|
On August 26, 2006, Boston Legal Forum member
"Crabby" visited the sound stages of Boston Legal at
Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach, California. She was invited by
Daniel Schultz, Board member of the
The
Set Decorators Society of America. Boston Legal Art Director
Mary Ann Biddle led the tour, providing colorful commentary on many
aspects of the production of Boston Legal. Crabby drew the layout of
sound stages 21, 22 and 25 and detailed what comprised each set and
other interesting observations she noted from her day on the set.
>>
Click for set tour discussion in our forum.
“Boston Legal” – Bldg. No. 1A STAGE 21
Figure 1 – Elevators
Figure 2 – Lobby; “Crane, Poole, and Schmidt” logo is on right
wall; stairwell leading to nowhere is at the end.
Figure 3 – Season 1- 2.5: Tara Wilson’s office Season 2.5:
Rotated office between Garrett and Sara; Squid’s office Season 3:
Claire’s new office
Figure 4 – Conference Room; podium is on upper left corner, shelf
with coffee and water is on lower left; small table is in lower bottom.
Right glass wall cantilevers on gimbles to allow cameras to get in.
Figure 5 – Kitchen; sink and major appliances on right; seating
on left
Figure 6 - Shirley Schmidt and/or Paul Lewiston office. Depending
on scene needed, the office is re-dressed. Paul’s desk is situated
horizontal in the upper half of the room, while Shirley’s desk is as
shown. Green indicates couch placement with end tables. A flat screen TV
is in upper right.
Figure 7 – Secretarial Pool/Law Library; where Melissa Hughes
sits and Brad and Denise flirt. A computer is at each desk and a
bookcase and file cabinets are in lower half of the room.
Figure 8 – Denny Crane’s inner sanctum; desk is in lower half
with bookcase and cabinet. Couch is located in upper right.
Figure 9 – Denny’s balcony. ‘nuff said.
Figure 10 – Alan Shore’s austere office. Two couches. No
diplomas. One wine fridge is in the lower right corner.
Figure 11 – Brad Chase and/or Denise Bauer office; like Schmidt
and Lewiston, room is re-dressed depending on scene needed. Denise’s
desk is horizontal at the center of the room, whereas Brad’s office is
as shown with one table behind the desk and a couch on the far right.
Figure 12 – Coho’s new office is under construction.
Stage 21 Walking Tour of the Crane, Poole, and Schmidt Law Firm set
by Crabby
Upon entering the soundstage, a real (not part of the set) craft
services line is seen before entering the enclosed set. Up on the walls
are various joke signs like “Happy 75th Birthday, Denny! from Shirley
Schmidt” and “Sushi compliments of Adam Arkin.”
We enter the hallway towards Coho’s new office under construction
(Fig. 12) and turn right into the lobby and elevator areas (Fig.
1, 2). A reception desk is on the left while a waiting area is set
up on the right. At the end of the lobby is a stairwell where a certain
paralegal flirts with employees while Brad looks on with regret.
We turn left to see the Kitchen (Fig. 5) on the left, where
Denise “accidentally” shoved Squid’s Blackberry into the waste basket.
Speaking of Squid, her office (Fig. 3) is on the right. Marlene
Stanger’s name is still on the door. They haven’t personalized the room
for Claire yet. Continuing down the left is the massive conference
room (Fig. 4) where all the major deals are made and Alan Shore can
repeatedly say the word, “lesbian” to make Brad uncomfortable.
We backtrack to find the secretarial pool/law library on the right
(Fig. 7). Depending on the scene needed, the desks can be replaced
with bookshelves to hide Brad and Denise’s flirtations. At the moment it
is a secretarial pool, intimating that Melissa will be in a scene.
On our left is Shirley Schmidt’s office (Fig. 6), only because
it’s decorated with Asian-inspired décor. On the bottom right corner is
a cabinet with bourbon glasses and an interesting collection of Chinese
zodiac sculpture blocks topped with pewter heads. Each head resembles
the Year of the Rat, Year of the Ox, etc. She loves orchids, which are
everywhere. A picture of a Labrador is on the left side table near the
couch. The diplomas in Shirley’s office are Harvard law degree of “Juris
Doctor,” given June 10, 1970; Wellesley School of Letters and Science of
“Bachelors of Science degree in Political Science,” given June 9, 1966;
and a United States District Court Federal Bar Association “Litigator of
the Year Award,” given August 1, 1982. There’s a (joke?) award on the
shelf above the zodiac animals called “The Doctors Award” for
Transgender Surgery Excellence to a “Doctor Mercer.” (Maybe it’s for
“The New Kid on the Block” episode?) When a Paul Lewiston scene is
called for, the desk is rotated and put in the upper half of the room in
front of the large window. I’m not sure about his décor style.
The great “Dennis” Crane occupies Fig. 8-9, with 8 being his office
and 9 being his balcony. On the upper left cabinet next to the
scotch glasses and stirrers, lies a clock gift with the inscription “Man
of the Year, Dennis Crane” given by the Downtown Boston Business
Association. He’s got a medal with a crocodile framed picture of himself
on the other side, but my picture is unreadable. Denny received his
Harvard Law degree of “Juris Doctor – Cum Laude” on May 21, 1971. He
also received his Bachelor of Sciences of Political Science degree from
Harvard on June 23, 1967. He was licensed to practice law by the Supreme
Court of Massachusetts on May 30, 1975. whew. I think I just crossed my
eyes looking at all that. But we’re not done.
Now we’re off to the workplace hermitage of Alan Shore (Fig. 10),
an “austere” room that
Mary Ann Biddle, the art director of BL, says
James Spader has final input on at all times. She says he prefers it to
be minimalist with no diplomas of any kind or wall hangings except for
the picture the young girl in “Smile” did, hanging in the bottom right
corner over the refrigerated wine cellar (in purple). The glass tabletop
is immaculate, with no missing shards (sorry drsheri). I looked for
silicon dust, but no luck.
Look, Dana! Here we are at Brad Chase’s office (Fig. 11) as is.
Not only do they share bodily fluids, Brad and Denise share this room
during filming depending on the scene. Right now, it belongs to Captain
Handsome. His diplomas are on the top left wall near his desk. Like it’s
been shown in the message boards before, Brad Chase got his Dartmouth
Law degree of “Juris Doctor” on June 9, 1997. Now here’s something of
interest: he also got his Bachelor of Science degree at Dartmouth – for
History! By the way, it was on June 10, 1993.
All the glass office windows rotate open on gimbles to allow cameras in
and are made of tempered glass, the same stunt glass that shatters into
blunt pebbles for safety issues. Several of the largest panels came from
DEK’s former show “Girl’s Club.” Mary Ann remembers that during
installation, one of the heavier glass walls shattered right next to a
big producer, nearly hurting him.
“Boston Legal” – Bldg. No. 1A STAGE 22
Figure 13 – Permanent set of Season 2 courtroom
Figure 14 – Judge’s chambers
Figure 15 – Elevators
Figure 16 – Rotunda
Figure 17 – Season 1 courtroom. Judge is seated at far left.
Immediately in front is a clerk desk with two computers. In the middle
are prosecution and
defense tables. Benches line behind them. Jury box is in uppermost
section. Bookcases line the hallway leading to this room.
(All hatched areas are under construction)
Stage 22 Walking Tour of the Boston Legal Courtrooms, Judge Chambers
by Crabby
Stage 22 is to the immediate left of Stage 21 and can be entered by
going past Coho’s office (Fig. 12) and into the Season 2 permanent
courtroom set (Fig. 13). This room is much lighter in color with airy
windows on the bottom wall, behind the jury box. On the far left wall
are blow ups of the Constitution, framed for all to see. The set up of
furniture is an estimation, since it was not dressed for our viewing.
Stepping out into the hallway, we enter Judges Chambers (Fig. 14). Mary
Ann Biddle didn’t spend too much time in that room, so I couldn’t figure
out which judge occupies it at present.
Down the hallway to the left, we pass court house elevators (Fig. 15).
On the other side is a large rotunda with no furniture or plants. We
weren’t led beyond, hinting that certain areas were still under
construction or in the middle of set dressing.
Continuing down the hallway, we reach the permanent set of Season One’s
courtroom (Fig. 17). Again, the windows are on the bottom wall, behind a
clerk’s desk. Today, this is Hon. Clark Brown’s courtroom – all rise!
The prosecution and defense tables are in the middle and are of a darker
wood than Season 2’s courtroom. Behind the jury box are portraits of
Washington and Lincoln with duplicate blow-ups of the Constitution dead
center. Mary Ann talked about a separate courtroom made for Los Angeles
scenes from the finale this year. Apparently, it was built so high that
the actor who played the judge sunk very low. The prop department had to
use an “apple box” (a six inch high) crate to make him sit higher in the
seat. Apple boxes are in full or half sizes. A two inch box is called a
“pancake box.” These can be slipped under couches as well as having
Michael J. Fox, for example, stand on them (*cough* Tom Cruise *cough*).
The Los Angeles courtroom and CPS branch have been moved into storage.
They will be expanding both sets to use in the future (maybe Season 3?)
“Boston Legal” – Bldg. No. 4B STAGE 25
Figure 18 – Jails. Upon entering through right, cells are
numbered 23-25, with an extra, empty room.
Figure 19 – Coroner’s office under construction. Body freezers
are on bottom wall.
Figure 20, 21 – Interrogation rooms.
Figure 22 – Jade Restaurant. Couches in the middle and upper
left. Far right are the restrooms. A J-shaped bar with barstools, bar
shelving behind.
(Note: Throughout Stage 25, “swing sets” are being built for Joanna’s
sex therapist office)
Stage 25 Walking Tour of the City of Boston, Restaurant, Jails,
Coroner’s Office, Police, misc.
by Crabby
Stage 25 is located in another building and is about a fourth larger.
This area is used primarily to build and house extraneous, often
temporary sets. We enter the Jails (Fig. 18) from the right side. The
cells are padded with fake cement that is made of plastic – in fact,
everything is made of plastic on a set, even the marble you see in the
courtroom hallways. Anyway, the jails are empty right now. The set
buyer/shopper, Kim Leonard, tells a story about running around Raleigh,
looking for prison mattresses at the last minute. On the day of, she
crashed The Medium set in neighboring Stages 17 – 20, where they have
jails set up there. As a rule, shows don’t share sets (permanent or
temporary), but they may share generic-looking props.
We continue on to the Coroner’s Office (Fig. 19), still a work in
progress. I peeked inside while someone was still painting and saw
several rows of steel body freezers. The paint colors are an
institutional pistachio and tan. There is no furniture in there yet.
This set is temporary for “The New Kid on the Block” episode.
Further up, we bump into empty Police Interrogation offices (Fig. 20 and
21). The rooms are empty of furniture and wall hangings. I’m assuming
that the shared wall will eventually have a one-way mirror set up along
it. The colors are murky and suggest foreboding.
Beyond the police interrogation rooms are various walls that will be
combined to make up Joanna’s sex therapist office. I’m told that Joanna
is Alan Shore’s ex and will be treating “Hands” Espenson during Season 3
(hopefully, not for sex addiction??).
The piece de resistance is the Asian-steeped design of the Jade
Restaurant (Fig. 22), where CPS winds down for happy hour, a major love
connection, or Alan Shore’s Music Man moment about salmon. The
entranceway is perfectly round with a non-metallic gold and garnet
colored glass bead curtain framing it. The color scheme for this
restaurant is the above colors and a dark, cobalt blue. Along each wall
are gold Buddha statues, framed by the requisite beaded curtains. The
wallpaper is made up of various bamboo designs of different textures and
colors. On the middle couch was where Denise and Daniel Post flirted.
The J-shaped bar is lined with real liquor bottles. Before the camera
gets a bar shot, a prop guy has to move the bottles so that the labels
are obscured. There is no product placement on this show and each label
must be cleared prior to usage. The furniture is very upscale Pier 1
Imports. Red Chinese lanterns hang from the suspended ceiling.
I told Mary Ann that I noticed both the restaurant and Schmidt’s office
are Asian-inspired and asked her if DEK requested that. She told me that
the idea is all hers. She considers herself to be an “Asian in a previous
life.” (I tried to ask all the good questions that day, and I’m hoping
she liked me.) In fact, she owns a prop house called “Apropos” and will
be leaving BL after Season 3 to fully retire from set decorating to run
her business. Most prop houses are located in the San Fernando Valley,
so you can imagine the major commute each day from the Valley to
Manhattan Beach everyday for these hard working, creative types.
Boston Legal Set Tour General Notes by Crabby
The set decorator budget for each episode is approx. $16,000. Mary
Ann balked at the original Season 1 budget proposal of $8,000 – the
amount per episode spent on The Practice CPS set. As any of you
who have seen reruns of TP, it definitely shows that you get what you
pay for. As for exteriors, BL rents out three streets on the Universal
lot to be dressed for Boston’s streets. They are building swing sets
that will be a new café/restaurant along one of those streets. They will
be moving the completed Coroner’s Office and Judges Chambers (Fig. 19
and 14, respectively) for installation at Universal.
I’m told that the writers don’t enter the set and DEK, unlike many other
show creators, rarely comes by himself. Unlike David Milch (NYPD
Blue creator), DEK is very hands off and just concentrates on the
writing. If DEK or the writers involve themselves with set design, it is
mostly through the propmaster. The director is a guest star on episodic
television, which is primarily a writer’s controlled medium. Mary Ann
has production meetings with the production designer. After a style is
accepted, a set designer is assigned to specifically draw up the
schematics. The buyer, Kim Leonard, shops and locates all the props and
furniture. Each episode films 12 hour days, 8 days total. Each Monday
morning, the set needs to be re-dressed for that week’s new episode. I
was told that DEK was not happy with Season 3’s Episode 1 – 2 and
reshoots are needed. Episode 4 “The New Kid on the Block” is being
filmed this week and will be slated as Episode 2 instead. Kim Leonard
tells us that working on BL is not as intense as most sets. Besides
Coho’s new office and re-dressing for Claire’s office, there will be
minimal changes to the CPS set for Season 3.
Usually, pilots are filmed in real buildings. Once the show is bought
for the year, the set decorator works hard to duplicate the interiors of
the building to be used on the soundstage. Since DEK’s BL was already
bought for a year (due to being a spin-off), they rented the swing sets
for the pilot and then installed them permanently later. One interesting
point is making sure the décor works with actors’ complexions and
height. In the courtroom, an African-American judge would disappear into
the background government seal, so Mary Ann needs to work around that.
Another point is height. She used to work on Magnum, P.I., so having Tom
Selleck on was a reunion of sorts. He’s 6’4” and she always has to pull
the picture frames up higher so that there will be an interesting
background for him when the camera gets a close up. Likewise, for the
dwarf v. Denny scenes in “The New Kid on the Block” episode, Mary Ann
has to make sure that there is interesting background at a three-foot
level.
Mary Ann Biddle has been working as a set decorator for 31 years. The
wedding she did for Tom Selleck’s character, Ivan Tiggs, is a
full-circle moment, since she remembers decorating Magnum’s wedding
decades earlier. She came to Los Angeles to follow her husband, a
lawyer, after studying interior design in Colorado. At the moment she
told me that, I suddenly realized that she looks and is very much like
Shirley Schmidt. No wonder she put her personal touch on BL’s grand dame
office.
|
