What did the soundstage look like ?
ou came into the Burbank Studios through the
Olive Avenue gate. Of course, you
didn't get in without an appointment! Then, once you found a place to park, (which was nearly
impossible), the H2H soundstage was the second
one on the right past the Employment office. You went through a
small door next to the two huge loading
doors. To the immediate right was the bathrooms, to the immediate left, the craft service table
( for coffee/tea/bagels). Beyond this
table, staying to the left was the front of the Hart's house, and front
door. To the rear of that set was the
crate where Freeway stayed when not
needed. To the right, you first see the makeup/hair dressing area.
I think there were 3 or 4 stations with
chairs and mirrors, like a beauty parlour. There was a
"hallway" set right around that area, but I cannot remember to what side. If you continued on past
the makeup area, you came to the actual
Hart house interior. The kitchen door on the show, actually leads
to the kitchen. The stairs don't go
anyplace. The Hart's driveway and front gate were on the lot.
As
far as exterior locations, many of the sets were existing ones on the lots at either Fox or Burbank, depending where
the company was at that time. (You
are aware that everyone from Fox was basically fired and a whole new
staff came on at Burbank).
When I was on the set at the studio, I would wander around into the kitchen, or around the back of the set to the outdoor patio. When shots were being set up, I would usually sit on the fireplace hearth, or I would hang out in the makeup area with Donna Turner. Did you know the paintings in the living room were done by one of the crew members? (Except the Van Gogh).
Generally the crew show up around 6-7 a.m.
The first shot of the day is set up,
any construction changes/additions/painting
etc. are done. The actors show up depending on how many scenes
they are in and when they are scheduled
to be shot. Nothing is usually shot in the order you see it on screen. So, sometimes RJ
was there alone, or Stef, or both, or
neither .
Most of the time Stef or RJ would just
do small-talk with the crew, sometime s
an occasional visitor on the set would be
allowed an autograph, but generally it was just a lot of waiting
around, doing the shot, waiting
around. Usually shooting a series is REALLY boring. RJ had this
kind of "in" thing he used to
do. If someone blew a line, or the dog screwed up, he would say, "Dammit Stander, (or whoever was the cause of the
mess up)...can we just get this over
with?" But he said it in a fun-loving way.
Anyway,
I remember when they were filming a scene with Freeway and Max, and the dog kept messing up, and RJ was
getting a little impatient, but he kept
saying, "Come on Stander...or come on Max....can we just get this over with?" Finally, when the dog
did his bit right, Lionel messed up. And
I think RJ said something like, "At least it wasn't the
dog!"
It
took a year to a year and a half to develop a script. Someone on the writing
staff came up with and idea, or an actor came in with an idea, or they hired a non-union writer and took their idea. My idea was:
"The Harts must steal something and then put it back".
Then, we took that one idea, and wrote an
outline or treatment. It's like a novel, but very short and to the point. Then, a first draft script is
written. If the show has a lot of
writers on staff, then there are meetings where the development of the
script is discussed. In this
case, writers who were not staff, were assigned a staff writer. In my case
I was hired by Bill And Jo Lamond, and was handed over to Tom Swale and Duane Poole. They wrote as a
team.
Here are some scans from Lisa's
treatment
"A Lion-Harted caper" which became " In the Hart of the
night"
Click on photo to go to full size
Click on photo to go to full size
Click on photo to go to full size