After meeting Shantel, we went for lunch, generally hung out with Lisa, her son Grayson & her friend Josh. Then she dropped us back at the hotel, kept in touch, cause on Tuesday, we're going to try to meet Antwon Tanner (he played Skills), Lee Norris (he played Mouth), Sophia Busy (how can you not know Brooke Davis :P ) & Austin Nichols (Julian Baker).
A friend on the inside told Lisa that they would be filming at the River Court on Tuesday morning. I told Lisa that I will meet her there, but then suggested that she better pick me up downtown, just in case there is no boat around that time shuttling people from the downtown area to the River Court. Lisa picked my mum and I up & we were on our way to watch some filming!
Lee Norris & Antwon getting ready for a scene
They only put up the backboards when they are filming, so other people can't play when they
need to use the court. The WB was renting this basketball court from the battle ship.
DUN DUN DUN, TRAILERS! No we didn't go near it, so we don't know who was inside.
We did see the guy who played Xavier.
And, they tore down the river court after One Tree Hill finished filming. -_-
Antwon Tanner!
They would not let us take a photo with Lee, cause he had make up & a fat suit on. Basically, they didn't spoilers. pfft. However, there was a guy who was taking pictures. Not sure if he got into trouble or not. Oh well. So after we were done with the river court, we went to the area near Tric, to get a glimpse of Sophia Bush. We waited 3 hours and it was worth it.
Sophia Bush! Who then gave me a high five when I told her that it took me 24 hours in total
to get to Wilmington, NC.
Austin didn't come out to see us :(
After that, we went for lunch at the Dixie Grill, where a lot of scenes with Austin Nichols were shot here. The food was good! I will go back when I can, with my own money, to do an actual tour of OTH, with the houses and all. In the next 5 years hopefully, for my own closure :P
Once we were done with lunch, we tried waiting for Bethany Joy Lenz & Paul Johansson. I think they told us to move back a bit/ filming might take longer, so we didn't get to see them.
All in all, it was a good experience. Here are my tips if you plan on visiting a place, just to watch your favourite show film.
- Do your research on the place you plan to visit. Find out all the locations you want to go to & if you can get to them easily.
- Dedicated fan forums usually have someone list out if they are filming in a certain location, so be sure to check those out. If you have someone on the inside, even better :P
- If you can make a friend, like how I was able to, you're good to go. Plus, it will be a friend a for life ;)
- Last but not least, check your photo's to make sure that you have taken a good photo. The last thing you need is a blurry/out of focus picture, that you can't brag about.
5 days in Wilmington was certainly not enough, which is why I went back in 2013, in the hopes of going to see some of the house & to catch up with Lisa & Kendall. More on that in the upcoming blog posts.
