FRANCO ON THE SET: General Hospital goes on location to MOCA

It’s unheard of for fans to get invited to the taping of a soap opera, but that’s exactly what happened on Thursday, June 24 as General Hospital went on location to shoot climatic scenes between Jason Morgan and his nemesis Franco.

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) branch at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood was the place. The first 100 fans to respond to a posting on the internet were lucky enough to attend.

Fans got to watch as Franco fell to his death while crying, “I know where the baby is,” as Jason Morgan looked on. Audience members assumed Franco was referring to the kidnapping of Carly Jacks’s baby, although such kidnapping scenes haven’t yet aired.

Other scenes shot there involved onlookers reaction to Franco’s plunging to his death and a singer performing in a carnival-like setting.

Special guest star James Franco, who plays the deranged serial killer/artist also named Franco (just "Franco;" it's a great soap opera name), persuaded producers to do the shoot and invite fans. Franco, who appeared in a dozen episodes of
the ABC soap opera last winter and has reprised the role for a month-long stint, says he’s doing it for his art.

A graduate student at Columbia University and NYU, Franco is reportedly making a documentary film for his thesis about the meaning of art and people’s response to it. He had crews on hand taping the fans while they watched the ABC team film the scenes. Supposedly, this footage of the fans will be incorporated into Franco’s documentary.

Those attending had to sign release forms allowing their images to be used – one for ABC and one for Franco – before they were granted admission to the taping. The initial announcement on the internet made it sound like the audience members would be part of crowd scenes for General Hospital, but that proved to be false. Paid extras played the parts of onlookers. Fans were kept at a distance.

Nonetheless, fans were delighted to get an up close and personal view of their favorite stars. Steve Burton, who plays fan favorite Jason Morgan, shook hands, posed for pictures and
signed autographs early in the evening. Much later, Dominic Zampronga, who plays policeman Dante Falconeri, and Julie Berman, who plays heroine Lulu
Spencer, came out to mingle with the fans.

But the treat of the evening was getting to meet James Franco. After taping his plunge to death, Franco came out to greet them. Fans flocked toward him, assuming he’d only be there for a few minutes, but he stayed for almost 30 minutes. Despite his handlers repeatedly trying to pull him away, saying, “Step away from the movie star,” Franco seemed in no hurry to leave. He gladly posed for pictures and seemed both amused and intimidated at the outpouring of adulation. And his crew captured every second for his documentary.

Fans started lining up at 5 p.m. for the taping, even though they weren’t admitted to the taping area – the courtyard in front of the Pacific Design Center – until 7 p.m. Taping started just after sunset, preceded by Franco greeting the audience from the rooftop of the PDC with a short speech posing questions about the meaning of art.

The night was long. By 10 p.m. they had only taped about 3 minutes of footage – Franco falling from the roof and the onlookers' reactions. Incidentally, Franco didn’t use a stuntman for his plunge; he did his own fall into a huge inflated air mattress. However, a double did play Franco lying face down in a pool of blood after the fall.

As the night wore on, fans started to leave, saying it was getting chilly and/or they had to work the next day. Only 2 dozen hearty fans were left on the site when the crew finally
kicked them out at midnight. Crew members said they were scheduled to tape until 6 a.m.

The remaining scenes to be taped involved a large outdoor art installation that included four different sets from General Hospital, among them the loft set where serial killer Franco lives. Initially fans assumed each of these sets would be used individually to shoot scenes. But later word came from the crew that this art installation was to be used as a whole. Scenes shot at the PDC are scheduled to air July 21-23.

Event organizer Jim Warren, who is the official photographer for General Hospital, said Franco had to cajole GH executive producer Jill Farren Phelps into letting fans attend the
location shoot. Once she agreed, Phelps had to persuade her ABC bosses to
green-light it too.

Fans were well behaved and kept quiet during crucial taping scenes. One unruly fan could have gotten the entire audience kicked out.

For their diligence, fans received a copy of “Soaps at MOCA,” a Soap Opera Digest sized magazine created especially for the event. Franco paid for the magazine out of his own pocket.

While it was a thrill for audience members to see the taping, the biggest complaint was the lack of an MC explaining what was going on. Audience members have come to expect that -- live tapings of situation comedies have a person designated to warm the audience up with jokes, tell anecdotes and fill them in on what’s happening with the taping. But since GH rarely goes on location and never invites an audience, they apparently overlooked that aspect of the fan taping.

The audience was almost entirely female. Only about 15 males were in the audience. With their love for General Hospital in common, strangers freely struck up conversations with other strangers, discussing current plot points, debating great old storylines and sharing gossip about the actors.

While the majority of fans were local, some came from far away. One woman flew in Thursday morning from Wisconsin for the taping and planned to fly home on Saturday morning.

To see a photo album of 3 dozen photos taken at the taping, click here.

James meets James: blog poster James F. Mills with movie star James Franco.

James and Julie: Julie Berman with James F. Mills.