Anyway, it's the generous tax breaks the local government gives to people who make the drive from LA, so you can imagine how excited I was when two film shoots were scheduled in and around the Westin Hotel, which you can see from one side of our apartment.
Disappointingly, the first seemed to be an advert for Westin Hotels, so no point in getting my paparazzi lens out. But today they were filming for the telly series Rogue. You've never heard of it? Well, it's about Grace, a morally and emotionally-conflicted undercover detective, who is tormented by the possibility that her own actions contributed to her son's mysterious death. As Grace struggles to become the wife and mother her family now needs, her life is further complicated by a forbidden relationship with crime boss Jimmy Laszlo. In order to stay alive, Grace needs to help Jimmy find the traitor in his midst, while knowing he may have played a part in her tragedy. Thank you Google.
Aside from war and cricket, film making involves the most standing around of any profession. That was obviously said by someone who knew nothing about cricket, but watching large numbers of people hang about in pouring rain, outside a hotel that was still trying to operate as a hotel, did not seem as glamorous as a red carpet at the Oscars had led me to believe.
Did I see anyone famous? I'm not sure. Thandie Newton, star of Mission: Impossible II and The Chronicles of Riddick is meant to be in it, as is Marton Csokas and he was in The Lord of the Rings. Actually Ian Hart, one of my favourite British actors ever, was in a few episodes, but watching everyone wait around for a few moments of action - an actor pulling a suitcase up to the hotel doors - and seeing that repeated several times got boring surprisingly quickly. Maybe when they make Scooby-Doo 3 things will be more impressive.
LA or Vancouver? Hmmm.
Lights, camera...hang on...wait...hang on...
Possibly a famous actor. He was the one pulling the case.
More people sitting.
Is that Thandie Newton? Probably not.
Extras.
Another camera filming something.
And that's what Pete thinks of it all.
