FNL Set Visit
Last Friday, angel_q and I went on a set visit to Friday Night Lights. We won this at a charity auction and it got pushed back a little (okay a lot) by the strike. But we were finally able to make our way out to Austin.
The following is my write-up of the visit that was written pretty much right after we got back to the hotel. Some things to note:
1) Friday Night Lights is my favorite show on TV, thus I was incredibly excited and nervous about the visit.
2) Jesse Plemons is my favorite actor on the show. (I know - shocking!) I love his portrayal of Landry and from everything that I've seen of Jesse during interviews and such, he's always seemed really laid-back and friendly.
3) Zach Gilford is my second favorite actor on the show.
4) Nearly everyone I know is a fan of Taylor Kitsch, so a couple of things during the visit were done with those people in mind as they would have shot me had I not taken the opportunity.
On to the visit...or the night that Jesse and Zach made my year.
We met up with Kristen, the production assistant, at around 7:45pm. While we were waiting for her, I got super excited because the first person that we saw was Jesse and he was in his uniform and walking to the field. I was super happy about this because I was afraid that he wouldn't be filming that night and I'd miss my chance to meet him. He was there and I told Angelique that it should be a good sign because and he was in fact filming and he was the first person I saw. We were led to the field where we saw all the players and extras getting ready to film a game that would be shown in episode 5.
Right before we went into the field house, Kyle had stopped by and Kristen had to tell him something so he saw us there and she told him that we won a set visit. He immediately stopped and said hello and shook our hands. He asked us how we were enjoying Austin. This is the second time that I've had any interaction with him and he was really nice again. He's truly a great person and so damn adorable!
We were given a tour of the field house where all the offices, the locker room, the weight room, the visiting team locker room, etc. are located. All areas are fully functioning. We were able to take pictures of everything and I got my picture touching the Dillon “P” on the wall. Darren, who gave us the tour and is in charge of all the equipment, uniforms, etc. was super nice to us and gave us all kinds of inside info on the new season and what had happened so far to the characters. He also let me pose with the jerseys of “Riggins” and "Landry". It was pretty funny because he said something to the effect of, "So who's your favorite player? Riggins? I have everyone's jerseys right here if you want to see them and take a picture with them." I said, "Well, actually Jesse is my favorite." So he pulled out the #85 jersey and I took a picture with it. Then I said, "I have to do #33 as well because people would shoot me if I didn't." So I have that picture as well.
After that, Darren said we should get pictures with “Riggins” because Taylor was sitting very close to where we were just hanging out. I had to assert myself with Kristen (because she's brand new to the show and didn't know very much about it or have very much contact with the actors - actually all the crew people were able to answer our questions instead of her) to see if it would be possible to get pictures. She wasn't too sure about that, so she went to ask Nan, the producer, if it was possible and since Taylor was sitting over there by Nan she came back and said, “Come get your picture with Riggins.” Now, why everyone kept calling the guys by their character names, I'm not sure. I don't know if they thought that we were so stupid that we couldn't differentiate between the characters and the actors, but it was a little bizarre. Taylor introduced himself as “Taylor” of course and was really nice about the photo. Then he asked Angelique if she wanted a picture and she said no (because she hates taking pictures and I have to blackmail her to get one) so he said, “Fine, I wasn't going to take one with you anyway.” I explained her dislike of photos so that he wouldn't think that she just didn't like him.
Here is the pic of Taylor that I took with him (with me cut out of course!) It turned out a little blurry, but that's okay as when it's printed out on photo paper you can't tell at all.
Angelique and I then went back to where we were standing before which was a few feet away from all the tv monitors and cameras (so that we could actually see the scenes.) After one of the scenes finished, I see Jesse jogging over to the sidelines straight towards us. I mentioned to Angelique that Jesse was coming over to our side of the field - okay mentioned might be a little weak of a verb - it was probably more like, "Jesse's coming to this side!!!!" I was a little flustered because he wasn't just coming over to our side of the field, he was coming over to see us specifically. He just came up to us on his own accord and asked if we were the sweepstakes winners. (We have no idea who told him that we were there as everyone that we had been introduced to was on our side of the field and he hadn't been over there before this - so maybe it was Kyle.) He introduced himself and talked to us for several minutes where I proceeded to tell him that he plays my favorite character and got a picture with him. See below:
He said that he loves Landry and the show. He played some characters in movies during their time off and now he's back to being Landry and he likes it. We talked about where we are from. We literally just stood there talking for a while about many various things. At one point, there was a scene that he was supposed to be on the sidelines for and he realized it and started to go over there, but then said, “Oh well! I'll just act like I was on a bathroom break!” So he just stayed put to continue talking to us. Did I mention that he's a sweetheart?
He saw Zach come over and said, “Hey let me grab Zach” because he knew that we hadn't met him yet. So he did and Zach came over and said “You’re the sweepstakes winners! Yeah!” and then he proceeded to high-five me and turn it into a handshake at the end as he introduced himself. He then said that he never wins anything even though he enters 16 times. We had to set the record straight and say that we don't win things either and that it was really that we won an auction and not a sweepstakes since there was no way we could keep that story going. We started talking again about the places we'd been, the restaurants we'd been to (apparently Kyle loves Guero's Taco Stand and won't have Mexican anywhere else) and how they love the Drafthouse. Zach wanted to know where I lived in LA exactly so I told him and he said that he has a buddy that lives in my neighborhood so he's over there all the time. I eventually got a picture with him as well. See below:
He knew all about the Bay Area somehow as well and he was trying to find out exactly where Angelique lives. After hearing about all the places we'd been in Austin, Zach asked us if there was any place that he needed to go. ha! Jesse asked if we had DirecTV and I told him that I don't so I'll probably have to download the episodes until they air on NBC because there is no way I can wait that long to see the show. He said that he doesn't have it either but a friend does so he's going to watch it there. I think everyone we talked to (whether it was the crew or cast members) said that they didn't have DirecTV and they were either going to watch it somewhere else or download it. Too funny! I asked about the extended (or different) episodes from the NBC ones and he said that they would be different especially since there are no commercials on DirecTV and they always have tons of deleted scenes that they will now be able to use. (Darren had said that he thought there might be some swearing and partial nuidity as well for DirecTV but who knows if that's true.)
Jesse is taller than I expected. Maybe close 6 ft. tall. I know I had to look up to talk to him. Zach is pretty much exactly as tall as me. (I'm 5'3".) Maybe an inch or two taller. Taylor was a few inches taller than me. We even made reference to how their doubles have to be pretty close in size so that it's not really noticeable that it's not the actual actor in the football scenes. After Jesse and Zach were required back on the field and thus had to leave our conversation, I told Angelique that I could go home now completely satisfied by the visit as it had exceeded my expectations at that point.
After our conversation with Jesse and Zach, Taylor was required to be in the same scene so he had to change into his shoulder pads. He came over to stand right in front of us to put his jersey over the shoulder pads and then pull it on over his tight sleeveless t-shirt. The guy has some nice arms! I will admit to staring at him discreetly the entire time he was getting into uniform. Even though he's not my favorite, it doesn't mean that I can't appreciate how good looking he is. ;)
We saw Aimee hanging around a lot. I think that every time I saw her, she was eating or making plans to get dinner later. Scott even made an appearance even though he wasn't filming anything that night. We didn't say anything to either of them because they were in large groups of people and we didn't want to interrupt. It was nice just to be there and see them. Zach's girlfriend arrived and he had the extras and the crew sing happy birthday to her since it was apparently her birthday.
After most of the scenes were finished and they were getting everything ready for close-ups on the sidelines, Jesse was playing catch with potentially the new running back. We weren't sure if this was him or not since we don't know the new characters. Anyway, Jesse was pretty good actually. Catching the ball one handed and sometimes behind his back. Jesse came over to Zach to see if he was going to come play and Zach said, “I see you're already playing with someone. You want to make it a threesome?” And my mind went somewhere else entirely. I need to stop reading slash.
At one point, the whole production staff left, and the producer told us that we could stay as long as we wanted and to wander around for different perspectives if we wanted. It's nice to know they trusted us on our own.
Connie was there but always talking to the director or far away in the stands filming her scenes so we didn't want to interrupt her either. We were there for about 4 hours when they took a dinner break between the filming of two games. Since the next game was mostly opposing team shots for the 7th episode without the main actors, we decided to leave.
All in all, it was way better than I could have ever imagined. It was wonderful just being there to see some filming and get a tour of the field and locker rooms, but Jesse and Zach totally put the whole visit over the top with how nice they were to us. I'll never forget the entire experience (mainly because I wrote everything down! ha!)
I can't wait for the new season to start. Especially since I know a lot of what went down in the first half of the season because Darren told us all about everything that they had filmed so far. It's going to be excellent!
The following is my write-up of the visit that was written pretty much right after we got back to the hotel. Some things to note:
1) Friday Night Lights is my favorite show on TV, thus I was incredibly excited and nervous about the visit.
2) Jesse Plemons is my favorite actor on the show. (I know - shocking!) I love his portrayal of Landry and from everything that I've seen of Jesse during interviews and such, he's always seemed really laid-back and friendly.
3) Zach Gilford is my second favorite actor on the show.
4) Nearly everyone I know is a fan of Taylor Kitsch, so a couple of things during the visit were done with those people in mind as they would have shot me had I not taken the opportunity.
On to the visit...or the night that Jesse and Zach made my year.
We met up with Kristen, the production assistant, at around 7:45pm. While we were waiting for her, I got super excited because the first person that we saw was Jesse and he was in his uniform and walking to the field. I was super happy about this because I was afraid that he wouldn't be filming that night and I'd miss my chance to meet him. He was there and I told Angelique that it should be a good sign because and he was in fact filming and he was the first person I saw. We were led to the field where we saw all the players and extras getting ready to film a game that would be shown in episode 5.
Right before we went into the field house, Kyle had stopped by and Kristen had to tell him something so he saw us there and she told him that we won a set visit. He immediately stopped and said hello and shook our hands. He asked us how we were enjoying Austin. This is the second time that I've had any interaction with him and he was really nice again. He's truly a great person and so damn adorable!
We were given a tour of the field house where all the offices, the locker room, the weight room, the visiting team locker room, etc. are located. All areas are fully functioning. We were able to take pictures of everything and I got my picture touching the Dillon “P” on the wall. Darren, who gave us the tour and is in charge of all the equipment, uniforms, etc. was super nice to us and gave us all kinds of inside info on the new season and what had happened so far to the characters. He also let me pose with the jerseys of “Riggins” and "Landry". It was pretty funny because he said something to the effect of, "So who's your favorite player? Riggins? I have everyone's jerseys right here if you want to see them and take a picture with them." I said, "Well, actually Jesse is my favorite." So he pulled out the #85 jersey and I took a picture with it. Then I said, "I have to do #33 as well because people would shoot me if I didn't." So I have that picture as well.
After that, Darren said we should get pictures with “Riggins” because Taylor was sitting very close to where we were just hanging out. I had to assert myself with Kristen (because she's brand new to the show and didn't know very much about it or have very much contact with the actors - actually all the crew people were able to answer our questions instead of her) to see if it would be possible to get pictures. She wasn't too sure about that, so she went to ask Nan, the producer, if it was possible and since Taylor was sitting over there by Nan she came back and said, “Come get your picture with Riggins.” Now, why everyone kept calling the guys by their character names, I'm not sure. I don't know if they thought that we were so stupid that we couldn't differentiate between the characters and the actors, but it was a little bizarre. Taylor introduced himself as “Taylor” of course and was really nice about the photo. Then he asked Angelique if she wanted a picture and she said no (because she hates taking pictures and I have to blackmail her to get one) so he said, “Fine, I wasn't going to take one with you anyway.” I explained her dislike of photos so that he wouldn't think that she just didn't like him.
Here is the pic of Taylor that I took with him (with me cut out of course!) It turned out a little blurry, but that's okay as when it's printed out on photo paper you can't tell at all.
Angelique and I then went back to where we were standing before which was a few feet away from all the tv monitors and cameras (so that we could actually see the scenes.) After one of the scenes finished, I see Jesse jogging over to the sidelines straight towards us. I mentioned to Angelique that Jesse was coming over to our side of the field - okay mentioned might be a little weak of a verb - it was probably more like, "Jesse's coming to this side!!!!" I was a little flustered because he wasn't just coming over to our side of the field, he was coming over to see us specifically. He just came up to us on his own accord and asked if we were the sweepstakes winners. (We have no idea who told him that we were there as everyone that we had been introduced to was on our side of the field and he hadn't been over there before this - so maybe it was Kyle.) He introduced himself and talked to us for several minutes where I proceeded to tell him that he plays my favorite character and got a picture with him. See below:
He said that he loves Landry and the show. He played some characters in movies during their time off and now he's back to being Landry and he likes it. We talked about where we are from. We literally just stood there talking for a while about many various things. At one point, there was a scene that he was supposed to be on the sidelines for and he realized it and started to go over there, but then said, “Oh well! I'll just act like I was on a bathroom break!” So he just stayed put to continue talking to us. Did I mention that he's a sweetheart?
He saw Zach come over and said, “Hey let me grab Zach” because he knew that we hadn't met him yet. So he did and Zach came over and said “You’re the sweepstakes winners! Yeah!” and then he proceeded to high-five me and turn it into a handshake at the end as he introduced himself. He then said that he never wins anything even though he enters 16 times. We had to set the record straight and say that we don't win things either and that it was really that we won an auction and not a sweepstakes since there was no way we could keep that story going. We started talking again about the places we'd been, the restaurants we'd been to (apparently Kyle loves Guero's Taco Stand and won't have Mexican anywhere else) and how they love the Drafthouse. Zach wanted to know where I lived in LA exactly so I told him and he said that he has a buddy that lives in my neighborhood so he's over there all the time. I eventually got a picture with him as well. See below:
He knew all about the Bay Area somehow as well and he was trying to find out exactly where Angelique lives. After hearing about all the places we'd been in Austin, Zach asked us if there was any place that he needed to go. ha! Jesse asked if we had DirecTV and I told him that I don't so I'll probably have to download the episodes until they air on NBC because there is no way I can wait that long to see the show. He said that he doesn't have it either but a friend does so he's going to watch it there. I think everyone we talked to (whether it was the crew or cast members) said that they didn't have DirecTV and they were either going to watch it somewhere else or download it. Too funny! I asked about the extended (or different) episodes from the NBC ones and he said that they would be different especially since there are no commercials on DirecTV and they always have tons of deleted scenes that they will now be able to use. (Darren had said that he thought there might be some swearing and partial nuidity as well for DirecTV but who knows if that's true.)
Jesse is taller than I expected. Maybe close 6 ft. tall. I know I had to look up to talk to him. Zach is pretty much exactly as tall as me. (I'm 5'3".) Maybe an inch or two taller. Taylor was a few inches taller than me. We even made reference to how their doubles have to be pretty close in size so that it's not really noticeable that it's not the actual actor in the football scenes. After Jesse and Zach were required back on the field and thus had to leave our conversation, I told Angelique that I could go home now completely satisfied by the visit as it had exceeded my expectations at that point.
After our conversation with Jesse and Zach, Taylor was required to be in the same scene so he had to change into his shoulder pads. He came over to stand right in front of us to put his jersey over the shoulder pads and then pull it on over his tight sleeveless t-shirt. The guy has some nice arms! I will admit to staring at him discreetly the entire time he was getting into uniform. Even though he's not my favorite, it doesn't mean that I can't appreciate how good looking he is. ;)
We saw Aimee hanging around a lot. I think that every time I saw her, she was eating or making plans to get dinner later. Scott even made an appearance even though he wasn't filming anything that night. We didn't say anything to either of them because they were in large groups of people and we didn't want to interrupt. It was nice just to be there and see them. Zach's girlfriend arrived and he had the extras and the crew sing happy birthday to her since it was apparently her birthday.
After most of the scenes were finished and they were getting everything ready for close-ups on the sidelines, Jesse was playing catch with potentially the new running back. We weren't sure if this was him or not since we don't know the new characters. Anyway, Jesse was pretty good actually. Catching the ball one handed and sometimes behind his back. Jesse came over to Zach to see if he was going to come play and Zach said, “I see you're already playing with someone. You want to make it a threesome?” And my mind went somewhere else entirely. I need to stop reading slash.
At one point, the whole production staff left, and the producer told us that we could stay as long as we wanted and to wander around for different perspectives if we wanted. It's nice to know they trusted us on our own.
Connie was there but always talking to the director or far away in the stands filming her scenes so we didn't want to interrupt her either. We were there for about 4 hours when they took a dinner break between the filming of two games. Since the next game was mostly opposing team shots for the 7th episode without the main actors, we decided to leave.
All in all, it was way better than I could have ever imagined. It was wonderful just being there to see some filming and get a tour of the field and locker rooms, but Jesse and Zach totally put the whole visit over the top with how nice they were to us. I'll never forget the entire experience (mainly because I wrote everything down! ha!)
I can't wait for the new season to start. Especially since I know a lot of what went down in the first half of the season because Darren told us all about everything that they had filmed so far. It's going to be excellent!