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Ed Duffy, worked as the location manager, for season 4 of
Buffy. Currently, he is the location manager on Titans, the new Aaron Spelling show. I had the good fortune of being able to interview him and hear some of the behind the scenes details about the show's locations and creative process on such highly acclaimed episodes as "Hush" and "Restless."
Did anything surprise you this year?
"Yes, that Cathy (in "Living Conditions") turned out to be evil. I did not read her as evil in the first script ("The Freshman") other than she liked to play the same song over and over again. There was even the question of which poster she was going to unfurl when she and Buffy moved in, and it turned out to be Celine
Dion. I guess the song and the poster was the hint she may be evil which, of course, she is in "Living Conditions." She turned out to be a demon from another dimension."
What was one of your favorite locations and in what episode did it appear?
" The underground Initiative area was my favorite. It had to be a particularly interesting space. I ended up scouting all these places Space Cowboys went to. We needed a real high tech look with machinery. Everything we looked at was too low tech. We ended up finding a space that had a pit in it which became the operating area. We lined it with a shiny material.
The Initiative location is in Santa Clarita , California. It is the Legacy Partners Rye Canyon Road facility and used to be owned by Lockheed. The show 7 Days shot at the same facility before they moved the show to Canada. A new CBS show, CFI, is being shot in the same location this year.
Lowell house, where Riley and the guys lived, is located in south Hancock Park (in Los Angeles) and belonged to a seminary. It has a cemetery across the street. When they shot the Halloween episode, the house Buffy and the Scooby gang got locked into was right next door to the Lowell house location. Matter of fact, that's how we found the Lowell house. When we were filming, ironically one of the producers of the Blair Witch bought the house and was moving in."
Where are all the cemetery scenes shot?
" Most of the cemetery scenes are on the backlot in Santa Monica. It has hydraulic graves so people can pop up from the ground. They are lowered on this conveyer belt and popped back up. We move headstones around to make it a little different. We did go to Rosedale Cemetery this year too to shoot "The Freshman." We needed more space for some of these scenes."
What was your biggest location challenge?
" We went to UCLA for the season opener, "The Freshman," and weren't allowed to go back! Someone in the administration didn't like that the name UC Sunnydale was being used. The locations at UCLA were secured before the name of the college was determined. We tried to figure how to get around it. We ended up having to find other campus scenes and shoot in other places. We weren't allowed back to UCLA after that, but we managed.
Carey Meyer, the Production Designer, is brilliant. He comes up with
interesting ideas. Buffy is loaded with very smart people, very inventive, very detail oriented."
So no bloopers or continuity errors?
" We hope not. I'm always surprised how people pick up on those
things."
I happened to see a few in season 4. But the fans really enjoy spotting them. It's great fun for us. It tests our powers of observation. I noticed a fun one in "Hush" after the opening where Buffy has her dream and she's walking and talking with Riley about "petroleum." For a split second, Sarah looks off camera to someone to her left and raises her hand to wave. You can see a bit of the wave and her "hello" to this person.
In "This Year's Girl," when Buffy, Willow and
Xander find the demon that was strung up by Adam in the woods-like setting, you can see a crew member with a long boom pole to the right of Sarah in the woods.
Also, when Faith is yelling at Joyce in "This Year's Girl" and Joyce is sitting on the bed, you can see her hands on top of her knees, a second later below her knees and back on top of her knees again.
" The fans are great at spotting everything. Joss is a big fan
himself of the sci-fi/fantasy genre and finds many things inspiring including old movies."
What was the collaborative process like between locations and the Art Department?
" We frequently don't have a script, but we get information about what something should look like. The Art Department and the Location staff will talk about everything they know that has the right feeling. Buffy is set in a small town with brick and older looking buildings. We run over in our head how we'd approach something. Then we bring our ideas to the line producer."
Tell me about the locations for "Hush?" That town square/clock tower set up was gorgeous.
" We were leaked information early on. We knew we needed a small town with a clock tower. We started looking at all the smaller towns - the Monrovias and Sierra Madres (charming towns to the east of Los Angeles). We were looking for something we could put a clock tower on then realized maybe we'd be better off on a back lot. We found a street and square at Universal. It had a church and we built a clock tower on the church. Then Joss wrote for this location."
How did they get the Gentleman to "float?"
" The Gentleman were supported on a pulley system with wires: secured from the top and bottom. During some of the scenes where they float, but you don't see their feet, the Gentleman were on scooters, but hiding the pole inside their costumes."
I liked the creepy hospital where Faith awakens from her coma in "This Year's Girl?" Was that shot in an actual hospital?
" It was done on stage with a little piece shot out at Camarillo State Hospital, a closed state hospital for the part where she's escaping."
How many locations would you have to find on average per script?
" Some episodes maybe only one. But on Joss episodes, quite a few. Putting together 3 or 4 locations on the same day is always your goal. So on average we are on location two days out of eight."
On "Restless," where were the desert scenes shot?
" We went all the way out to Lancaster, California at 250th Street beyond Club Ed, which is a film destination for a lot of commercials. It's an old diner. They have a big sand dune there. It was a big feat to make it work."
Can you tell me a bit how the Art Department worked on those
incredible dream transition scenes which would start in one location and the actor would turn the corner and they were in a whole different scene? That's definite Emmy material.
" When Buffy walks out of the Initiative into the desert, we set up some set out in the desert for the transition and some sand down at the Initiative location.
And there's also a transition of Tara writing on Willow's back where Tara looks out the window and sees the desert. With that, we brought the window piece to the desert and shot it there.
And the scene inside the ice cream truck, we shot on location. Then the truck was brought inside the sound stage for the transition from the back of the truck into Xander's basement."
Thanks Ed for this sneak peek behind Buffy Season 4.
" Your welcome."
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"On
Location with Ed Duffy: Location Manager for Buffy the
Vampire Slayer"
