Meegan Tells About Her Day on the Set of Bones

A few days ago, fabulous Bones fan Meegan McCauley let me know that she was about to do her walk-on part for Bones. Well, I’m thrilled to tell you that she sent me this really terrific account of her experience. She also sent a photo of her with Emily Deschanel so we will know it’s her when we see her on the show!

[Photo: courtesy of Meegan McCauley]

I could be jealous, but remember, she paid a good amount to get this opportunity, so she absolutely deserves it!! Here’s how things went for her:

The episode I’m in is “The Princess and the Pear.” The scene is a “comicon” type of thing called “Imagicon” for the show. It’s a convention for comic book, superhero, Medieval fans. I didn’t get to dress up in an actual costume since it was kind last minute that I switched to Friday. So, I just wore bright colors. When the episode airs, you’ll be able to see me and I’m wearing a purple glittery jacket over a pink shimmery top. It’s actually kinda funny ‘cuz I totally matched the curtains they had up.

(click on “Read More” for the rest of Meegan’s story)

Okay, so I got to set around 8:45am. It was about a 45 minute drive. They had rented out this old furniture place and I entered the set on my quest to find “Corey.” Found him right away and he got me all situated with the first scene. There were approximately 150 background actors working and I was thrown right into the thick of things. I also met up with “Ruthie” and she showed me where I was supposed to cross and walk and everything. This particular scene was with Emily and Marisa Coughlan. They were both there when I got there. Actually, Emily walked onto set right after I did. I missed her by about 10 seconds.

So, we had a couple of rehearsals, made adjustments and then we did about, oh, 6 or so takes. Then all the background people went back to “holding.” Corey came and found me and asked me if I needed anything, coffee, tea, water, soda. He told me he makes a “mean tea,” which I had never heard anyone say, so I went with it. He brought me back this amazing cup of piping hot green tea infused with fruit and honey. Yeah, I got “star” treatment and I think quite a few of the other background actors were wondering what on earth was going on. He also told me that I would get a chance to meet Emily at some point because she knew I would be there and she always likes to meet “guests.” So, that got me psyched for a while.

So, we chilled in holding for about 5 minutes and then they were ready to go with another scene. So, Ruthie picked and chose and placed all of us, gave us our actions. We had a couple of rehearsals and then did about 10 takes. In between takes, Corey introduced me to Emily and to Marisa (pronounced “MarEEsa”). Emily said, “Hi, oh I’ve met you!” and after shaking my hand, she gave me a big hug. For those of you who don’t know, I met her last year when she performed in “The Strike Show,” which benefited the writers during the strike. I was out in L.A. looking at apartments and I went to check it out. We talked for like half a minute ‘cuz we had to “reset” the scene and do more takes. I did get to talk to her again for a minute or so in between takes (I was positioned right in front of her and Marisa before they enter the scene, so we were fairly close together). We talked about her cousin (who is a family friend of mine) and how her husband just died. Sad topic, but common ground, I guess.

For the rest of the day, I “worked” with Emily and Marisa, but I didn’t talk to either of them during that time. We did 1 more scene (well, it’s all part of 1 continuous scene, but it’s broken up into 3 parts) and that took A WHILE. Background people knocked over props a few times, a bunch of people were whispering in the background instead of pantomiming; it was just kind of tedious. But, approximately 12 takes later, we were done. We had had an hour break for lunch and by this time, it was around 5pm.

I had a new cup of tea awaiting me in holding (courtesy of the fabulous Corey) and I got to talking to this one guy who has been doing the acting thing for 8 years. I think I literally sat there for over an hour ‘cuz they only needed certain background players for the final few shots and I wasn’t one of them. That was all well and good because the really great part of the experience came after all the background people had left and I got to watch the final scene being filmed.

All of the background people were in the process of leaving and Corey came and found me and said, “Alright, what do you want to do next?” I told him I would love to watch some more filming and he said, “great!” and told me to talk to Ruthie and he’d see me in a little bit. I had to sign a photo release form (not exactly sure why), but I gave that to Ruthie and asked her exactly where I was supposed to go. She was so nice and she said, “Oh, they’re setting up over there, go ahead!” and she kinda pointed. I felt a little awkward walking around since I wasn’t really a part of anything. But everyone was really nice.

I chilled for about 20 minutes and watched them set up the next scene, which is just with Emily and Marisa. The stand-ins sat where Emily and Marisa were going to sit so they could get the lighting and everything just right. Behind the wall of the “room” they had “built” (basically, a makeshift wall and some curtains) were about 4 director’s chairs and 2 screens for the director to watch. I stood against a brick wall and just watched. Like I said, I felt really awkward. But then a lady walked by me and asked if I was having a good time. I hadn’t seen her before, but I guess she knew who I was. So, that kinda eased my mind. At some point during those 20 minutes, Marisa walked up and sat in one of the chairs and she talked to the director for a few minutes. I kept thinking, “I wonder where Emily is.” After a few more minutes, Marisa got up and headed to the “room.” Emily appeared to my right and walked through the curtains to take her spot on the couch for the scene.

A minute later, Corey found me and grabbed me a director’s chair of my own and set it down right behind where the director and someone else were sitting. At the time, I didn’t know he was the director. Then, Corey introduced me to the director, Steven DePaul. He apparently hadn’t been informed that “the auction winner” was on set and he suddenly became quite concerned over whether or not they had gotten me in a shot or not. Corey assured him that they did. He was really nice. I sat in the chair and talked to him for a minute. My chair was also positioned directly in front of another chair…a chair that read “Emily Deschanel” on it. THAT part thrilled me a bit, but then I got worried that I would be in her way when she came to sit down, so I tried to move the chair and I commented to Steven that I was worried about being in the way and he said that I was fine. Then, Corey offered me another tea and I don’t know why, but I declined. Stupid me, it was really good tea! He then brought me a headset so I could listen since we were in fact sitting behind a wall and Emily and Marisa were on the other side. It was weird ‘cuz it was also open on one side.

Anyway, a few seconds later and they were ready to go. Emily and Marisa rehearsed a couple of times and then they did about 3 takes. At one point, someone had to fix Emily’s “wild hair” as they called it. She had some strands out of place on her left shoulder.

The scene they filmed is interesting ‘cuz Brennan and Perotta are watching a screen while there is an auction going on within the convention. They weren’t filming the auction part of the scene. Sweets is in that scene and it was being filmed today. So, the editors will be doing a lot of work. There were people off screen reading the auctioneer’s lines and Sweets’ lines, which obviously get edited in later. It was SO much fun to watch and it made me want to be filming too!

When they were finished filming the scene, they took a break to reset the cameras so they could get different angles. While they did that, Marisa walked to her chair and on the way, she smacked my leg and said, “you’re still here, I’m impressed!” and smiled. It had been a long day. I told her, “Of course I am!” and we talked for a minute and the director said, “It beats sitting on the 5,” meaning Interstate 5 to which I responded, “That’s for sure.” Marisa then walked off to get dinner (which was a taco bar). One of the assistants let me know about the taco bar and told me to go get some food if I wanted. For some reason, I wasn’t hungry. I hadn’t eaten much at lunch either. Probably excitement.

I was messing with my phone when Emily walked up behind me. It was strange ‘cuz I knew she was there, but I didn’t know if I should turn around and say something and I thought she might say something. Then she started talking to someone else, so I decided not to say anything. Then, I don’t really know how it started, but she stopped talking and I figured the other person had walked off.

She sat in her chair and I think I turned around, I’m not really sure, I actually don’t really remember. No wait! I think she said something first and then I turned around. She was asking about her cousin, I think. So, the two of us sat and chatted about mostly me at first. She asked if I was liking being back in Colorado after I explained to her that my husband and I had moved to L.A. earlier in the year. We talked about all sorts of things from health issues to food to family.

After a few minutes, this guy came up to her and told her she could have these flowers that apparently had been used for something during filming, not sure what. They were roses and baby’s breath. She thanked him. After 5 or 10 minutes, Marisa returned and sat in the chair that said “Cast.” She had a plate of food and sat to eat, commenting that she didn’t know how she was going to eat without getting food all over her. She had a tamale. That’s how we got on the food subject. Marisa mentioned that she loves tamales and she was attempting to unwrap it and said to Emily, “you probably can’t have this.” Emily said that there was milk in it, so no, she couldn’t eat it. Then she thought it was funny that the catering company had made it like that when they know she can’t eat it. She was NOT complaining, she just thought it was funny.

Somehow, I got to the point that I had become a vegetarian but that I had added chicken and fish back in because my naturopath told me I needed more protein. She asked me if I was feeling any better since I started adding it back in and I thought about it and realized that, no, no I wasn’t. I told her and she said, “Exactly.” She told me that ethically, the best thing to eat is naturally raised beef. Chicken is actually not that good. After our conversation, I am back to being a vegetarian…FOR GOOD. I actually forgot to tell her that I had been in the hospital twice since I added meat back in. I’ve had stomach problems, so who knows, maybe that’s a reason. I’m sorry I didn’t mention it, she could have shed some light on the issue.

So, us girls sat and chatted for about 25 minutes or so. Marisa asked me about the auction and where it had been and I said “ebay.” She then commented that it was interesting ‘cuz “you two know each other, too.” Emily then launched into the explanation of how we “know” each other. I can’t even remember everything we talked about, but it didn’t even matter what we talked about ‘cuz it was just all so chill and natural. She was incredibly down to earth. We could have been sitting at a restaurant or at a park or whatever…it could have been anywhere, it wasn’t even like she was “at work.” It was great and she was so nice. I could tell she was tired, though, and she was a lot more “mellow” than she had been earlier in the day.

After about half an hour, the girls had to go film the scene again.

The rest of the filming took about 20 minutes and that was a wrap for the day. I lingered in hopes of getting a picture with Emily. I thought it would be cool to get one with Marisa, too, but she took off right after the end of filming. Someone asked to talk to Emily and she went and talked to him. In the meantime, I gave my headset back to one of the production assistants and got my camera out of its case. After a minute or so Emily finished talking with the guy and headed back to her chair to get her coat and things. I asked her then if she would mind getting a picture. She didn’t mind at all. We had to find someone to take it and the director, Steven, ended up doing it. We had some tehnical difficulties and the camera didn’t work at first. Emily tried to help and I realized that it was on “movie.” So, I actually ended up getting 2 separate 3-second videos. Then, he got 2 pictures of us.

After the photo, she grabbed her things and we talked and we just kinda ended up walking out together. We talked about our families for the duration of the walk and then she reached her trailer and we said goodbye. She said, “it was great to see you again” and smiled and waved.

And that was it!!! A fabulous end to a fabulous day! Everyone was SO nice and it wasn’t just ‘cuz I was “special.” The “Bones” crew and producers are a real class act. From the way they treated us to the food they fed us to the thanks they gave us for doing such a good job…everything was CLASSY. All the way down to Emily herself. Complete…and…total…CLASS. That’s how I can sum it up. I don’t even know how to compare it, but it was a world of difference from “Boston Legal.” They didn’t treat the background people very well and the food was terrible and it just wasn’t fun. THIS…was fun. And like I said, it wasn’t just because I was the auction winner. Of course it was even better later on after the background stuff was done, but I still had a great time just doing background.

I don’t really know how to thank everyone on the set, but I’m gonna try ‘cuz they were amazing.

Thanks so much to Meegan for sharing her story with us and now we can watch the episode, knowing a bit about how some of it was filmed.