On the off chance someone might be interested, I thought I'd share details of my trip out to LA on the dime of Game Show Network. The method by which I won the trip was well detailed in
this thread.
For starters, they put us up for three nights at the
Soiftel LA which was a damn posh luxury hotel located on the corner of La Cienega and Beverly Blvd. It was at 8555 Beverly, a hop, skip and jump from TV City (which I only drove past on this trip). This was my first trip out of the immediate Michigan surrounding area, and my first time(s) on a plane no less, so apologies if I spooge over some minor details. The bill for the room was over $1,000 for the entirety of the stay.
By the way, it seems a midwesterner is incapable of pronouncing La Cienega correctly on the first try.
I'll jump to the GSN part. The studios were less than 10 miles away from Sofitel, but it took about 30 minutes to get there. A strange phenomenon for a Michigan boy. The winners of the contest had a parking space reserved for them right in front of the entrance, so it made my lateness a non-issue. From what I could tell, this was the very same building they'd always used (as seen in TV promos) but devoid of any outdoor GSN signage. As I was driving in (at 10:38 AM Pacific for a 10:30 talent call) Fred Roggin was walking in. I said hi to him, and he gave me the "who the hell are you" smile. It was a funny way to start my visit. I was told several times they were getting set to move the offices and studio to a new location soon.
Right when you walk in, the place is littered with GSN Live props. A lot of the bygone signage from the games decorate the walls. I was whisked into hair and makeup real quickly, where Fred was getting setup. We got acquainted while he was getting his last few touches. The quirky wardrobe lady assessed everything I brought to assign me one TV-friendly outfit. Fred did whatever he could to make me comfortable, and said I could even make jokes at his expense. We were to be TV buddies that day. I then made a joke about getting papers in my travel dossier about "not bringing up the XFL." He promptly told me it was one of his best jobs ever, as he basically made himself a sideline reporter, and got paid for two years, even though it lasted for one. Go figure!
I had a friendly chat with Alfonso Ribeiro as any part of skin that would make it on camera was getting the orange treatment. With my outfit picked, I was taken to the studio to do our first pre-tapes.
Pre-tapes you say!?! Yeah, I guess I should've figured this out on my own, but the better part of GSN Live is taped. Everything but the games, Fred's cut-in from the other studio, and the opening segment is on tape. The first things we did were the interstitials for hour 2 (IIRC). GSN Live actually has a script to work off of, but Fred largely ignores it.
The studios for GSN Live are very small. They're practically the size of the real-life rooms they purport to be. Internally, the original GSN Live set is the "classic set", and the new one is called the fringe set. Sony flat screens are all over the offices. While we weren't shooting, Fred and Alfonso were on their cell phones a lot. Fred was showing me which Facebook friends he was accepting during a break. We got to talk a lot throughout the day, and he gave me some career advice. A lot of the people there seemed to like me, and the crew was very fun to work with.
I know this is already long, but I want to share some of the interesting details. All the marks on the floor are old tape marks from the various celebrity guests who have hosted or appeared on GSN Live. So it's a bizarre walk of fame, as I got to "step on" Carnie Wilson, Richard Karn and others. Everybody was very inviting; I got to wander wherever I wanted to. Props from GSN promos pepper the offices upstairs; one producer has the Whammy costume to keep him company. The guy running the tape library was more than happy to show me around. They have the music to literally every GSN production lying around on DAT tapes - or gasp and horror, 1/2 inchers. Just funny to see the music package for Decades or Burt Luddin staring you in the face. This tape library was small, and held only the stuff currently running. I thought they had the Reg Grundy series "Time Machine" for some odd reason, but that was just their distinction to show if a particular show was sped-up or not.
David Schwartz's office is right across from this library, with the title "screener." When I was walking by, he was watching episodes of Jeopardy. I stopped him in the hall and had a little chat. "I know you from your book!" to which he quickly cut-in, "my
out of print book."
Each game on GSN Live is rehearsed in the few minutes before it "goes live." One game involved a wheel that I was told at least five times not to spin too hard, as it wasn't particularly tight and would spin for the whole segment if I pulled too hard. In three practice spins, I got the right touch. On camera, not so much. I am so not a clutch spinner.
I've gone on FAR too long already, so I'll merely answer questions or chime back in as I remember things. I was given another gift bag of GSN swag on my way out, and the promise of a DVD copy of my own appearance. Fred cares a lot about the show, and was talking with some higher ups about the amount of calls and web traffic the show generates. They were also talking about the not-yet-broken news of Howie Mandel hosting the Game Show Awards. It was just weird to be in a building where one co-worker asked another about Super Password, and both likely had outside social lives. I kid.
Anyway, it was an amazing experience - one I'll never forget. This was the true prize for winning that contest.
-Jason
