Author: Tyler Kearn
Imagine Michael Scott, or rather Steve Carell, walking the steps of Thorne. It almost happened – The Office was looking to film at Occidental.
Oxy has had many high-profile films, television shows and commercials film on its campus. There have also been many instances when a film or show has been interested in filming here, but things did not work out. Unfortunately, The Office is one of the latter, joining a list that also includes National Treasure 2 and Private Practice.
When students found out over the summer that The Office almost filmed here, many assumed it did not happen because Oxy rejected the show’s proposal. Occidental College has a policy that no filming can take place when classes are in session. However, with the The Office, that policy was not the reason that things did not work out.
“The Office did come scout, they came over the summer,” Mary Grogan, Director of Master Calendar, Conference Services, and Filming said. “The way it works with filming is that up to the last minute, they can pull the plug. I’m not sure if we got into the final three locations [for The Office shoot] and they decided to go some other location, or if it was something else.”
This is similar to what happened with Private Practice last year, which came much closer to filming at Oxy. Occidental had made the arrangements and was all set to have the show film here. “At the last minute, it fell through,” Grogan said. “The actors had to be on the other side of town, so they decided to just film over there.”
In fact, Grogan says that Oxy is willing to make an exception to its no filming during classes policy for productions “that might be beneficial to the college or that the students would like.”
One example of this is Private Practice, which was going to film on a Friday. “Because Grey’s Anatomy was so popular, we figured Private Practice was going to be popular, and so we thought it was going to be exciting for students,” Grogan said. “The President agreed, everybody agreed… it looked like it was going to be okay.”
Grogan added that the same reasoning would have been true with The Office. “It would have been exciting for students. If we could have gotten The Office to film here, we would have,” she said.
Grogan is right when she says that The Office or Private Practice filming here would have excited a lot of students. “It would have been super-awesome if The Office came. It would have probably been the highlight of my life,” Ashley Clark (sophomore) said. “But, it’s like Private Practice not coming last year. I was excited for that, and then I heard that they weren’t coming.”
There are many reasons that it might not work out for a film, television show or commercial to film at Oxy. “The stars have to align in all the right spots,” Grogan said. “If you’re looking at 10 scouts, you’re lucky to have one to two who even come to campus… The location scout may think [Oxy is] the greatest place to do a scene, and the director will look at it and say ‘no.'”
Despite such difficulties, Oxy has hosted a quite a large number of high-profile films, even going back to the beginnings of the school. Hollywood films have been shot at Occidental from as early as 1926.
Oxy has been the scene of productions featuring the Marx Brothers, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Shirley Temple, Ronald Reagan, Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, and many others. The main fountain (off of Alumni Ave.) was famously featured in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), and the campus can be seen extensively in Clueless (1995). More recently, Oxy has seen Jurassic Park 3 (2000), Orange County (2001), The Holiday (2006) and Made of Honor (2008) film on campus.
There is also an extensive history of television shows shooting at Oxy. Multiple episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 filmed here; and in the last couple of years, shows such as Monk, The Riches, Greek, and Eli Stone have all had episodes shot here.
The College has gotten so many requests for crews to film on campus that it has, like everything else in Hollywood, hired an agent. In the case of Occidental, this is a firm called Unreel Locations.
“Unreel Locations works as the liaison between Occidental College and the filming community,” Peg Meehan of Unreel Locations said. “We have worked closely with Mary [Grogan] to address the special needs of the film productions so, when they are interested in filming on campus, we can quickly work out the details with them to make their filming on campus a success.”
On their Web site, Unreel lists Occidental under a category called “Wow Properties.” Meehan and Grogan both listed many reasons why Oxy is such an attractive location for film, TV and commercials. “Oxy being so close to the studios… they [the film and TV productions] love that,” Grogan said.
“It is [a] combination of versatility, convenience and ‘film-friendliness’ that makes Occidental College so popular with Los Angeles production companies,” Meehan said.
One of the main reasons shows and films like to shoot here is that Oxy can pass for almost anywhere. “The campus of [the] College is quite beautiful and has some very distinctive buildings. That, combined with the fact that it can be a stand-in for an anywhere-USA campus, makes it a favorite destination for location filming,” Meehan said. “From a creative standpoint, Occidental’s campus has been filmed as San Francisco (Monk, Eli Stone), Ohio (Greek) and even Rome (in a promotion for the TV series Rome).”
“If you don’t shoot the roofs, we could be anywhere,” Grogan said.
In fact, Grogan is often impressed with the ability of production crews to turn Oxy’s campus into someplace else. “When Eli Stone filmed here, they turned the Olive Grove into a World War II battleground, with bunkers and trenches and everything. It looked wonderful,” she said.
That film crews find our campus so attractive can be something of a badge of honor to students. “I always like to tell people that I go to a school on a movie set,” Alison Pentland (sophomore) said. “I think it reaffirms how awesome Oxy’s campus is, that movie producers and crews choose to come here.”
There is also an undeniable cool factor that comes from seeing the campus on screen. Oxy may attract film crews because the campus is a good stand in for someplace else, but some of the most fun moments for Oxy students come when you can recognize the places they filmed – whether it is watching Adrian Monk (Tony Shaloub) eat in the Marketplace or Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) walk through the Quad.
“It’s awesome watching movies and being able to say, ‘Oh, look- I’ve been there,'” Craig Kaplan (sophomore) said.
As far as any exciting upcoming productions on campus, there is nothing planned at the moment. In keeping with the College’s policy to not film while classes are in session, the next time film crews can shoot at Oxy for an extended period will be winter break, but there is nothing scheduled for that time yet.
“Not a lot of filming is happening in L.A. right now, because movies are going to places where there are better tax incentives or abroad,” Grogan said. “Commercials will start to pick up after the election [right now, the airwaves are jammed up with ads for candidates and propositions]. TV has such a short turnaround-they only get their scripts three weeks before, so there’s not much notice.”
Grogan says she will know more about TV filming opportunities in November or December.
However, Grogan also says that opportunities can be both unexpected and come on short notice. “You just never know,” she said, “You can get a call one day and it’s someone saying Spielberg wants to come.”
A select list of movie productions filmed at Occidental College:
• Collegians (1926) • The College Hero (1927) with Ben Turpin • Horse Feat
hers (1932) with the Marx Brothers • She Loves Me Not (1934) with Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle • Change of Heart (1934) with Janet Gaynor and Ginger Rogers • Pigskin Parade with Judy Garland (1936) • Tiger Roar (1944) with Fred Astaire and Paulette Goddard • That Hagen Girl (1947) with Shirley Temple and Ronald Reagan • Goodbye My Fancy (1951) with Joan Crawford and Robert Young • Pat and Mike (1952) with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy • The Tall Story (1960) with Jane Fonda and Anthony Perkins • Take Her, She’s Mine (1963) with Jimmy Stewart • The Impossible Years (1967) with David Niven • Gumball Rally (1975) with Michael Sarrazin and Gary Busey • Midnight Madness (1980) with Michael J. Fox and PeeWee Herman • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) • Real Genius (1985)• Clueless (1995) with Alicia Silverstone • Jurassic Park 3 (2000) • Orange County (2001) with Colin Hanks and Jack Black • The Holiday (2006) with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Eli Wallach, Jude Law• Made of Honor (2008) with Patrick Dempsey
Select television productions filmed at Occidental College:
• “Beverly Hills 90210” (1993-94) • Dragnet (2002) • The West Wing (2002) • The L Word (2005) • Injustice (2006) • Monk (2006) • The Riches (2007) • Criminal Minds (2007) • Greek (2008)• Eli Stone (2008)Select television movies filmed at Occidental College:• Table for Three (2009)• Fired Up (2009)
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