- Welcome back to another segment
of Behind the Scenes of the Waltons.
Today, I am taking more of your questions
in a segment of Ask Judy,.
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And just as a reminder,
I will be away the first two weeks of October.
So possibly no videos being posted
and definitely I won't be around to answer comments
for a couple weeks,
so just to be patient, thanks.
I have a question here from Heather
who was a little confused about those,
those definitions of producers, as am I still,
who knows?
Maybe I'll take it up 3, 4, 5 times
and will gradually try
and piece it all together.
Anyway, Heather did have another question.
She said, I would be interested in knowing
what your thoughts were on Hollywood today
and how it has changed, particularly since the seventies.
Oh, wow.
I mean, there's so many ways in which it's changed
and oftentimes the things
that we come up with
are the most familiar to us.
So it's easy for me to say I liked it better then
because it was what I was familiar with
and it was such a wonderful experience
for me coming up on the Waltons
and working on film
and working with that wonderful cast and crew.
But a lot of technology has advanced,
which I also like
because it has made it possible
for many of us to do smaller independent films,
like my own film, Nowhere To Hide.
I couldn't have made that in the 70's Hollywood
because it was just, the cost was prohibitive.
My little short film Space Limbo
which I'm about to launch
and we'll tell you all about that.
Those things couldn't have done them.
So, those pieces I'm very happy about.
It's gotten so big and diverse
that I'm not so crazy about.
I mean, theoretically it means
that we all have a lot more choices of things to watch.
And hopefully that means something for everyone.
But sometimes you have to really dig around.
Frequently, I hear some of you say
that there's nothing on,
nothing as good as the Waltons
and although I really appreciate that,
I think that there are things that are lovely
that are being made today,
but I don't love
that everything's on its own individual channel
and that you have to subscribe to everything
and that you have no way of knowing
everything that's available.
It just, I find it overwhelming,
but I think it's great that there is so much available.
So all of that is tough.
I mean, I look back at the studio system
when there was a studio system
and actors were under contract
and they knew they would, they would work,
but they also had very little control over the projects.
They were told by the studio, you're doing this
and they may not have wanted to do that.
Or they may not have had the opportunities
that they could have had in a freelance environment.
But I liked that idea of having that whole team
and that system,
but people who went through it might have thought
it was horrible.
So, you know, I'm familiar with what I came up through
and I loved it.
And now I have a question from Dave
who also commented on the producer question
and about how fluid it is.
Yes, I think that's really true
that it has changed over the years
and it has, it is different from film to television.
So those were things that I learned
in talking with John about it.
Dave also wanted to know
following up on a previous question
which is why scenes take so long to film.
Can I elaborate on that?
Is it because of different camera angles
and being forced to relight to the set, et cetera?
Or and when you work a long day
how much is the actor involved in this?
Okay, so first of all,
I'll address that why it takes so long.
It is because of having to reset the camera.
And pretty much every time you have to move the camera,
you do have to relight to some degree
and yeah, equipment has to move.
Maybe pieces of the set have to move.
Maybe things have to be cleared out.
If you've totally turned around
then you have to redress that area of the set.
So yeah, it just, it just takes time for all of that.
Again, in today's independent world,
a lot of that can happen faster
because less,
there's sometimes lighting is faster
or you don't need as much
because the cameras,
the type of digital cameras can do more with less light
but it's still to craft that takes time.
So it just is what it is.
And in terms of how much the actors are involved
in long days,
you know, if they're doing all that lighting
the actors are hanging out.
And then, so you can take hours to shoot one scene.
If you're talking about a film,
you can take days to shoot a scene.
So it depends how long the scene is.
And then, you know, they're gonna move to the next scene.
So then you're gonna be called in for rehearsal
and sort of a light blocking for the camera.
And then you're gonna be sent away
because now they're gonna light
and they're gonna dress the set
and they're gonna do everything else they need to do.
So the actors are gonna go hang out
and then they're gonna call you in
and you're gonna shoot
and then they're gonna go into new camera angles
and you're gonna go away.
And then maybe there's a scene not in.
So then maybe there's a couple hours
where you're just hanging out
because you have another scene later.
So, it's the running line
with working in television is hurry up and wait
because you need to be there,
you need to be ready for when they need you
but you spend a lot of time waiting
and it can be very tedious.
That's why we loved having each other on set on the Waltons
because we were a family.
So at least you had people to hang with
but you know, sometimes I go to my dressing room
and try and read a book,
but then, you know you get tired of that
or, you know, you go and you chat with people
and, but the energy zaps
when you're sitting around waiting.
So that's always the challenge
with a long day on set is having your energy
monitoring that
and making sure that when you need to be on,
you're there and your energy's up to do the scene.
And then when you're down,
you don't wanna be wasting too much energy
but you don't wanna fall asleep.
Sometimes you would sleep,
but then you have to like get up
and be ready and wake yourself up.
And so, yeah,
yeah, it's not the most,
it's not the busiest thing to do, being an actor.
If you're working on the crew or something
then a lot of times you're a lot busier
because you're constantly involved with the relighting
but they go,
you know, hang when the actors are doing their part
but people have to be there to make little adjustments
if suddenly they go, oh, could you tweak that light?
Or could you move this?
So long day for everybody.
This question from Jerry who asked
as an actor on the Waltons
would you have liked acting before a studio audience?
I don't know.
I mean, I love doing theater,
I love working in front of a studio audience
or a live audience
but I think it would've been too restrictive
for a show like the Waltons.
That's why they don't do dramas in front of an audience
because you're limited in where the camera can go
so you're blocking is very limited.
And I mean, I like the continuity of doing something live
but I liked the freedom that we had of working on film
and that, it wasn't the type of show
where you needed an immediate audience reaction
because of the drama aspect of it.
With a comedy, they wanna hear if the laughs are there.
With drama, you know, a lot of things are very personal
and I know,
you know, Mary talked about having all the people
around the set when you were doing certain scenes
and yeah, I mean it can be enough just having
all the crew there watching
when you're doing very intense, emotional scenes.
So I don't know, I, I don't think I would've preferred
having a studio audience there.
That's what I have for you for this segment
of Behind the Scenes at the Waltons, Ask Judy.
I'll be back again next time
with more of your questions in a segment of Ask Judy
and more Behind the Scenes of the Waltons.
Thanks for watching.