Hollywood, Universal Studios, and 2 dinosaurs (Part II)

Continuing my adventures in Hollywood...


So, after my agent and I had lunch at Citywalk, it was still a couple hours to my meeting with the Universal people.  So, we decided to kill some time by picking up Awkward author Marni Bates, who is also Laurie's client and lives in L.A., and going to see a famous Hollywood landmark.

So, after meeting Marni, we all piled into Laurie's car and headed into the hills.  Hollywood Hills, that is.


After many twists and turns up a tiny, narrow road (past some truly impressive mansions), we finally reached the place we wanted to be.  And me and Marni had Laurie take this picture:

And this one:

And also this one:

Now you might be wondering: what the heck are they pointing at?  As well you should.  Because, after Laurie had taken all those pictures, she suddenly said: "Oh, wait, did you two want me to include the ginormous huge landmark right over your head, too?"



Um, YES, Laurie, we did, in fact, want that in the picture, too!



SIGH.

There we go.  Though the excitement had worn off by that time.  Fear not, Marni and I teased Laurie the entire way back.  She'll never hear the end of it, and has vowed not to take anymore pictures for us.  ^__^ 


We love you, Laurie.  This much.  XD.

 

 

 

And then, we got slightly lost going back.  But fear not, I reached my hotel with enough time to change and wait for the car that would take me to Universal Studios and my meeting.


What went on in the meeting is sadly Top Sekrit, but everyone I met was super nice and super excited about the project.  Hopefully I will get to reveal it soon, but just know this: it is EPIC.


And then, all too soon, the meeting came to a close and I asked for pictures with everybody.  They were nice enough to oblige.

 

Me and Jeff Kirschenbaum, the freaking head of Universal Pictures. ( Me = *o* )

 

 

 

 

 

From left to right: Jeff Kirschenbaum, Sara Scott (Creative Executive and also uber important), a star-struck little author from La Grange, KY, Ainsley Davies (Director of Development for Chris Morgan Productions) and Chris Morgan (Director, and also the guy who wrote the scripts for The Fast and Furious franchise.)

 

 

 

After the meeting, I was still a little dazed.  But the surprises didn't end there.  Chris Morgan and Ainsley Davies took me on a tour of the Universal Studios back lot.  I got to sit in a golf car as Chris drove us around and pointed out cool and interesting things.  Such as:

The stage for The Voice.

 

 

 

 

The town square for Back to the Future. It's missing its clock because the original set burned down, but they recreated it with everything except the clock.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the many city streets used for filming.  There was also a really awesome Old West town, too.  The back lot of Universal is HUGE.

 

 

 

 

I think this set was used for Dracula or Frankenstein or something like that.

 

Part of the Old West town.

 

 

 

 

Part of the set for The Grinch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the set for War of the Worlds.  Apparently, during Halloween, they let people walk through this set and zombies come lurching out of the debris.  So cool.

 

 

 

Recognize this sign?

 

 

 

 

Here is the ride that goes with it.  If you look closely, you can see the shark that "attacked" the tour bus in the water there.

 

 

 

 

The original Bates motel.  The House is behind it to the left, and as we drove past, you could see the corpse of an old woman rocking back and forth in the window. 

 

 

 

 

The second dinosaur, right outside the Jurassic Park ride. And that concluded my tour of the Universal Studios back lot.

 

 

 

So that is the end of my adventures in Hollywood.  I got home exhausted but floating three feet off the ground.  And, if all goes well, that won't be the last I see of Universal or Hollywood, but even if it is, I'll have enough awesome memories to last a lifetime.  A huge thank you to everyone who brought me this far; I am truly grateful for all your support.

Now, let's keep our fingers crossed for a movie.  =)

-Julie