THIS BLOG POST IS FOR "ARROW" SEASON 6 EPISODE 23  "Life Sentence" AND MAY CONTAIN POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE.
ALSO additional - Episode 22 spoiler as well.
If you have not seen the episode, and do not want to see or read possible spoilers about it prior to seeing it, do not continue reading the article or viewing the photos below.
 
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last warning
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A reminder I didn't think I had to post since its stated on the side of the page... but if you are going to post photos from this INCLUDE THE LINK TO THE POST with it...and don't use all of them. A maximum of FOUR (4) photos please.

As April winds down most TV shows film their season finales, and The CW superhero series Arrow was no different. I will post this BEFORE I get into describing what I saw (and in a rare departure for me... I will also comment on what I am aware of that I didnt see shot). I am going to state that I was simply going to post the photos, and let you, the audience try and decide the context. HOWEVER, after a crew member on set purposefully tried to prevent me from taking photos AFTER him & I had reached an agreement on when to shoot & when not to with an RCMP officer witnessing the entire conversation. My respect for a crew that I have found over the last two seasons to be more & more aggressive, bordering on abusive a couple times is done.

So as you will see in the shots below, Arrow filmed a scene at the "Star City Metro" Police Department at Burnaby City Hall. It had Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, Jack Moore as William Clayton, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak and Sydelle Noel as FBI Agent Samandra Watson, as well as a handful media, generic FBI & U.S. Marshal members. The scene played out with the FBI leading Oliver out in handcuffs, with awaiting media there. Oliver makes a brief statement, before being hauled away while William & Felicity follow behind. After that scene, which was Emilys last scene of the season, the crew moved to a different part of Burnaby City Hall to film more scenes.

This scene was interesting to me for a couple reasons, since I know in episode 22 Oliver "makes a deal" with the Feds.... so why the big dramatics in ep 23?

As I said, the crew were being uncooperative with me, even after an agreement had been reached, so there was very little for me to shoot. The 8 photos you see below, are really the best there was of the 21 photos I managed to take in total (those of you who have followed my blog for awhile know its rare I even have sets I post HERE under 21 photos.... so to only have take 21 total is a sign of how difficult this location was).

Later that night, they shot a couple more scenes. Nothing as juicy as that first one. But one was a pretty epic scene for the fact of who was in it. Stephen shot his last scene of the season, with an actor that I do believe is leaving the show permanently based on things I know now. He shot a scene with Paul Blackthorne where Quentin Lance was talking to Diaz while Oliver watched. Of course the suspicion has been for awhile that Quentin might be getting the big send off due to the fact the show has to cut little meat from the bones for the re-negotiations of the cast for season 7. I can NOT say for sure that he was killed off, but by Stephens cryptic tweet, as well as Pauls curious instagram post, and the fact Caity Lotz flew in to film 1 day of work in "hospital" setting for 2 scenes... things dont look good for the current Mayor.

Also, as a random side detail. I ran into 2 cast from the show at the movies the same night I shot that set. I congratulated them on a season 7, and asked 1 (I was assuming the other would be) of them if he was coming back, and he said "yes". That makes me believe NTA (New Team Arrow... the team name given to Curtis/Mister Terrific, Rene/Wid Dog & Dinah/Black Canary by the fandom for those of you not up to date on all of that.) will be back in season 7 in some capacity.

For other behind the scene blog posts of Arrow go HERE
For Arrow autographs gallery go HERE

Arrow season 6 airs Thursday on The CW in the U.S. and CTV in Canada.

THIS BLOG POST IS FOR "ARROW" SEASON 6 EPISODE 21  "Docket No. 11-19-41-73" AND MAY CONTAIN POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE.
If you have not seen the episode, and do not want to see or read possible spoilers about it prior to seeing it, do not continue reading the article or viewing the photos below.
 
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last warning
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A reminder I didn't think I had to post since its stated on the side of the page... but if you are going to post photos from this INCLUDE THE LINK TO THE POST with it...and dont use all of them.

A little over a week ago, I caught up to the Arrow cast & crew shooting scenes for episode 621 in front of the Vancouver Courthouse. As you may have already read in my prior post, they shot scenes later in the day with some very well hidden, partially top soecret cast. But earlier in the day, there was another shoot around the side of the building from that scene.

Arrow shot scenes on the stairs of the Vancouver Art Gallery on their Robson Street side early in the day before many people were really up & about. The scenes started off with Kirk Acevedo as Ricardo Diaz walking out of the Star City Courthouse greeted by his driver/bodyguard & walks to his vehicle.

A bit later they shot scenes of the stunt team, with former B.C. Lions star Tommy Europe as John Diggle, Ivett Gonda as Dinah Drake and Shawn Robidoux as Diaz, doing scenes where Diggle & Dinah rough up Diaz and his driver before Diggle has a chat with him.

Then they shot scenes with David Ramsey & Juliana Harkavy on set with Kirk Acevedo. The scene mostly centred on Diggle grabbing Diaz, shoving him up against his truck and having a very unfriendly chat with him while Dinah looks on.... but that ends abruptly when officers from the courthouse & the SCPD come out with guns drawn and face them at Diggle.. Diaz smugly gets into his vehicle, and leaves with Diggle & Dinah standing around in disappointment while he drives away.

As those who saw the first blog post might have clued in to already, it seems based on this scene as well, John Diggle has taken up working with New Team Arrow as he did a scene with Dinah Drake, and later with Wild Dog where he was working with them.

With Oliver still in court in this episode, it makes some sense that if Dig is going to turn to anyone for help with anything, it would be NTA, but up till the airing of tonights episode.... there was no sign that was going to happen at all. The last we had seen, NTA was still not welcoming of Diggle. So it will be interesting to see when those fences get mended, and how.

I may have a short video of this that I might post later when I have more time. So check back later to see if its been added.

For other behind the scene blog posts of Arrow go HERE
For Arrow autographs gallery go HERE

Arrow season 6 airs Thursday on The CW in the U.S. and CTV in Canada.

THIS BLOG POST IS FOR "ARROW" SEASON 6 EPISODE 21  "Docket No. 11-19-41-73" AND MAY CONTAIN POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE.
If you have not seen the episode, and do not want to see or read possible spoilers about it prior to seeing it, do not continue reading the article or viewing the photos below.
 
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last warning
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A couple weeks ago, I was at the airport scouting for someone coming in when I stumbled across a different person coming in than I was expecting. A driver for Arrow picked up someone I hadnt seen her in awhile (in fact when I first saw him I couldnt quite figure out who it was.... but after passing the info off to someone else, got the answer later).

Arrow had summoned the master of disguise Christopher Chance to return to Star City. Will Traval had come back in to Vancouver to reprise his character as the Human Target that was in 1 episode of season 5 when he pretended to be Oliver Queen.

Earlier this month I caught Arrow out and about at the Vancouver Art Gallery. This was a VERY unusual shoot for a TV show on a network show. While the shoot they did earlier in the day was very by the book, this one was nothing short of odd.

First was the fact that the crew scurried around with a handful of umbrellas trying to protect the identity of two people in the scene. ... and not even main cast. They were so aggressive doing it, that on multiple counts they had so many umbrellas in the actors way, the actors were forced to look at the ground just to see where they were walking. They were forcing the actors to even wear big puffy winter jackets....inside the transportation vans. It was quite literally, an overkill that you wouldnt even see on the most protective film sets. To their credit, they prevented me from getting any really great shots of the two guests that were on set. Of course, already knowing who one was, all I really was trying to figure out was who was the 2nd one. As I posted on twitter, I really didnt get a great shot of her. Just a breif fuzzy shot of her in her mask sitting in her transportation vehicle. At this time, I still havent heard who it is. I will revise this if/when its solved. A funnier part was, they let the shows two actual main cast walk through the courtyard of the art gallery unprotected, and simply let them fend for themselves..... until they got to the actual location of the set, then they tried to cover them up too. It was, like I said, a really bizarre situation. I have to wonder how annoyed the actors must have been, having to try and focus on their jobs, and play these absurd games that the crew wanted them to partake in. Cant imagine they were thrilled about having to wear big oversized jackets inside a van for 1/2 an hour to an hour JUST so someone might not see them. Or having to go to & from their location with a mob of umbrellas around them. Sure hope this didnt affect their focus on their work.

When they finally DID start shooting, the scene was pretty simple. A Star City Police van driven by David Ramsey as John Diggle, with Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez in the back drove down the street with the two mystery people (Traval and masked girl) buried so deep in the back, I never actually saw them in any of the photos I took.... despite the fact I physically saw them get IN the van.  If someone with better eyes than me sees someone in there, feel free to point it out to me and I will see if I can find a frame with a clearer shot of them.

The interesting take away from this scene that a lot of big Arrow fans might notice, Diggle working with a member of New Team Arrow. There will be even more on that in my next blog from this shoot about a scene that was shot earlier in the day of this shoot.

For other behind the scene blog posts of Arrow go HERE
For Arrow autographs gallery go HERE

Arrow season 6 airs Thursday on The CW in the U.S. and CTV in Canada.

THIS BLOG POST IS FOR "ARROW" SEASON 6 EPISODE 12 or 13 AND MAY CONTAIN POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE.
If you have not seen the episode, and do not want to see or read possible spoilers about it prior to seeing it, do not continue reading the article or viewing the photos below.
 
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last warning
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Last month I caught Arrow out and about shortly before they went on Holiday break in the downtown eastside/Gastown area of Vancouver.

Below are photos & video of the scene being shot.

The scene they were shooting on this day was pretty basic, with no dialogue happening. It simply had Team Arrow member Quentin Lance (played by Paul Blackthorne) walking along a street looking at his phone, being followed by earth 2 Laurel Lance, aka Black Siren (played by Katie Cassidy).

The scene played out with Quentin walking along, at 1 point he seems to hold his phone over his shoulder as if trying to see who is behind him, but whether or not he sees the doppleganger of his late daughter is unsure, as Laurel hastily runs for cover when she notices. Immediately after she hides, an SCPD cruiser goes by as well with its lights on.

Is Quentin trying to trap Laurel, or Laurel trying to trap Quentin? I guess we will need to wait a few more weeks to find out for certain. This also was important in that this was the first public shoot Katie Cassidy had done after the death of her own real life father two weeks earlier. While during a short break, I managed to get a couple autographs from Katie, and I passed along my condolences to her, and she thanked me for stating so.

For other behind the scene blog posts of Arrow go HERE
For Arrow autographs gallery go HERE

Arrow retuens from the holiday break Thursday for the mid-season premiere of season 6 on The CW in the U.S. and CTV in Canada.

THIS BLOG POST IS FOR "ARROW" SEASON 6 EPISODE 7 "THANKSGIVING" AND MAY CONTAIN POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE.
If you have not seen the episode, and do not want to see or read possible spoilers about it prior to seeing it, do not continue reading the article or viewing the photos below.
 
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last warning
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Arrow shot scenes for their 7th episode of season 6 in downtown Vancouver at the former Canada Post sorting facility. The structure, which closed as a postal outlet a year or so ago, has been primarily a secondary studio for a variety of television shows since then, including the likes of all the DC CW Arrowverse shows, and several others. While the structure is used mainly for interior scenes because of its large spacious design and ability to house all the equipment trucks a production needs, some productions, including on this day, Arrow, use its exterior.

On this particular day, Arrow used it as a Star City Police Headquarters (guess after the last one went boom in the season premiere last night they needed a new one). On hand for a Thanksgiving related food drive were Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, Juliana Harkavy as Dinah Drake, Jack Moore as William Clayton and Paul Blackthorne as Quentin Lance... just a few days later, Paul did a charity swim with sharks to raise awareness for them.

A few scenes were shot there, including 1 where Felicity was talking to a mystery woman that seemed to be a reporter. While that was going on, there also seemed to be a scene going on with Oliver & Quentin down in the middle of the tented up food drive area.

A bit later a scene was shot with Felicity and Oliver arriving, meeting up, talking to William, before being interrupted by Quentin to join them elsewhere. Another scene after that saw Oliver, William and Felicity standing on a podium where Oliver made a very short speech before leaving.

They proceeded to shoot for a bit longer after that, but with a plethora of shots already of the scene, I opted to leave.

For other behind the scene blog posts of Arrow go HERE
For Arrow autographs gallery go HERE

Arrow airs Thursdays for season 6 on The CW in the U.S. and CTV in Canada.

THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS PHOTOS AND POSSIBLE SPOILERS ABOUT THE SEASON 6 PREMIERE OF "ARROW". If you have not watched this episode yet, ad do not want to see or read any possible spoilers about it..... do not continue reading or viewing the photos below.
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last warning
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Arrow started filming season 6 of Arrow last month in a few locations. The two that I caught up to them at was in North Vancouver, in Princess Park that they were using as part of Lian Yu.

On set that day was everyone that we saw at the end of season 5 who were on the island actively trying to get out together. People I saw on set that day included Emily Bett Rickards, Willa Holland, David Ramsey, Echo Kellum, Juliana Harkavy, Manu Bennett and Anna Hopkins. I DID NOT see Katrina Law, but I did see a person dressed as Nyssa al Ghul there. I also never saw Katie Cassidy, Lexa Doig or Madison McLaughlin there.

All that said, who I saw, and didnt see does not mean 1 way or the other who did or didnt die in the episode, as much of what they filmed on this day was simply showing what everyone did in the final minutes before Adrian Chase threw a Donald Trump sized temper tantrum & blew up an entire island. I do know from things I do know about this episode and others so far, 1 person from the lists above is in a coma, and as of the time of writing this, nothing has changed with the character coming out of it, or being killed off yet. I suppose if/when they finally decide that will decide if/when the cast member playing the character decides on returning or not.

I managed to get some autographs that day from Anna Hopkins and Manu Bennett, despite crew being overly pushy about insisting they were "in a hurry" (despite the fact the minivan she said was in a hurry to leave sat there for another 4-5 minutes afterwards)

The area they filmed in was so well concealed by ravines and forest that it took quite a bit of effort to even find ANY shred of area that I could see the scene from. While I could hear pretty much everything that happened, my visibility was limited to two small cracks between some trees.... thus why the limited selection of photos I managed to get. Much of the scene had the cast running, so the only chance to really get a shot of them was after they were done running. 

The best shots I got were of Emily Bett Rickards when she was finished shooting the entire scene, and wasnt in a rush to get back to her starting spot. In the pics, you can see Felicity is clearly covered in a variety of scratches.

After they changed the set up for the scene, I seemingly lost the spot I had as a crew member was then there stopping people from trying to see from there..... so i moved on for that day.

The only shot I know anyone got that day of Manu Bennett on set as Deathstroke was from twitter user @ArizonaJake

A few days later, I managed to catch up to Arrow shooting a scene on the Georgia viaduct. Tis is of course the same viaduct they used for that impressive Deathstroke army marching into Starling City back in season 2. On this day, they had several of the cast there shooting a variety of scenes on the bridge. While most of the shooting while I was there consisted of two actresses and their stunt doubles doing a fighting scene, others were in fact there, and did film at various times.... albeit, mostly after I left.

Katie Cassidy, Julia Harkavy, Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Echo Kellum & Paul Blackthorne were all seen on set, along with most of their stunt doubles as well.

The majority of shooting took place with Harkavy, Cassidy & their stunt doubles. Below, at the bottom, is a quick video of 1 of the takes of the stunt team working thru the sequence.

A special bonus..... a rare guest photographer. Local photographer Lightbox Gallery allowed me to use a few of his photos from the day.. You will notice the difference almost immediately between my shots, done with a $500 camera, and his, done with a $3000-5000 camera.  You can find other photos hes taken of different celebs on his Twitter and on his Instagram

While he did miss some of the stuff with Juliana and Katie out on set battling, he did get quite a few great shots, including a couple of Stephen, who I somehow never even noticed was on set at that time.

Arrow returns to The CW in the U.S. and on CTV in Canada on October 12 ,2017
You can also find my other behind the scenes Arrow blog posts going all the way back to season 1 HERE
You can find my Arrow Autographs gallery HERE