by Christine Owen
Staff Writer
Anyone driving through downtown Covina is sure to have seen it. It is not hard to miss a spaceship suspended above the skeleton of a restaurant or a UFO Center sign attached to the building that used to be a bank. No, the city of Covina has not taken drastic redecorating measures. What it is doing is allowing 20th Century Fox to use the home turf downtown streets of Citrus and Badillo to film the series “Roswell.”
Filming in downtown Covina began last July and will continue until the middle of April, which is when the season ends. There is no guarantee that the filming will resume again in the summer because the show has yet to be picked up again by the Warner Brothers Network.
According to the Warner Brothers website, the show is based on “Roswell High,” a book series by Melinda Metz, and takes place in the New Mexico town made famous by the supposed crash of an alien spacecraft in 1947. “Roswell” follows the lives of three teenagers who have hidden their extra terrestrial identities behind human facades.
The series is produced by writer/executive producer Jason Katims (“My So-Called Life”), director/executive producer David Nutter (“The X-Files”), Jonathan Frakes (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”), Kevin Kelly Brown (“Soul of the Game”) and Lisa J. Olin (the upcoming “Total Recall” sequel).
“Roswell” has been airing on the Warner Brothers Network on Wednesdays at 9 p.m., but in an attempt to boost ratings, the show will swap places with “Felicity,” which currently airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. Four new shows were released at the beginning of last season, however, only two airtime spots are available for next season. “Angel”, the “Buffy” spin-off, has already nabbed one of the available spots, which leaves “Jack & Jill,” “Popular” and “Roswell” to vie for the remaining spot. The two shows that do not get picked up by the network will inevitably be canceled.
The sporadic episode shootings that take place bring increased foot traffic to downtown Covina, which results in increased business for such places as Gardengate Needlepoint and Coffee Shop, located at the core of the filming action. Although motor traffic is temporarily halted while segments are being filmed, curious onlookers are allowed to watch, but held at bay by hired security guards.
J.R. McGrath, who makes coffee drinks at Gardengate as a part-time job, said that while they are filming, crowds of people congregate outside his store because it is right across from the action.
“It [filming] affects business greatly,” McGrath said, stating that practically the entire production staff has wandered over at one time or another to order drinks.
“It really boosts our business because we have the entire crew, actors/actresses coming in to order coffee drinks,” McGrath said.
In regards to meeting the actors/actresses, McGrath said that “the guys are cool, the girls seem to be a little stuck up.” He said he has met “all of them” as they often come over to the eager fans during filming breaks to sign autographs and take pictures.
Ranae Graham, owner of Southwest Constructors (electrical contractors), had the unique opportunity of renting to the filming company for the filming one of the “Roswell” episodes. Graham owns a warehouse just off of Citrus, which attracted attention because it was a “very large, open building,” she said.
Graham said she was approached by a property management employee (who worked for the series) that walked into her office and asked if she would be interested in renting the building for two days.
“We negotiated a fee and they rented it out,” Graham said.
Of the two days spent shooting, one day was needed for the crew to set up and shoot, and the next day was used to clean up, although no major transformations occurred in the building. “We just had to take the trucks out. Everything else we shoved back into the shelf areas,” Graham said.
Describing the whole experience as “very interesting to see,” Graham was surprised at the length of the clip that was actually aired on television. “The part that was filmed here was on television maybe one minute, and they were in the building actually filming probably four hours,” she said.
The segment filmed in Graham’s business was that of a garage area where a band was practicing. During the filming, when one of the actresses failed to show up, Graham’s receptionist was asked to get her hair and makeup done in order to assume the role. Sebrina Gutierrez, 23, said that she came just to watch one day when one of the girls who was a ‘feature’ did not show up and they needed someone last minute. Gutierrez said she was paid to play a small, non-speaking role as the girlfriend of one of the actors.
“The part I played was a feature, I’m still an extra, but I’m a little bit more than an extra,” she said. “Extras usually don’t have their hair and makeup done.”
Gutierrez, who had never had this type of experience before, said that while the experience was “really exciting,” it is “not something she would pursue.”
Although no filming has ever taken place at her business before, Graham said that approximately 15-25 years ago when the series “Knight Rider” was being filmed in Covina, lunch was served inside her warehouse to the cast and crew on a rainy day. The appeal for the warehouse might be because the building is “old and kind of unique.”
Graham said she was pleased with the experience as a whole and would rent out her building again.
“Roswell” fans wanting to see the action up close have a short 15-20 minute drive from the University of La Verne. Taking the I-10 west and exiting north on Citrus Ave. is the most direct route to the filming and sets.
Christine Owen
