Desperately Seeking David Part 1

BTS Recap of Our Taping Escapades

ONLY David…

At my age (turned golden girl last year), never thought I’d be going around the metro spying on location shoots or tapings to see David in action or to bring co-Archies to watch, and if permitted, have some pictures taken with him.

ONLY David!

This wasn’t planned, mind you. At least on my part. First off, location shoots are not announced. For security reasons and more likely, for the sanity of the production crew, the info is of course not made public. Buuuut like bees to honey, people in the neighboring areas swarm to the klieg lights and network vans, so shootings are almost always discovered.

The Beginning of our Taping Escapades (Jan 20, 2012)

One faithful Friday afternoon last year, a couple of Archies texted me about how frustrated they were spending a good part of Thursday, roaming a certain part of town looking for David’s location shoot.

I did not realize that that would be the start of me being sucked (giddily) into a taping field trip vortex, LOL.

My plan that day was to simply drop by David’s hotel on my way home to bring my baskets of Pinoy goodies for David & Kari. Gifts were usually left at the concierge despite the hotel’s protestations that they have no visitor by the name of David Archuleta. Of course that was the official line, LOL. So the gifts were addressed to an alias instead — and no it wasn’t Josh Bradley!

Naree was also supposed to send some food for David and the cast. But she cannot go to the shoot as she originally intended. So a number of young Archies volunteered to do it for her. The thing was they didn’t know how to get there. They had an address but were not familiar with the location.

Am sure you are wondering how we knew where the taping was? It so happened that a friend of a friend of an Archie resides in the subdivision where the shooting was taking place that day. So, with a mission in their hearts and an address on hand from that 1st-degree friend, they planned to look for the location shoot by hiring a cab.. at night…

You can guess why Naree was calling me!

So instead of bringing my baskets of goodies to the hotel, why not take the young Archies to the location shoot and spare them another fruitless attempt to seek David? Plus I get to help Naree in the process. It was a win-win situation for all, right?

Love on the Highway

So at 6:30pm, I went to my very 1st taping visit. With me were Ferj, Feeshda, Karissa and Joyce.

On our way to the location shoot, the Archies saw for themselves how taking a cab would have rendered their trek a costly adventure. Not only were there two subdivisions of similar names; they were on opposite sides of the highway that was undergoing repair!

As we arrived at the correct subdivision, all fingers were crossed that we could pass the security without a hitch. Our intel said the taping was being shot near a basketball court. So our entry went this way:

Guard: Good evening mam. Who are we visiting?
Me: (stated the name of resident & asked for direction on how to get to the address given us)
Guard: (gave directions while the young Archies were all squirming & giggling on their seats!)
Me: Sir… actually we are also looking for a basketball court. How do we get there, Sir?
Guard: Which basketball court mam?
Me: (Oh-oh… The whole car went dead silent) Whaaat do you mean?
Guard: Mam, we have two basketball courts.
Me: (Oooooooookay… Think fast JR!) Can you tell me which one has… lots of people tonight?!
Guard: Oh then that would be the old basketball court!
Me: (laughing now) Then to the old basketball court we go, Sir!
Guard: (laughing with me) Ok, mam! I think there is a shooting going on (BINGO!) so you may have to go a little bit farther to find a spot to park
Me: Oh thank you very much Sir. Ahhhmm, how do we get there again, Sir? (summoning all the sweetness I could muster before the guard realizes our duplicity)
…

After profusely saying our thank yous and once I rolled up my window, the whole car burst into laughter!

A couple of blocks later, we saw a big house that was incredibly well lit… but we couldn’t see the basketball court. After another turn on the same block: EUREKA! A TV5 van! The basketball court was behind the well-lit house.

The Taping Vigil Begins

Armed with our basket of goodies and food, we looked for the proper person to talk to. Immediately we spotted Direk Mac who was taking a break. He graciously welcomed us When we explained our purpose, he called the production manager who asked us to sit in the parlor and wait for David – which surprised us all!

Although we hoped for the best we really didn’t expect to see David. Heck, as a newbie to visiting shootings, I had no clue what to expect!

Again, we tried to leave the the basket of goodies to Direk Mac and to the production manager but they insisted that we personally give our gifts to David cos that was what David wanted. You can just imagine how giggly all of us were! TIME – 8:00pm

An hour later, still no sign of David. We again approached Direk Mac to offer the food that we brought since half of it was meant for the cast – some of whom were taking their breaks already. But he still insisted that we wait for David. Then he left to return to the shooting.

After several minutes, we heard the 1st strain of David’s voice — imploring — from upstairs –

Wait! Don’t…

“OMGaaahhhhh! THAT’S DAVID!!!”, we squealed in unison.

To be continued…

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