02 So on the 23rd of August, I was fortunate enough to attend a live taping of my favorite TV sitcom, Friends, at the Warner Bros. Studio Lot in Burbank, CA. At first I was a little skeptical because my "contact" for the taping was a friend's classmate at UCLA who sent out a mass e-mail to the class list, and I, nor my friend, had no idea who he was or whether not his offer was legit. However, fortune smiled on me and everything fell into place, and the next thing I knew, I was sitting on a yellow school bus on the 405 rapidly approaching WB Studios, and quite frankly, the 8-hour pinnacle of my life. The sheer gravity of the situation did not hit me until I actually saw the six stars whom I have idolized for so long. I'll back up a little bit and start from the beginning. Apparently WB was sending out a bus to pick us up at UCLA at 11:00 AM. I believe this is the way they've conducted their studio audience gathering since 9-11. Previously, people would simply wait in line outside the WB lot, but security has now become a prime issue and they did not let us bring anything with us except our IDs. Cell phones, pagers, cameras, you name it, it all had to be left on the bus. When we arrived at WB, I saw huge banners hanging down from their buildings showcasing the different shows/movies/entertainment venues they are responsible for. Of course, there was a giant Friends banner, which got me all the more excited. The bus took us past the main entrance and around the back to a small parking lot outside of the lot. We got off the bus here and they quickly single-filed us, stamped our hands with an ultraviolet ink WB logo, and checked our IDs. We were then walked into the actual WB lot, passing through a number of security checkpoints along the way. Finally, we were herded into a "waiting-in-line" area very much akin to the mazelike constructs they use for something like an amusement park ride. My friend and I were at the very front of the line and honestly felt like we were sitting on top of the world. They gave us a chance to use the restrooms before walking us into the actual stage. After everyone did their business, we were taken in. There was one last security checkpoint outside the stage, and then they slowly let small groups of people in to be seated. My friend and I were the very first ones inside - all the seats were still empty (even the VIP seats). The first thing I saw as I entered on my left was a conference room set, presumably at Chandler's data processing company. To it's right were Monica and Rachel's apartment and Central Perk - the two main sets that encompassed the "center stage" area of the set. To the right of Central Perk in the corner was Ross' apartment, and to the right of that was the hospital room set where Joey acidentally "proposes" to Rachel. We were seated at the very far right, mere feet away from the hospital set where they shot the first scenes of the episode (which, we later found out was the second episode of the 9th season). I was hoping that we'd catch the taping of the season premiere, but later on I was actually happy we didn't because the season premiere was still taped entirely at the hospital and we wouldn't have seen Central Perk and Ross' apartment "come alive", if you will. Anyhow, they continued to seat more and more people until it was completely filled. The stage can hold approximately 200 people although it feels a lot smaller than it sounds. Overhead were microphones hung horozontally on wires to pick up the studio audience laughter. (yes, it's all real) Eventually they sent a man into the audience whose sole purpose was to keep the audience energized and enthusiastic throughout the course of the 8-hour taping. He had been doing this on the set of Friends since its inception and when he began his act, the energy level of the audience went way up. He was constantly playing games, telling jokes, and giving out free Friends memorabilia throughout the taping. After about 20 minutes of his antics, he gave a brief exposition on where the show was, and then they showed us season eight's finale and the last 10 minutes of season nine's premiere so we would be caught up with what was happening. After this, the crowning moment of my life was at hand as the announcer asked us, "Are you ready to meet the cast of Friends?!" The Rembrandts theme played and the six stars ran out from the back of Monica and Rachel's apartment. Everyone was standing up on their seats trying to see the cast. They stood there clapping and waving while the audience went crazy for a while, and then the taping began. I'm not going to give a synopsis of the episode here because it already aired on TV (10/3/02 - The One Where Emma Cries) - rather, I am just going to try to best describe the things I observed and the way they go about taping an episode. The very first member of the cast that caught my eye was Jennifer Aniston. She looked absolutely amazing; her presence felt positively radiant and I believe she looks even better in person than on TV or in movies. She was very open to interaction with the audience which was another big plus - I had direct eye contact with her multiple times and it makes me want to melt. The next cast member who caught my attention was David Schwimmer. The first scene they were shooting was in the hospital room, so he walked right by us and we called out to him saying hi. He waved at us with both hands and said "Hi guys!" and got down to his job. I noticed that throughout the taping, he seemed very serious and professional. Oftentimes when he wasn't shooting, I saw him talking to this extremely hot girl that was standing on the set. I had no idea who she was. Matt LeBlanc seemed like a very friendly person - he was second to Jennifer Aniston in terms of how much I saw them smile. It has been widely rumored that Matt LeBlanc acts like a hardass in real life but from what I observed, it didn't seem this way at all. The same goes for Matthew Perry, who also seemed very amicable. He walked by us one time and we said hi to him, and he replied with "Hi guys! Shh, I gotta act!" I was very impressed with Matthew Perry's comedic talent. The crew was constantly rewriting the script on the spot in attempts to make funnier jokes, and Perry's improvisisational skills with respect to these rewrites was amazing. He is truly a funny man. Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow probably interacted with the audience the least, although they seemed very friendly as well. Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry were constantly talking, smiling, and whispering to each other and they seemed like very close friends. They generously fed us pizza and bottled water twice throughout the taping. Workers came in carrying huge stacks of pizza and handed one down each aisle. Most people took one slice but I was really hungry so I took two each time. Some of the people sitting around me expressed their dissatisfaction with my taking of two slices but I didn't care. They always had extra pizza to go around afterwards anyway. Another thing I was impressed with was how talented and professional the cast was. They always shot each scene in its entirety in one take. This surprised me because I had always thought they filmed in multiple, short takes, but this wasn't the case. They didn't mess up their lines as much as I thought they would either, which is a plus for their acting skills, but a minus for the audience because it wasn't as fun watching them get everything right the first time. Either way, it was truly amazing watching them work. Every time they filmed a scene, a loud buzzer sounded in the stage which signaled that they were about to start filming. During this time, the lights dimmed and the audience hushed (except for our post-joke-laughter). There was one scene in Central Perk where Ross and Joey had an argument over the Rachel-proposal ordeal. As they began preparing for the scene, James Michael Tyler (who plays Gunther) came out, and no one in the audience really said anything. I was surprised that no one gave any attention to Gunther so we stepped up the plate and yelled out "GUNTHER!" He looked surprised and waved at us, and made a little bowing motion with his hands. The rest of the audience followed our lead and also started giving Gunther attention. Towards the latter half of the taping, a number of people, mostly the VIPs, began to leave. My friend and I jumped at this opportunity and asked one of the studio pages if we could move up a few rows. She said yes, and we moved to second row center, within feet of the Central Perk set. It was quite nice. This is where we stayed until the end of the taping. Before they began to film the "kicker" (the footage that plays as the credits roll), Matthew Perry came up and told us, "OK, we're gonna try filming three different endings, so when you see what we do, you won't think we're crazy." (It's a lot funnier in person) They then filmed the last scene, the director yelled "And that's a wrap!" and the taping was over. Like the beginning, the cast all came to the front and clapped/waved for a few minutes, and then they began filing us out to leave. I tried sticking around inside as long as I could and ended up being one of the last ones out. The cast members were all still up at the front talking to people, and I saw Aniston talking to a group of elderly women. She was talking with them earlier as well - they may have been family or close friends because she acted extremely friendly and loving to them. Anyhow, I debated whether or not I should try saying anything to Aniston, and I realized it was pretty much a now-or-never deal, so I called out to Aniston and she looked up. I told her that I loved her film, The Good Girl (not a lie, either). She put her hands over her heart a replied, "aww, thanks!" This was perhaps the defining moment of my life - I had directly conversed with Jennifer Aniston. My friend saw this and decided to do the same to Courtney Cox. He told her that he loved her in Scream, and she replied with something along the lines of what Aniston replied to me with. My friend and I were both beaming. The studio pages walked us out the same way we came in, out of the lot, back onto the bus, and we were driven back to UCLA. It was approximately 11:00 PM. Looking back in retrospect, this was easily one of the greatest days of my life and I honestly felt that my life had peaked. Recently there have been a number of Friends taping auctions going up on eBay for hundreds of dollars. People ask me whether or not I would prefer selling my ticket for large quantities of money, or if I had gone to the taping, and there is absolutely no contest. The experience I had was a once in a lifetime deal and I would not have exchanged it for any amount of money. -Rodney Tsing, 10/5/02 |
| Marta Kauffman David Crane Links Pictures Kevin Bright A Typical Show Interesting Facts Interviews/Articles Email Me Who Wrote What Taping Experiences |
 |