THIS BLOG POST IS FOR "ARROW" SEASON 8 EPISODE 1 titled "Starling City".
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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PLEASE NOTE - Photo limits are in place for website use/social media posts.
PLEASE MAKE YOURSELF FAMILIAR WITH THE NEW GUIDELINES POSTED
HERE.
I will not be responsible for your ignorance. If I file a takedown notice on you, it really is on you for not educating yourself. If you are confused on how many you can post, ASK FIRST, and I will let you know.

Yesterday I caught Arrow filming in a new studio that is literally known as "The Fortress". I hd been there a couple times in the past, but was unaware of why shows were using it so much,as I assumed it was just some business building that they were using for a day. But instead, it is 1 of the new crop of little 1 off studios across the Lower Mainland that has popped up in the past few years. This former bank has the structural integrity to withstand some of the film industries more tougher stunts to pull off, as I was told yesterday while there, they have even crashed a helicopter into the roof of it.

On this day, the Arrow cast and crew were using it for scenes for their 1st episode of their last season. Obviously because of the fact everything was shot inside this structure, nothing about the specific scenes is known.

But some things are known about who was there.
Through out the morning & early afternoon, and late evening (I left for a few hours after lunch break) a variety of cast were seen by myself. Stephen Amell was walking to & from the set in half of his Green Arrow costume, and stopped to meet fans several times throughout the day. I also saw Rick Gonzalez at lunch, and briefly got to meet Katherime McNamara for my first time at a set. But the "I wasnt expecting to see you so soon" moment of the day came as former Arrow star, turned Chicago Med star, now back for quick drop in on Arrow, Colin Donnell. An article had come out just a couple hours before seeing him saying he would be back, and lo & behold there he was. But Tommy Merlyn looked a little different than the one we used to know, sporting a full beard. Oh that reminds me, 1 other thing I saw that I can not quite put my finger on what it means yet is... during lunch 2 stunt men in Green Arrow attire came out, 1 looking like how Oliver did, the other, had a big fake black beard on. make of that what you want. I have theories, but I wont post theories here.

We also saw a blond girl go in at one point that seemed to be wearing a mask. The person that was there with me when they went in thought it could be Katie Cassidy, and I was unable to confirm if it was her or not, but you can try to judge for yourself by the pics I added below. That said, I did hear two people for the cast referenced by crew while I was there. Katie Cassidy being one, the other was "Josh" who could be Josh Segarra, as he was also announced as returning in the same article as Colin was mentioned in.

When I returned later. Some fans were now there, and they pieced together to us what they had seen while we were gone. The only actors they had seen while we were gone were Stephen again, aaaaaaand John Barrowman? Now I was not there to confirm if what they say tey saw is a fact, but the fan I was talking to was well versed in his Arrowverse knowledge, so I feel confident he was not mistaken.

Could the returns for Colin, Josh and others be Crisis On Infinite Earths related? I guess we will have to wait and see.

At the end of the evening, we saw 3 cast leave as Andrea Sixtos, Joseph David Jones and Katherine McNamara all left together, and shortly behind them we saw the director of the episode, James Bamford also leave.

Arrow season 8 will premiere in October on The CW in the U.S.

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

THIS BLOG POST IS FOR "ARROW" SEASON 7 EPISODE 20 AND MAY CONTAIN POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON.
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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A reminder... DO NOT attempt to post the video to your own social media accounts or website WITHOUT using this blog posts link directly, or the original youtube link. Re-uploading it ANYWHERE and not simply linking to the original post will have it removed, and depending on the platform, could have your account suspended or terminated.

The cast & crew of Arrow was shooting scenes for episode 720 last month in East Vancouver at a church. As most of you already know from the photo set I posted back when it was shot HERE there was several cast there, including a returning cast member that we had only seen this year so far in flash forward scenes.

Of course, all the current day heroes were on set. Stephen Amell as Green Arrow, David Ramsey as Spartan, Rick Gonzalez as Wild Dog, and Juliana Harkavy as Black Canary were on set. Joining them was Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak..... but ALSO with the team was Colton Haynes as Arsenal.

This is 1 quick clip of the gang going into the "Star City Metro subway system" and them coming back out.  First time this season (assuming he doesn't show up prior) that we will see Roy Harper in modern day scenes, let alone dressed up as Arsenal.

Of course, at the time of the set, fans of Felicity were thrilled to see her out & about, because they were happy to see the writers weren't going have her be "house ridden" on screen because of her characters pregnancy. But now.... looks like this might be one of the last hurrahs for her character out in the field.

Arrow season 8 will be the final season. Arrow season 7 returns from their hiatus on April 15th, 2019 on The CW in the U.S. (I'd link to their page on the site, as I used to... but it is LITERALLY pointless now, because they just put up a big black screen saying you cant watch unless your American. Morons made that decision, literal, morons.)

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

THIS BLOG POST IS FOR "ARROW" SEASON 7 EPISODE 20 titled "Confessions".
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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PLEASE NOTE - New Photo limits are in place for website use/social media posts.
PLEASE MAKE YOURSELF FAMILIAR WITH THE NEW GUIDELINES POSTED
HERE.
I will not be responsible for your ignorance. If I file a takedown notice on you, it really is on you for not educating yourself. If you are confused on how many you can post, ASK FIRST, and I will let you know.

Last night I caught Arrow out and about in East Vancouver on a rare out of the downtown location for me to check out. With the sad announcement recently that Arrow is ending next season, and the all too rare chances to see Arrow on location in the past couple years since they have built up their studio sets so much. I felt I should take the chance and check it out.

Below are photos & video (video will be up at a later date) of the scene being shot.

There was not a lot going on in the scenes I saw. The first scene MIGHT have included cast, but if they were there, they were so deeply tucked in to the area the camera was aiming that you could not see them. It mostly seemed to consist of Star City Emergency personnel handling some type of situation at the Star City Metro (after the 100s of times our skytrain has gone by in the background of their scenes, they finally acknowledge they have their own service) as onlookers and media waited to see what happened.

A bit later, they did a scene where The Vigilante Task Force, also known as Team Arrow shows up and goes inside the Metro building. Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, David Ramsey as John Diggle/ Spartan, Juliana Harkavy as Dinah Drake/ Black Canary and Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez/ Wild Dog were all there in their full costumes. As well Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak was along with the gang on this adventure.

But at you surely noticed in the intro photo above, there was ONE MORE costumed hero.... Colton Haynes, as Roy Harper/ Arsenal was with the team. Everyone has been waiting for his return to the present day scenes, and now we have confirmation he will  be back eventually in present day. The question now is..... where is Thea?

Also, snagged a couple quick pics for the Olicity fans out there of Stephen and Emily talking between scenes.

There might be a few more photos later, as well, a video to post. But for now, here is your 1st look at Colton Hayes as Arsenal back on Arrow set.

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

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 CONTAINS PHOTOS & A SCENE DESCRIPTION FOR "ARROW" EPISODE 511 "Second Chances". If you have not seen this episode yet and do not want to see or read possible spoilers, do not continue reading or viewing the photos below.
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Back on November 8, 2016 I finally caught up with the cast & crew of "Arrow" shooting a scene in season 5. Over the past two seasons the shows has found itself out on location downtown less and less as they have started relying hravily on shooting in & around their studios to save money (and conveniently, keep it out of the sight of the public).

On this day, they shot a scene in the Smile Diner (a location thats been used by many shows (& 1 iconic Kokanee commercial when they kill off the Kokanee Ranger) over the years. On this day, it was transformed into a Big Belly Burger. As far as I know, this is the first time on any of the shows that there has been an actual on location place for a Big Belly Burger. On this particular day, it was a BBB in Hub City. At a table we found Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen, Rick Gonzalez as Rene Ramirez and Echo Kellum as Curtis Holt chatting while a waitress from BBB brought them their orders. Notably absent was Joe Dinicol, and of course Madison McLaughlin, who hasnt filmed in several weeks now (is she M.I.A or is she D.O.A?)

Maybe the one thing I hate more than shooting night scenes is shooting day scenes on a busy street through glass. The amount of reflection off them is atrocious.  But you have to work with whats given to you in this hobby/business, so I did. Not much to take from the scene, except that they were talking about .... something. Could it be the new member of the team they were out in Hub City looking for? Or could it be about how Artemis isnt in the scene? I guess we will have to wait to see.

After their shoot, I was the recipient of some good fortune, as the transportation vehicle that picked up Echo and Rick in a compound like parking lot behind the restaraunt, had the misfortune of getting blocked in at the end of their alley as they tried to leave by a delivery vehicle. With the window rolled down, I asked Echo if he could sign, and he actually got out of the vehicle and signed. Shortly after a crew member that was also in the vehichle got out, and I noticed Rick Gonzalez sitting in the back. I got him to sign too and then moved along only to run into Stephen Amell coming back from the lunch truck a couple moments later, and got him to sign a few items too. I then headed off for a bit since I knew they were going to lunch break for a couple hours.

When I returned they had moved to an alley that leads into the alley behind the restaraunt they were at. In the alley was the "Green Arrow" (never saw him standing or from the front, so unsure if it was Stephen or his new stunt double.) and 2 actresses both dressed the same. One was Juliana Harkavy, the newest addition to the Arrowverse as "Tina", and the other, her stunt double. Just like the Green Arrow I saw, I never saw either of them from the front, so unsure which was which. Shortly after they all moved into a small parking lot off the alley that was impssobile to get any view of and they shot scenes were GA tries to convince Tina that there is a better way to do things. This is essentially the START of her being brought into Team Arrow I think.

Included with the pics of the cast on set, is some cool pics from the exterior and interior of the Big Belly Burger location before the crews started tearing it down.

After a couple takes, I realized there was little to nothing to see there and headed home.

Arrow airs Wednesday nights on The CW in the U.S. and on CTV in Canada.

You can catch my other BTS Arrow blog posts HERE
You can see my Arrow autographs HERE