Revisiting the magic: Paramount Studios

It's been four years since I last did the Paramount Studios VIP Tour and I decided it was time to revisit it and see what was new. I immediately found there was a new building devoted to processing those doing studio tours. There were already some interesting things to see in the waiting area, such as Brad Pitt's bust from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and a Best Picture Oscar for Forrest Gump.

There was also a board listing all the TV shows currently filming at the studio, including one of my favorites, NCIS: Los Angeles. I found myself grouped with six other people for the VIP tour, and we were led by a very nice tour guide named Tyler.

As part of the 4 1/2 hour VIP tour, we were shown what goes on behind the scenes in the film making process. The tour started at the famous Bronson gate, which I've shown in previous blog posts so I'll just include the top so you can see the detail. That's actually the head of Williams Shakespeare on the left side.

Tyler took us to the different workshops that create the magic we see on the big...and small...screen. Because of Good Friday, there was no activity going on throughout the studio lot. That meant we didn't see anyone working in the various workshops...signs, woodworking, archives, sound, etc. We did get to see the backlot, which is used to simulate city scenes and a memorabilia section. The busts are from the movie Sweeney Todd...that's Alan Rickman in the middle...and the uniform was Tom Hanks' in Saving Private Ryan.

In addition, we were shown the sets of the TV shows School of Rock, Grace and Frankie, The Thundermans, Dr. Phil, The Doctors and Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn. Tyler proved to be an excellent tour guide, and it greatly enhanced the tour experience.  Before leaving, we spent some time in a prop room which had items from many different movies.  Here are a cryobed from Interstellar, a turbolift from Star Trek: Beyond and Bumblebee from one of the Transformers movies.

Tomorrow, I head south out of Los Angeles to San Pedro for some sightseeing.  My road trip is officially half over and I still have a lot more fun on the horizon!