'Blood' Will Burn in Eagle Rock

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Following up on a tip from an in-the-know reader, Eagle Rock Patch investigated a claim that one of the prime locations for the hit HBO series True Blood will go up in flames within the next few days.
While security and insurance concerns kept us from traipsing onto the set proper, a helpful security officer guarding the perimeter,  whose badge identified him as A. Cole, was forthcoming with information concerning the fiery demolition of the cottages located at 5038 Ellenwood Dr., just south of Colorado Boulevard.
Apparently, the owner of the property—built in 1922—has figured out a lucrative way to clear it while profiting from location fees. No word as to what will be built on the location.

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Sookie goes to Mississippi- HBO vampire series films at Longwood

By Cain Madden The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — The fictional town of Bon Temps, La., came to life in Natchez Monday.

An HBO series, “True Blood,” was filming four episodes at Longwood all day Monday and into the early morning hours today.

Natchez got lucky in snagging the crew, said local Ed Godfrey, who scouted and managed the location for the filming company as a volunteer.
Producer and Director Mark McNair, center, directs the filming.

Photo by Ben Hillyer

Producer and Director Mark McNair, center, directs the filming.

“They decided the series could go for a while, so they started buying set products to sell when the series ended,” Godfrey said. “The man who used to be with the Louisiana film commission is a Natchez native, and he got them up here antiques shopping.”

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True Blood behind the scenes: Big Patty's Pie House

Remember in Season 1 in episode 11 when Sam and Sookie went to Big Patty's ?

Well, it's actually a Chip's Restaurant at 11908 Hawthorne Blvd Hawthorne, CA

Above and left is how it looked last week! Thanks Robi and friends !






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True Blood behind the scenes: Bon Temps Motel

This is where we see Tara living in Season 1 and where Andy is hold up during the MaryAnn take over of Bon Temps in Season 2.

We see the naked Sam show up at Andy's hotel room in Ep. 9, I guess we actually see 'Naked Sam' in both seasons at this motel ;-)


















You can see how the motel appeared last weekend above left. You can briefly see the hotel sign in Season 2 Ep. 9 The motel is : La Crescenta Motel / 2413 Foothill Blvd La Crescenta, CA


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Thanks again Robi !

True Blood California Filming Locations

The lovely Robiart and some friends are visiting some of the California True Blood filming locations and sending back photos on her iphone !

I'm just going to post them, and let you tell me what they are ....
I'll post the addresses after guys ID them ...

Thanks, Robi!!

Loving True Blood in Dallas blog helps solve the True Blood FotS church mystery for Arkansas Gazette

When the Arkansas Gazette starts asking me ' Go Ask Dallas' questions then I guess I know I've reached the big time . HA!

I can finally tell you who it was that asked last weeks " Go Ask Dallas" question. It was a question posed by a reporter from The Arkansas Gazette.

Kyle Brazzel knew right away that the structure shown as the Fellowship of the Sun Church in Episode 6 of True Blood was a building designed by famed architect and Arkansas native, Fay Jones -but which one ?

Because the Sookie Stackhouse book series author, Charlaine Harris is also an Arkansas resident, this was an important source of state pride and something they wanted to report on in for the largest newspaper in Arkansas and they wanted to get it right.

Here is where I posted my answer on the blog last week , and this is also what I sent to Kyle. He very nicely mentioned the blog in yesterday's write up in the Little Rock newspaper!

Fay Jones Chapel Vamps for True Blood

True Blood behind the scenes: Fellowship of the Sun filming

'So much love comes flowing out ...' Steve Newlin

The amazing SkyRose Chapel at Rose Hills Memorial Park near Los Angeles ( Whittier) served as the stand-in for the FotS church in Dallas.

The chapel is one of the famous buildings designed by Arkansas native architect Fay Jones and it's gorgeous.

This was a "Go ask Dallas" question- I'll tell ya Sunday who asked

http://www.lovingtruebloodindallas.com/2009/07/true-blood-behind-scene-fellowship-of.html

True Blood behind the scenes: Fellowship of the Sun filming

'So much love comes flowing out ...' Steve Newlin

The amazing SkyRose Chapel at Rose Hills Memorial Park near Los Angeles ( Whittier) served as the stand-in for the FotS church in Dallas.

The chapel is one of the famous buildings designed by Arkansas native architect Fay Jones and it's gorgeous.

This was a "Go ask Dallas" question- I'll tell ya Sunday who asked

It is described on its website as:

This is The 10.6 acre chapel site has been transformed into a picturesque landscape of gardens, groves and colorful terraces with the planting of approximately 90 trees that include oak, jacaranda, sycamore and pepper.

The chapel's surrounding churchyard features a reception garden and exclusive burial property which will include the use of the upright monuments. A variety of memorialization options is available throughout the area; some sections will be reserved for exclusive family interment sites. SkyRose is the largest chapel Fay Jones and Maurice Jennings have designed to date.

The chapel is constructed of fir, Oregon redwood , bouquet canyon stone and glass and combines the beauty of Jones' unique inverse Gothic architecture with spectacular scenic views to create a site for funerals and other of life's celebrations that are remembered and shared.

Three levels make up the chapel - the mausoleum (11,200 square feet) is on the lower level, with approximately 942 crypts and 556 niches, the sanctuary (11,500 square feet) is on the ground floor with 332 fixed seats and the availability to add seats as needed and the triforium on the upper level (3,790 square feet). The roof's steep approximately 45-degree pitch and the building's height, 90 feet at its peak, made construction difficult and dangerous. Another difficult challenge was installing the chapel's skylight along the roof's ridge, which measures 24 feet wide by 105 feet long. One of the finishing touches to the chapel was the integration of a Quimby pipe organ which was custom built for SkyRose. The organ consists of 3,937 pipes ranging in height from four inches to thirty-two feet.

Fay Jones, who has had more that 200 projects to his credit designed only six chapels prior to SkyRose. His first chapel Thorncrown, was built in 1980 in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and was selected in 1991 from among all the buildings built in the country since 1980 as the best by the American Institute of Architects.

http://www.rosehills.com/ MAP

You can see tombstone behind the director.

** William Hopper, among many other notable folks like Richard Nixon's parents are buried there. He was Paul Drake from Perry Mason show and is son of actress and gossip columnist, Hedda Hopper.

True Blood Season 2 finale: Sookie and Bill dance the jitterbug

Nice little tidbit of news can be found about the True Blood season 2 finale in the 'Sookie and Bill take on the heat of Louisiana" article this morning.

After the Clinton shoot, production shifted indoors to the Stockade Bed and Breakfast in Baton Rouge. Once a Civil War stockade, the B&B is listed on the National Register of Historical Places as an archaeological site.

The Stockade's great room — an open space with a balcony, baby grand piano, large wood-burning fireplace and floor-to-ceiling glass wall — was transformed into a restaurant for the shoot. A nearby breakfast room, filled with antiques and hummingbird and botanical prints, became a makeshift studio for directors and script supervisors to watch the scenes unfold on monitors.

The sequence shot on this day was a dance scene. Paquin, in a sundress with her hair in a sleek up-do, and Moyer in black suit, do a modified jitterbug to the Jerry Lee Lewis song "Before the Night Is Over." Between takes, the actors chill out in a back room at the B&B where stylists touch up their makeup.

Footage from the Louisiana shoot will appear in upcoming episodes and the season finale, set to air on Sept. 13, which is expected to include the dance scene.

Here is the beautiful room in the Stockade Bed and Breakfast in Baton Rouge [http://www.thestockade.com/]

Here is Jerry Lee singing "Before the Night Is Over"

True Blood behind the scenes: Sookie and Bill take on the heat of Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. – Sookie Stackhouse and her brother Jason are returning from Dallas to the tiny Louisiana town of Bon Temps. But something is wrong: Newspapers drift in the steamy air; fruit stands and flower stalls are overturned; graffiti assaults signs and a courthouse statue; and trash and clothes litter streets and lawns.

A force of nature? Or something brewed by Maryann, the dark, mysterious newcomer in HBO's hit vampire drama, "True Blood"?

Cast and crew of the show, based on Charlaine Harris' best-selling Sookie Stackhouse stories, were in Louisiana to soak up the antebellum atmosphere of Clinton, a community of 2,000 people, 30 miles north of Baton Rouge. Main Street and the town's courthouse, surrounded by sprawling, moss-covered oak trees, were perfect as backdrops for the tale of vampires living among humans, thanks to the invention of mass-produced synthetic blood.

The sticky heat, mossy greenery, white columned houses and slow-moving lifestyle also added to the allure, and gave a dimension and authenticity to the series that can only be captured here.

"The moment you step off the plane, you feel you're in the world of the show," said "True Blood" writer Alexander Woo. "You don't have to imagine you're there."

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True Blood filming in Clinton, LA

Thanks to everyone for the great photos

'True Blood' season 2 film crew takes over Clinton, La., then heads for New Orleans

From Times- Picayune

Clinton, La. -- Standing in for fictional downtown Bon Temps, La., the blocks surrounding the East Feliciana Parish Courthouse looked like they'd been hit by a lusty tornado over the weekend.

The steamy HBO drama "True Blood" came to Clinton for several days of location shooting, and the town's streets (and trees) were strategically strewn with trash but mostly clothing, for a saucy storyline to play out in a few weeks on the show's 10th episode of the current season.

Saturday, shooting started at about noon and concluded after 2 a.m. Sunday. Wilting heat and humidity prevailed, broken occasionally by light rain.

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True Blood in Louisiana

HBO, is making Clinton, the final resting place, for it's popular series, True Blood.

The cast and crew, spent the last week, in Clinton, filming for the current season.

The producers, announced the town of Clinton will be the center of all the action, as the fictional town of Bon Temps.

"Well, we were looking for a town that had a nice small town feel like our town of Bon Temps is supposed to have and Clinton fit the bill very closely",says executive producer, Gregg Fienberg.

"The locals they come up, they talk and you get that real authentic accent and that Louisiana swagger and you just sort of incorporate it, said Nelsan Ellis. Ellis plays the character "Lafayette", a short-order grill cook at Merlotte's.

Producers say they plan on shooting in Clinton as long as the town will have them.

True Blood comes to Louisiana

Clinton, La. — Cast members of the hit HBO show True Blood spent some time near Baton Rouge today, shooting scenes for the steamy vampire drama.

Set in the fictional Louisiana town of Bon Temps, the series follows waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her relationship with the dashing Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) — a 174-year-old vampire.

Paquin and other cast members — including Ryan Kwanten, who plays Sookie’s wild brother Jason, and Nelsan Ellis, who plays the eccentric short order cook and drug dealer Lafayette Reynolds — were in Clinton today filming scenes for the tenth episode of the show’s second season, which premiered June 14.

“It’s beautiful down here,” Paquin said. “Nothing really looks like the South except the South ... It’s really important to come down here and capture it.”

The cast and crew spent some time filming in Shreveport for True Blood’s first season and are hopeful to return to filming in Clinton if the show is picked up for a third season.

True Blood was created by Alan Ball, the man behind HBO’s popular series Six Feet Under and the Academy Award-winning film “American Beauty,” and is based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.

More here

HBO's "True Blood" Behind the Scenes in Clinton, Louisiana

HBO show "True Blood" comes to Baton Rouge area

CLINTON, LA (WAFB) - Parts of Louisiana are looking more like Hollywood lately. A new tax credit law to bring more motion pictures to the Bayou State is enticing many productions.

9 News spent the day on the set of "True Blood." It's a new HBO show about vampires living in Louisiana.

It takes place in a fictional town in North Louisiana, but HBO decided to shoot a lot of its second season near Baton Rouge.

"The whole atmosphere is suited for what we do and a sound stage isn't," said actor Nelsan Ellis who plays Lafayette Reynolds on the show.

The show's creators spent weeks scouting locations for the fictional town of Bon Temps. They tell 9 News they found what they were looking for in Clinton, the town in East Feliciana Parish. The production will also film in Baton Rouge at several locations.

"It's really important for them (the actors) to get a chance to be in Louisiana and feel the heat and see the town," said executive producer Gregg Fienberg.

Governor Bobby Jindal on Thursday enacted a law that would give projects like "True Blood" a 30 percent tax credit on whatever is spent in the state.

"We see a strong message going out to the rest of the world that Louisiana is building a stable industry that's providing Louisianans with work," said Christopher Stelly, the director of film and television for the state.

"Nothing really looks like the South except the South, so our show is set in Louisiana and that's a big part of what works and what it is and it's important to come down here and capture it," said actress Anna Paquin, who plays the show's lead character, Sookie Stackhouse.

The state has several upcoming projects, including a few in Baton Rouge. Those behind the projects are keeping their lips sealed.

"True Blood" will finish its second season of filming in the area over the weekend.

©2009 WAFB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

True Blood behind the scenes: filming at the Carmilla Hotel in Dallas ( Silent Shore Hotel in books)

( click on images to enlarge) Sofitel Hotel in Los Angeles, CA just wrapped HBO’s TRUE BLOOD.One of HBO’s newest hit shows “True Blood” is starting season 2 in June , keep watch for Stone Rose Lounge this season. Also featured is the amazing lobby of Sofitel LA located in West Hollywood. Shooting took two seperate days and a total of 18 hours one day and 24 hours the following week. During shooting of True Blood, Sofitel LA was turned into “Carmilla Hotel” a Vampire Hotel located in the south. The concierge desk featured Tru Blood bottles of blood (which look more like beer bottles). This exciting shoot was a huge hit with guests of the hotel. Guests of Sofitel got to see star of True Blood Anna Paquin upclose. Before and After photos were taking during shooting, see attached photos in this blog for a sneak peak at the show. True Blood’s filming was a total success and we hope to book them again sometime in the future. If you would like FilmingDirect.com to represent your hotel, home, bar…please contact us at info@filmingdirect.com or use our contact page to send a message to our sales department. For information about True Blood go to www.hbo.com/trueblood

http://blog.filmingdirect.com/posts/true-blood/
Concierge and Front Desk

True Blood behind the scenes: Merlotte's on the backlot

The lovely FangsNRoses Warner Brothers tour last week in Los Angeles did go by the Merlotte's building !

She shares her photos with us ..thanks Fang!

Vampire Bill's house featured on The Exterminator -it's a Racoon haunting

Ha Ha, this has really tickled me, Poor Bill. Thanks to my birdie for the tip!

Does this house look familiar ? It's vampire Bill Compton's house in Bon Temp from True Blood. I have done tons on research on it HERE

His house was infested by raccoons and was featured on a recent edition of the A&E program called, The Exterminators

'The Racoon Haunting' --haunting/ hunting get it, huh? Ha !
Watch the video HERE

Travelogue to Louisiana Part Deaux : Dallas and friends tweet their way through Northern Louisiana

Saturday, March 7, 2009

7:30am ObjectDesire (OD) picks up Nocturnalinnc and Arianwyn (henceforth NC and Aria) at their hotel then drives to Dallas' house. This is a bit early as we had a late night drinking margaritas and listening to Latin Jazz the previous evening (whoosh, Dallas can boogy, especially after a couple of drinks; NC and Aria not too bad either!).

8:30am Depart the metroplex with Dallas behind the wheel. Have many road snacks, but Dallas is peeved that OD forgot Cheezits.

9:00am Stop at Starbucks. Need coffee...

10:30am Stop to buy Cheezits.

11:00am Cross into Area 5, Lousiana (we have previously obtained permission from Sheriff Eric Northman). Visiting wiki girls are required to "raise the roof" and "woot, woot" as we cross the border. They comply.

11:30am Pass FotS church. Double-take then note location for later reconnoiter.

11:50am Yippeeee! Bill's house is still fabulous and beautiful. No construction foreman is present today so we can loiter a bit longer taking pics of house and each other in front of house. Dallas leaves gravel on driveway, but NC swipes a rock.

12:15pm Enter Mansfield--visit courthouse and magic tree (Bubba's establishment is still there). Park near Mansfield Police Station trying to decide if it stood in for BonTemps station in TrueBlood. It is a close call, so we then debate whether it is against the law to take pictures of a police station. Sneek a few shots with much anxiety. Dallas pulls out in path of only other car on road in Mansfield and we narrowly miss a collision. Now we are really rattled and fear arrest at any moment. ( Oh-- it wasn't that bad, but it was the only other car in Mansfield and it was right in front of the police station-"D")

12:45pm Having avoided arrest, we decide sustenance is in order. In honor of Sookie, we eat footlong chili cheese dogs at Sonic (Sookie likes Sonic doesn't she?). Dallas whips out iphone and begins Twitter roleplay with @SookieBonTemps.( Dallas also DID NOT have a footlong chili cheese dog!)

Afternoon: *Times now blurry to protect secret location of Jason's house and Rattray's trailer*
YES, WE FOUND JASON'S HOUSE! No glamouring was involved, unless you count Dallas glamouring her computer. We are able to identify the various outbuildings and the picnic spot from Stackhouse family flashbacks.
A short way down the road, we find the spot where the Rattray's trailer was upended by our Bill.

2ish: Much pleased with ourselves, we head back toward Shreveport.
Sneak stealthily up on FotS Church. Jump out and "snap, snap, snap" take photos. Drive around back...even creepier back there. Hold breath until we finally make it out of parking lot and back on the road.

2:45pm Take NC and Aria past the Shreveport filming locations--site of Monroe vamp house, Lucky's Liquors and Ogilvie-Werner House seen in opening credits, and the Strand theatre.

3:30pm Drive to Lake Bistineau to see if we can find where Terry and Andy fished and Sam ran nekkid through the trees. Lake is beautiful and we find some likely spots. Take more photos.
We take a good look around on drive to and from Lake Bistineau because this is the route Sookie, et. al. would take to Shreveport from Bon Temps.

5:00pm Arrive at Ralph & Kacoos for dinner (this is where Sookie and Quinn dine on their date). See stuffed tiger in lobby--hope it is no one we know. Order way too much food, attempt to eat as much of it as possible.

6:30 Back on the road home. Twitter role-play is heating up. Aria has had instructions in iPhone and Twitter and reads tweets to the rest of us. Much hilarity ensues, with Dallas having to pull over to tweet responses. Aria given new instructions on iphone keypad after we pull over in one too many dark spots and (I swear this is true) a coyote stares us down. We are laughing so hard, OD (who has a cold, stops breathing--okay, okay just gasping for breath).
We laugh hysterically all the way back to Dallas. Plans are made for a June trip to Los Angeles. Sookie is invited via Twitter.
Stay tuned :-)

haha -this is great thanks so much OD!

Yes, we can't disclose the location of the Jason house or the Rattray trailer ( known as Four Corners ) as they are located at private homes and the owners have not disclosed the location in any other interviews. Bill's house has been written up many times so that's not disclosing any secrets. I love this area more and more every time we go back.

I can't disclose who this is in the photo at least one person is one of the 3 other people on the trip and I took the photo.

**We did do the radio show last Monday night with @SookieBonTemps and all the girls called in and talked about the trip and the twitter hilarity if you missed the show you can listen here

** OD writes these great travelogues for all our trips others are here ( Houston to meet Charlaine and our first trip to Bon Temps http://lovingtruebloodindallas.blogspot.com/search/label/travelogue

True Blood behind the scenes: More on the Monroe vamp house

You guys all remember the burning of the Monroe Vamp house in True Blood last season . That was supposedly the recently purchased home of Malcom, Liam and Dianne. It was set on fire by 'the Rednecks' at the end of Episode 7 , Burning House of Love and and we see Sookie visit the site and view the results in episode 8 , The Fourth Man in the Fire

We just got back from Shreveport, so I've now visited the site twice, well, it's where the house once stood before it was destroyed in a "control burned " for the show. It is now just an empty lot but in digging around a little I found that the buildings that were once there are still visible on Google earth. Here are the Google Earth shots from early last year and my photo of how the site looks now.


I have other posts on this filming site here :

http://lovingtruebloodindallas.blogspot.com/2009/01/true-blood-behind-scenes-monroe-vamps.html

http://lovingtruebloodindallas.blogspot.com/2009/01/true-blood-behind-scenes-4th-man-is-in.html