Tuesday, August 22nd, 2000 is a day I won't soon forget. Not only was I on the set of my favorite show, Dawson's Creek, but I was cast as an extra. Okay, so I wasn't really "cast"; my friend called the day to say they needed people, so we went in the day.
Our "call" time was 12:00 p.m. When we showed up at Screen Gems, we were checked in at the gate and told to go into the commissary/cafeteria to wait. While we waited, we filled out our pay stubs (I got my check Monday), they filled us in on the rules (no autographs, no picture taking, no talking to the cast), the wardrobe girl came around and checked our clothes (she was kinda bitchy), and then the PA Kurt told us about the scenes they were going to be shooting.
After that administrative stuff was done, we followed Kurt to the soundstage. He took us into Capeside High's Cafeteria, which is where we were supposed to wait while we weren't on camera, and we sat there for a few minutes.
The two scenes: One involved Dawson, Joey, and the new guy, Drew. It was in their English class. Unfortunately, I wasn't cast to be in that scene, but my two friends were...yes, I was pissed off. So I sat around with the rest of the losers who weren't picked and waited. For almost three hours. It was boring, but I still thought it was cool, because how many people get the chance to be extras on their favorite show? So I just sucked it up and sat there.
But just because I wasn't in the scene doesn't mean I was clueless. I have ears, and my two friends informed me of what happened.
BEWARE: SPOILERS. Don't read this part if you don't want to know what's going to happen on the show
Basically, the gist is that they are discussing the Shakespeare play "Two Gentlemen of Verona." And because the writers of Dawson's Creek can't leave well enough alone, the play (of course) mirrors the Dawson/Joey/Pacey triangle. And as per usual, Dawson and Joey see the main character's actions in two different ways. Dawson sympathizes with Valentine because he feels he is Valentine. Joey doesn't agree with Dawson's point of view. So, for some reason, Drew suggests that Dawson and Joey head a debate about the play in class...or something stupid like that. And Drew says something rude to Joey when she gets mad at him for doing what he did, blah blah blah.
An Extra's Shooting Diary
“ James seemed really sweet, but they really need to do something with his hair. ”
Okay, enough of that -- let's get to the good scene...the scene I was in. The Pacey/Joey/Jen scene! When they were briefing us earlier in the day, I was praying that I would be in a scene with Josh, and my prayers were answered! I was a happy camper. I know, I know, get on with it. So, they bring us around like cattle through the studio and we end up in Capeside High's infamous main hallway. I was looking around and laughing. It's been quite a while since I graduated high school and I was having nightmarish flashbacks while looking at the lockers. The PAs set us up in the hallway and they tell us where to go for our first shot. They had me all the way towards the back of the hall by the doors (and the fake sun -- which by the way is really hot!). So the PA says to me and the girl to my right, "You guys are going to walk all the way down the hall to the alcove on the left." So we nod our heads like good little extras and wait along with the rest of the extras for our cue.
We walk down the hall pantomiming (because you are not supposed to hear the extras) and go into the alcove. When we turn to face the hallway to wait for our cue and I look to my right, Joshua Jackson is literally less than three feet from me. I was like, "Woo hoo! I like being an extra!" He and Michelle were waiting for their cue to enter the scene.
MORE SPOILERS Hallway scene: Pacey gets an A on an English paper, which is a good thing, because we will find out in another episode that he is failing out of school. He is totally jazzed and wants to celebrate. Joey says she can't. I think she has to work. So Jen volunteers to be his date. She says not to expect any making out. And that's all I really heard. So this scene sets us up for the sinking of the "True Love," and it explains why Pacey and Jen will be on the boat and not Pacey and Joey, but it doesn't explain how or why Dawson and Joey are the ones who end up saving Pacey and Jen.
It took close to two hours to do that hallway scene. I walked down that hallway at least twenty times, and I was sweating like a hooker in confession by the end of the shoot.
Now I know you guys want behind-the-scenes scoop, so here goes...Josh and Katie were fighting about the Olympics. Yeah, I know. I don't know why either. But it was funny, and you can tell they get along really well. Michelle seems really sweet and very shy. I was standing in her way, and she said "excuse me" so quietly I almost didn't hear her. Kerr wasn't in either scene, but he was there on the set, looking extremely sexy in a blue wifebeater. Josh was saying that Kerr was "damn sexy" in Fat Bastard's accent. Josh is a nut. He is constantly talking, singing, moving, et cetera. The director had to talk to him like he was a six-year-old. A couple of times, they couldn't find him; Lord knows what the heck he was doing. Katie never smiled unless it was for the scene, but from what my friend who was in the classroom scene said, Katie wasn't really "there" that day, and I can understand that. Sometimes a person has a bad day. James seemed really sweet, but they really need to do something with his hair. Meredith, who also wasn't in the two scenes, was there too, and she seems like such a sweetheart.