Any resemblance between Monday morning’s action at the Times Colonist building and life at a major metropolitan California daily’s newsroom wasn’t purely coincidental.
It was bright lights, big city for a few hours as the newsroom for Victoria’s daily newspaper masqueraded as the fictional San Francisco Globe for scenes being featured in the Fox series Gracepoint.
“Everybody’s on the move, it’s all hustle … busy, busy, busy,” Jason Furukawa instructed dozens of background performers, including 10 Times Colonist staffers. The dynamic first assistant director was setting the tone for scenes in which actress Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield) is featured as Renee Clemons, an ambitious reporter pursuing a story about an 11-year-old boy’s murder in the coastal California town of the title.
Time after time, background performers walked through the newsroom on cue, or appeared to be tapping out stories, huddling with fellow reporters, calling sources and comparing notes.
The fascination factor was high. Between cast, crew, background performers and reporters, many getting a first-time taste of the “hurry up and wait” world of film and TV production, there were three times as many bodies as usual in the newsroom. Mobile work trucks, giant lights and filters, dolly tracks, two large Arriflex digital cameras, and cables snaking through the brightly lit newsroom, hotter than usual since its ventilation was temporarily shutdown for noise abatement, were clear evidence the 10-episode crime series inspired by Broadchurch was shooting here.
Other telltale signs included a giant San Francisco Globe banner, framed photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, removal of Tim Hortons cups and increased ethnic diversity reflecting the U.S. locale.
Extras portraying reporters wore laminated San Francisco Globe lanyards, corporate labels were obscured and props workers handed out logo-free pens.
After wondering aloud if the newsroom was always this busy, Lucas laughed when told it wasn’t nearly as action-packed when she wasn’t around.
“This will look like every American’s fantasy of what a newsroom should look like,” explained Carolyn G. Bernstein, executive vice-president in charge of scripted television for Shine America, the Los Angeles-based company producing the series starring David Tennant (Doctor Who).
“It may not reflect exactly the budget cuts that have been going on at newspapers all across the country, but it does feel like wish-fulfilment of what we all imagine a newsroom should be.”
The location shoot took weeks of pre-planning, including tech surveys and visits by the art department, before director James Strong started rolling Monday. Locations and set decoration personnel arrived at 4:30 a.m., with dozens of extras shuttled from a holding area within two hours after clearing hair, makeup and wardrobe. Filming of four scenes wrapped by 10:30 a.m.
Victoria filmmaker Denver Jackson, 27, persuaded to participate by his sister Tessa, 21, was among familiar faces posing as San Francisco reporters.
“Being an extra is fun because I’m not thinking as much as when I’m a filmmaker, always having to have all the answers,” he said. “It’s kind of relaxing. It’s almost like taking a break, on a film set.”
Times Colonist editor-in-chief Dave Obee, who appeared on camera himself, said while you’ll more likely see people quietly working the phones than constantly moving about in a typical newsroom, he enjoyed the “adrenaline rush” the bustling depiction provided.
“It was amazing seeing the newsroom buzz with activity like that,” said Obee, impressed by the crew’s efficiency and how they removed their “mini-studio” in minutes.
Crews seemed as fascinated with a newspaper’s inner workings, even if some jokingly admitted they didn’t know the first thing about the newspaper business.
“What do you guys actually do here?” joked Furukawa while orchestrating bits of business. “Do you play a lot of solitaire?”
Despite some disruptions, Obee welcomed the opportunity to be part of the big-budget crime series shooting here for several months.
“We really want Gracepoint to be a big success because it will put us on the map as a major film location,” he said.
“This is as important to us as The X-Files was to Vancouver.”