Recently, the USA Network held a vote for fans to pick an episode that the show Psych would film.

One of the choices was where Shawn & Gus open their own Food Truck after the murder of a food truck owner to try & catch the culprit. It wasnt MY 1st choice. But it certainly seemed like everyone elses... and even though it somehow didnt win, they still made the episode.

Recently I caught them filming scenes for this episode in an area of South False Creek in Vancouver that I literally didnt even know existed. 

They filmed there for 3 days. Two days 1 week, then another day the next week. I missed the 1st day, but caught them there the other 2 days.

On the 1st day I was there...  I saw Shawn (James Roday) & Gus (Dule Hill) doing a variety of scenes in a food truck court. While many of the scenes were of the pair going up to other food trucks and talking to their vendors. The 1 I found best, was the 1 I heard best.

The 1st scene I saw done had Shawn & Gus, walking along offering free samples of their admittedly, delicious sounding foods (I wont spoil what it is, but imagine thanksgiving in a fried ball) to passer-bys when they are confronted by an angry fitness club owner (played by Sean Tyson) & a witty, Psych-esque banter takes place with the 3 before the fitness club owner forces Shawn & Gus to leave.

I've been to a lot of Psych sets over the time here & rarely do I ever find the scenes they shoot to be overly amusing (mainly because you rarely get to hear TOO much of whats being said) but this one made me smile a lot & took every ounce of my self control to not break out laughing on the set a few times.

Later on in the day they did some scenes at a few of the food trucks of Shawn & Gus asking different trucks owners questions & of course, trying their foods.

I found some of the names of the food trucks were brilliantly funny too. Whoever spent the time coming up with some of these names, genius.
India.Are.We, Meat & Mrs. Jones, In The Vegan-Ing, Gangsta Wraps & Mash&Grab (which Shawn & Gus are with) just some of the names I had a good chuckle at. 

The menu at Mash&Grab was absolutely priceless as well. My friend took a photo of the entire menu and I nearly cried from laughter reading them.

I dont know who the woman in the Food Truck pictured is, but she had to be someone, as she got shuttled back with a cast vehicle & not with the extras. Also, I saw Kirsten Nelson at the set, but she never seemed to be in a scene. Perhaps just passing by & stopped to say hi to her cast & crewmates? Also saw 1 of the main writers Saladin Patterson on set.

I will have more from this episode soon. Including some other cast on set for scenes in the same food truck court, and a notable spoiler from the episode.

THIS POST CONTAINTS NOTABLE SPOILERS FROM LAST NIGHTS FINALE OF AMC'S "THE KILLING". Do not read if you have yet to watch the episode & don't want any spoilers.
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last warning
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So last night the season 3 finale of the AMC crime-drama "The Killing" was on. We finally got to the bottom of who was the Pied Piper, the person killing street kids & Trisha Seward.

In the end, Linden got her man......LITERALLY!

After going thru an assortment of Seattle's seediest people & Pastor Mike, the finale lead us down 1 more rabbit hole in Reddick before we came across the guilty mass murderer, Lieutenant James Skinner.

For weeks, many had the killer narrowed down to "either a cop or a corrections officer" and while that was a broad net to cast, since that entailed 1/2 the suspects, it made sense & in the end, was accurate.

As usual, the acting in last nights finale was stellar. The scene where Linden finally pieces together its Skinner, wow. You could almost literally read it going thru her mind, her processing the details, there was the shock, denial, confusion and eventually absolute certainty that the man she had been sleeping with was also the killer of at 21 (or more, he admitted there was more they would never find) girls.

The show was not with out flaws for me. I was a bit disappointed we didn't get our "Larsen family watching a video Rosie made" moment of closure for anyone. Danette, Kallie's mom, still doesn't know where her daughter is, although we all know now she is certainly dead as Skinners daughter had her ring. That was the only thing of note I thought was missing that season 2 had. If the writers really appreciate their fans, they will slip in 2 minutes into the season 4 (yes, I am cautiously optimistic it will happen) premiere to tie this loose end up. Get that woman her closure.

I also wasn't a fan of the IA scenes with Holder. I doubt if Skinner put in a complaint only an hour earlier they would have already come in & grabbed him without even talking to Reddick about it first. That felt unbelievable to me. But it gave Holder a chance to be his clever smart ass self. His trick to get Reddick back to the station by claiming there was a bomb in his car, brilliant. I laughed at his ability to think outside the box. It also helped advance the storyline when Holder realized Skinner was the killer, and managed to coerce Reddick to go look for Adrian while he tried to track down Linden & Skinner.

Of course there was some redemption. The Keystone Cop turned out to actually be a capable officer in the end. Carl Reddick, after making everyone hate him all season comes thru in the finale & finds missing Adrian Seward alive & well ( at least physically.). He even manage da couple great wisecrack remarks.

I felt some confusion as well. The Twitch & Lyric scenes left me unsure where that would lead. Twitch seemed willing to finally put his past behind him as we see him throw away a bag of drugs. Yet the last we see of Lyric, who seemed to be getting her life together as she now had an actual job, was smiling at a guy who clearly was looking to pick up a prostitute.

I thought it was interesting that this season ended with Linden making a massive error in judgment. I liked it. The reason, I just think its good to have cops with human emotion. They don't always make the right decisions. They too can be overwhelmed by emotions. She did, and it will be interesting to see how that's dealt with between now & season 4.

Season 3 of The Killing was, in my mind, even better than seasons 1 & 2. Although I felt the actual finale episode was a tad imperfect, the overall season was pretty much flawless to me. I REALLLLLLY hope whatever deal Netflix has with AMC to produce more episodes of The Killing already has a season 4 in there.

Below is an assortment of photos I took this season on the set of The Killing....Of course there was some Linden & Holder pics. But I also managed to catch Bullet, Adrian, Reddick & Skinner on set over the season. Including a few from the finale.

You can find all my photos from this season here http://canadagraphs.weebly.com/6/category/the%20killing/1.html

As I'm typing this, the 2013 Leo Awards are going on at the Westin Bayshore Hotel & Convention Centre n Vancouver. I will have a run down of the eveing & the red carpet arrivals later this weekend.

I decided to put editing photos off for a bit, so I can bring you a short, exclusive quick 1 minute chat I had with Ben Cotton about his current role as the seemingly do-good Pastor for the street kids on season 3 of AMC's The Killing "Pastor Mike".

I knew going in, he wasnt going to let any show secrets go, but it didnt mean I couldnt ask. Mostly just his experience worrking on the show & with the street kid characters.

I've been a fan of Bens for a while. First caught my eye on "Harper's Island", then on "Hellcats". If you ever get to see his adult themed mockumentary puppet movie "Sunflower Hour" (so far still not available on DVD anywhere, or Netflix....WHY??) you must, its worth the time. I was really excited to see him added on to The Killing because I know how good he is, and was hoping he wouldnt be a quick 1-2 episode cast off on the show. With him portraying Pastor Mike, a character that a LOT of the fans on different boards are suspecting could be the killer...its safe to say, he'll be around a lot more this season.

Ben is a nominee at the 2013 Leo Awards as a Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama - for his role in "In No Particular Order" & Best Performance by a Male in a Short Drama for "Late"

By now, if you are a fan of any of the TV programs done in Vancouver, or even just a fan of TV & movies in general. You have heard or read about the uproar in the filming community of British Columbia over the fact the current Premier of the Province, Christy Clark, has essentially washed her hands of the multi-billion dollar industry & is happily letting it die. More disturbing, she has gone as far as to have facebook comments protesting this decision deleted from her facebook page...by the 100s & maybe even now 1000s.

A website devoted to screecapping & cataloguing the deleted posts http://www.ninja12.com/cc/
is so long, I couldn't read it all in 1 sitting (and its a read worth reading)

An article early this morning by political journalist Bob Mackin http://www.biv.com/article/20130110/BIV0103/130119995
caught the eye of many, especially in the industry. The groundswell of anger & frustration from the deleted comments moved into a plan of action, as tweets, tumblr posts and of course a petition were created to demand action from Christy Clark.

Currently, the petition
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/SAVE_BC_FILM/?wgxOzcb
(yes, I generally mock online petitions...but it is still a way to make your voice heard) has garnered over 3,500 signatures in about 24 hrs. It's goal is 10000 signatures, and at its current pace, probably will get there by tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest. From the handful of times I stared at names rolling across the screen of recent signees, mostly Canadian, I saw many connected to the B.C. filming industry that I was familiar with lke Callum Keith Rennie, Crystal Lowe, Erica Cerra, Tanya Hubbard and Frank Cassini scrolled down the ticker in the time I watched. I saw a few others, who work behind the scenes, whose names I recognize also pop up. These are not millionaire actors who are griping over losing a couple thousand dollars. These are people making a barely livable wage in this province, and more specifically VANCOUVER, recently called the most expensive city in North America, angry that she wants to eliminate their jobs all together.

For every Jensen Ackles, Jennifer Morrison, Robert Carlyle or Joshua Jackson making millions annually from the B.C. film industry, theres 100s more who make not much more than you or I, put in far longer hours than you or I (I often talk to crew on set who have put in 16+ hour days...then do it again the very next day) & do not have the luxury to just fly off to Los Angeles, Toronto or New York when things dry up here. They have families, secondary jobs, small businesses (many in the industry have invested heavily into it with businesses HERE that will surely have to close up if the industry continues failing) & responsibilities HERE.

Tweets from actors & actresses on the Save B.C. Film Campaign

"Primeval New World" actress Crystal Lowe
https://twitter.com/RealCrystalLowe/status/290562419875528704
"Eureka" actress Erica Cerra (2 tweets)
https://twitter.com/AirikahChaira/status/290526320335659009
https://twitter.com/AirikahChaira/status/290615372858654720
"Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes" actress Chelah Horsdahl
https://twitter.com/chelahhorsdal/status/290537138813014017
Actor & Producer Kenji Maeda
https://twitter.com/kenjimaeda/status/290557782401376256
"Glee" actor Patrick Gallagher
https://twitter.com/PatrickGman/status/290579555683561473
"Continuum" Actress Jennifer Spence
https://twitter.com/SpenceJen/status/290581532349964289

These arent millionaires, these are all actors you have likely seen on TV or movies, who work a handful of days a month when things are going well, and might work 1 or 2 days, maybe even none, when things are not. Without a film industry in B.C. these people, who have trained to be actors & actresses, who care so much for the industry, would either be unemployed or forced to move out of the Province that they have called home & developed roots in. They are just a fraction of the industry too.

There are writers, stunt people, entire crews who build & tear down sets, make up & hair stylists, publicists, casting agencies, location scouts, CGI specialists, artists, prop makers and countless other professions directly tied to this industry....not to mention 100s of other smaller sub-sections of industries that survive because of the addition of the film industry here, such as hotels, drivers, police, medical, fire staff, reporters, and yes, even us lowly autograph hounds. The reality is, there are few large or small industries in Vancouver that arent affected directly or indirectly by filming. The loss of this industry would have a large trickledown effect throughout the entire province.

I was so annoyed, I made a tumblr blog post...something I almost never do, because I wanted the message to reach the broadest audience I had available & twitter just doesnt do it in 140 characters.... here was my statement on there...

http://canadagraphs1.tumblr.com

I have posted tweets at Christy several times over the past months of different newspaper articles, tv reports & blog posts about the struggling film industry.

NONE of them did she ever everrespond to.

Make matters worse, the Premier FOLLOWS me on twitter, and I even contacted her via DM if she wanted to discuss this privately...still no reply to that attempt either. It is blatantly clear, she HATES TV & Movies & wishes they would go to Ontario, Louisiana or California... which has happened in droves over the past couple years.

To say the industry needs a massive boost right now is a gross understatement. There is an election May 14th, but what damage will Christy have inflicted by that time? (NOTE- I edited this section.... it previously said 2 yrs till next election. Thanks to those who corrected my inaccuracy). It will consist of shows that were already here before the intentional murder of the industry started and no new, fresh shows will come to open up spots of employment for the 1000s of unemployed people in the industry this Province worked so hard to build through the 80s & 90s.

It is hard for me to believe I am saying this, but it is possible Christy Clark is a worse Premier than Gordon Campbell, a man who implemented laws so absurd it nearly financially cripled myself & many others who are in the low income backet. Christy Clark seems to have no business sense. She seems to be oblivious to the fact there is a multi-billion dollar industry in her Province that is slowly moving to places where they WILL give tax breaks. Christy Clark would rather tax it, have it leave, create 1000s of unemployed workers surviving off Unemployment Insurance & Welfare, instead of working in an industry that has made B.C. a desired place for people to visit (tourism $$), relocate to & do business in.

If you WANT shows like Supernatural, Once Upon A Time, Arrow or Psych to keep making the quality products they have been making... you need to have your voice heard. Sign the petition, blog about it, tweet about it, comment on Christy Clarks page & make her P.R. team know we wont quietly heed to her tyrranical actions. This is an industry with MONEY, POPULARITY and MANY OUTLETS to have its VOICE heard.

My recommendation to Christy Clark... BACK DOWN from your demands to kill the industry before you end up portrayed as an incompetent, addle minded, crazy person character on 1 of the shows.... afterall, they have the power to make it happen. .. and if you keep poking the bear, I am sure 1 or more of them will make it happen.

Other articles referring to this campaign that I've seen today...
http://www.timescolonist.com/film-tv-gaming-left-out-of-bc-jobs-plan-1.44327
- Victoria Times Colonist
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/01/save-bc-film-petition/
- Vancitybuzz
http://vancityfilming.com/save-bc-film/
- Vancity Filming
http://www.facebook.com/GlobalBC/posts/10151322419517808
- Global TV story on the noon news
http://www.globaltvbc.com/video/save+bc+film+campaign/video.html?v=2325159573#stories
- Save B.C. Film twitter account (200+ followers already)
https://www.facebook.com/savebcfilm?fref=ts
- Save B.C. Film Facebook page (already 1200+ likes)
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/savebcfilm