Last night I finished my 4 day job as a background actor on the set of Boston Legal at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, CA . (That's right, Boston Legal is shot in the L.A. area as are a number of other eastern series, e.g. CSI Miami and CSI New York). Since I now have my SAG card, I was able to be assigned the role of a juror and ended up in the #2 seat in the jury box. Next to me was the jury foreperson, Jennifer Williams, a delightful actress with whom I was able to share some wonderful conversation between takes on the set.
One of the exciting aspects of the week was the opportunity to watch William Shatner (Denny Crane) and James Spader (Alan Shore) display their "lawyer skills" in the courtroom. As it turned out, Shatner only questioned one witness. The rest of the time Spader was doing the questioning and the closing argument. As I write this, I know that I am putting it forth as a real courtroom which obviously is not. But from the vantage point of the jury box, the experience of the last 4 days was, as Jennifer Williams suggested, taking a master class in acting on camera. And it was a phenomenal experience.
The lasting memory I will have of this past week was watching James Spader working. And doing so from an up-close vantage point. Yes, Jennifer, it was a master class and The Ancient One learned a lot while sitting on that TV jury.
The title of this episode is "True Love" and, I believe, it will be aired Monday, October 13 at 10:00 p.m. on ABC.
This was likely the last time The Ancient One will work on Boston Legal. Apparently ABC only renewed the series for ½ of the season. "Jury members" usually can't return for about 3 months and the word on the set was that shooting of this quality show will wrap in mid-November. I will miss Boston Legal! I will miss working on this show which has been my favorite since I started doing background acting work 2 years ago.
4 comments:
Wow, that must have been a cool experience. I haven't watched Boston Legal but I'll try to catch this episode.
great fun, sugar! it's funny how l.a. kids look at tv & movies - no pretense, it's work that sometimes has some fun moments. i don't miss it at all! xox ;-)
(thanks for the add to your blogroll!)
I've marked my calendar - October 13, 10:00 ABC!!
I'm glad that I looked in on you tonight and found out about your experience on Boston Legal!!
What a great time you had!!!
Thanks for the comments CHARLES, SAVANNAH and MILLIE. Just look for the white-haired Juror #2. Who knows? I might get 2-3 seconds of air time. And it was great fun! :~D
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