I haven’t had time to write about it, but Aimee and I spent a day at Warner Bros. on their behind the scenes studio tour a few weeks ago. Warners has one of the better-preserved studios, with an extensive backlot (including the only remaining jungle set in Hollywood) and dozens of sound stages, each with its own history. The tour, which lasted nearly six hours, covered everything from the tenements used in old Warners films noir (“Hennesy Street”) to the present-day town of Stars Hollow, home to the Gilmore Girls (and also the county seat of Hazzard County from The Dukes of Hazzard). One of the most fascinating aspects of the tour was finding out the pedigree of each part of the backlot: the building that is currently a town hall in The Gilmore Girls was the Hazzard County Courthouse and the police station in East of Eden. We went from soundstage to backlot to wood shop and even to the vaults where their distribution prints are kept. By the end, I was on information overload, and much of what we saw had to do with shows we don’t watch, like Without a Trace and Cold Case, but we also got to see a lot of familiar and interesting places.



Halfway through the tour, given of course by an aspiring actor who also does tours, we ate a surprisingly good meal at the commissary, and looked around for the “stars” we were supposedly dining with; we didn’t see anyone. One of the most interesting behind the scenes detours we took was to a foley studio, where we spent a few minutes talking to John, a legendary foley artist who showed us some of the tips and techniques he used to create from scratch every sound needed in a film. Water, dirt, shoes, ceramics, glass, musical instruments, all in little piles and drawers all over the room. It looked like a lot of fun and a big challenge.

We saw everything from the showroom of furniture that set decorators can choose from (the couches from The Island over there, some chairs from Ocean’s 13 here, and the desk from The West Wing in the back) to the set of “Friends,” removed from its original soundstage and placed out of the way so as not to be disturbed, but available for tours filled with people who all seemed to be fans. The whole experience was a lot of fun, and gave us a new angle from which to watch the films and shows produced there every day.