i live in a neighborhood full o' celebrities. these stars o' the sceens you have to buy a ticket to view as well as those you just plop down in front of aren't of the human nature - though there's plenty o' those poked here 'n there...the fabulously famous i'm talkin' about are the houses that those with the speakin' parts pretend to live in.
right around us are some you might be familiar with....the house behind ours was home to jed clampett 'n granny in the movie version o' the beverly hillbillies...on the other side o' the street from it was where the fresh prince lived when he left philly... down my street a bit is where that handsome guy from madmen pretends to live....not too far from it is my favorite - the house that starred with steve martin - twice - in those father o' the bride movies.
seems not a week goes by that there isn't a slew o' trucks and a swarm o' headset wearin' workers in somebody's driveway. often while takin' the lil white prancin' pups for a parade to be petted by everyone we encounter i'll realize a house on our route is one i have recently seen in a commercial.
personally, i'm not a big fan o' livin' in a neighborhood of homes that have their own agents. luckily, with one exception, our neighborhood consists o' like minded home owners who may allow their residence to do a lil actin' once or twice a year, make a point o' followin' all the strict rules for doin' so and donate a bit o' their earnings to a cause their neighbors support.
that one exception is a couple o' doors down from us...these people use their house as a main source o' income...their downstairs is kept just about empty to accommodate whoever might wanna pay the fee to shoot a commercial there. before mini's daddy started payin' attention to what they were up to they violated just about every rule and paid no attention to the limited number o' days one house is allowed to 'act' in a year.
since our home had a major role in an academy award winnin' movie in the early seventies - a movie on the list of the best 25 ever made - we have gotten requests from location companies since the day we moved in. right away i announced we were NEVER going to let anyone use our home for a shoot. but mini and jo have always wanted to do so....mini's daddy only if it was for whatever his favorite tv show was at the time. finally i told the three of 'em that we could do it once but that only the outside was available...that the inside was off limits. years have passed and there have been many requests but none for just outside.
FINALLY...around the time i tumbled down the back staircase - a request was made to use JUST the pool and back yard. i don't recall anyone askin' OR tellin' me but all three say they did both. the shoot was for a new show called rizzoli & isles with angie harmon. here are a few pictures mini's daddy snapped. as you can see, the rule was bent just a wee bit so that angie could sit inside. we locked jo in her trailer so she could watch from the window but not attempt to be in front o' the camera. she, mini and mini's daddy are still fightin' over who gets the majority o' the ridiculous amount o' money paid for a day's use of a backyard 'n pool. once i found out what the current rate was, i understood a bit more why that family a coupla' doors down was so upset when they found out their house's unlimited actin' days were over.
i do so hope you are enjoyin' your summer. i plan to enjoy every remainin' second....as soon as i finish puttin' all these doo dads away in their new home. i've got one big box o' miscellaneous 'crap' left but it seems to be bottomless. i must admit - the stuff in it is lookin' less 'n less necessary to my existence.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxmo
